Memorex MRX-525GE detail information

The specifications on the Memorex MRX-525GE state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 48x and CD-RW discs at 32x.  Let’s move on now and find out just how the drive performs in both speed and quality.

Writing Quality with CD-R discs:

For our CDR data writing tests, we set up a new compilation of approximately 702MB using Nero Burning ROM software.  Used DAO (Disc At Once) in non-multisession with “finalize disc” enabled.  The screenshot below shows how long it took to write the disc at the highest speed (48X):

The MRX-525GE took 2 minutes and 40 seconds to write this disc at 48x.  Let’s take a look at how that compares with our other test drives:

Write Quality:

Now we are going to test CD-R discs from different CD-R manufacturers.  To measure the write speed we will use the “create data CD” function from within Nero CD-DVD Speed.  We wrote these discs at the maximum speed that the drive supports.  For the quality test, we used K-Probe 2 which is a tool developed by a Lite-On employee.  K-Probe runs under Windows and works with the drives made by Lite-On.  Also note that different drives and different reading speeds may affect the results obtained when scanning the discs.  We used a Lite-On CD-RW SOHR-5239V with firmware 2$0B and scanned the discs at 48X speed.

A written CD-R disc will always have some C1 errors; C1 errors are easily corrected by the drive’s error correction capabilities.  The next level of errors is C2, while C2 errors could also be corrected by most drive’s error correction capabilities; they are not wanted on a good quality disc.  A good disc should not contain any C2 errors, and preferably have an average C1 error amount of below 2.0 for the best quality discs, or at least below 10.0 averages for good quality discs.  After C2 errors, there are only un-correctable errors that will make a disc unusable.

So, in short, our analysis will be based on these guidelines to determine the quality of the burned discs:

CD-R/RW quality scans guideline

Below you will see our obtained results:

Verbatim DataLifePlus CD-R media with average C1 errors of 1.48 goes into the “best quality discs” category.

Verbatim media – manufactured by CMC Magnetics Corp. with an average C1 error rating of 0.56 goes into the “best quality discs” category.

Media made by Taiyo Yuden have always enjoyed a good reputation and with an average C1 error of 0.08 it goes into the group “best quality discs” category.  Highly recommended!

This Memorex media goes into the category “best quality discs” with its C1 average of 1.61. 

 Writing Quality with CD-RW discs:

Due to request from our reader, we will add a few write quality tests with re-writable media.  Settings and testing procedures is the same as used earlier in this review, so you may want to go back and read them if you are unsure.

High C1 errors and unwanted C2 errors existed; therefore it goes into the “poor quality discs” category.

Even though this media performed better; with its C1 average errors of 32.13, it goes into the “poor quality discs” category.

Summary:

The Memorex MRX-525GE is an exceptional CD-R writer with all excellent results in our CD-R write tests.  However, the drive did not perform as well with CD-RW media resulting in “poor quality” although it is partly the media problem.

Not withstanding, the MRX-525GE is a DVD-Writer, so let’s move on to the next page and learn about its DVD-Writing performance and DVD media capability…..

Reading Performances

DVD+R/RW writing performance