detail information

The specifications of the Mediagear / BTC DRW1004IM state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 40x. Let us find out how the drive really performs in speed and quality.

Writing Data CD-R discs:

For our data writing tests we simply set up a new compilation of 700Mb using Nero Burning ROM software. Writing method used is DAO (Disc At Once), and the disc is set up as a non-multisession disc with finalize disc enabled. The screenshot below shows how long time it takes to write a disc at the highest speed that is 40X:

The drive used 3 minutes and 11 seconds to write the disc at 40X. The only drive in the same generation to support 40X writing is the Lite-On LDW-411S that used 3 minutes and 7 seconds for the same writing operation. As another example the LG GSA-4040B used 4 minutes and 56 seconds to write the disc at 24x, and the Memorex Dual-X used 5 minutes and 28 seconds when writing at 16X. If we compare it to a next generation drive; the Plextor PX-708A that used 2 minutes and 58 seconds to write the same disc it still stands strong and lags behind with 13 seconds only. But speed is not everything, quality is even more important, so let us take a look at the writing quality of this drive.

Write Quality:

We will test CD-R discs from a total of 11 different large and not so large CD-R manufacturers. To really measure the write speed we used the create data CD function in Nero CD-Speed, the discs was written at the maximum speed that the drive supports. For the quality test we used K-Probe that is a tool developed by a Lite-On Employee, it runs under windows and works with 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 LTR-52246S drive 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 drives error correction capabilities. The next level of errors is C2, while C2 errors could also be corrected by most drives 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 average for the best discs or at least below 10.0 average for good quality discs. After C2 errors there are only un-correctable errors that will make a disc unusable.

Why wait any longer? Below are the obtained results:

CMC Magnetics is not known for making the best CD-R discs but still the Mediagear drive is able to obtain an acceptable result, although not perfect.

Moser Baer India is also a manufacturer that varies in quality and the Mediagear drive had some problems and created a spike of C2 error that is not good. We do not recommend using these discs with your Mediagear drive.

Highly recommended discs! Very low amount of C1 errors makes these discs among the best you could get for this drive.

Even if there is a spike of C1 errors at the end the result is still good and we have no problems recommending these discs for use with the Mediagear drive.

Again we could see the superiority of the Taiyo Yuden manufactured CD-R discs! These discs are simply our number 1 choice for every CD-Writer we have used.

Some of our previously reviewed writers have had problems writing to these discs, and as we could see the Mediagear drive did also have problems. It did not even start to write before Nero CD/DVD-Speed returned this error message.

With these Prodisc manufactured CD-R's the drive did not have any problems and the produced result is very good.

We have found these Samsung CD-R discs manufactured by Plasmon to be of very low quality, and sure enough the drive got problems so we can't recommend these discs.

The result with these discs is not perfect but still good enough and should not cause you any trouble.

Princo is not known for making the best quality discs, but all in all the result is fair enough and you will probably not have any problems with these discs.

Even if the result with these discs is not bad we still got a bit disappointed as most other writers is able to write these discs just as good as Taiyo Yuden discs.

While TDK is a well-known brand in larger parts of the world their own manufactured CD-R discs may not be so well known, as they are mostly only available in Europe. But the Mediagear drive was still able to make an acceptable result, although not perfect.

Summary:
Overall the results are acceptable; it failed writing one disc type and two disc types contained C2 errors, but for the rest it was ok, but in most cases still not perfect (Perfect = Below 2.0 C1 errors average and no C2 errors). There is still a step up to reach the same level as the Lite-On LDW-411S, which is its direct competitor specification wise. But it delivers good enough results to not get a negative point in our book, on the other side it do not get a positive point in the book either

In case someone wonders; yes, we used exactly the same way of testing as in our previous reviews: for example The LG GSA-4040B. And yes; all the media comes from the same spindles or packs, except the Ritek media and Taiyo Yuden media.

But after all it's a DVD-Writer so head on to next page and read about DVD-Writing performance and DVD media compatibility…