detail information

The specifications of the Memorex 16X DDL-IN state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 48x and CD-RW at 32x. 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 used the Nero CD-DVD Speed create data disc function. The screenshot below shows how long it takes to write a disc at the highest speed. (48x):

The drive took 3 minutes and 03 seconds to write the disc at 48x. Let us see how this compares to other drives in the table below:

Write Quality:

We will test CD-R discs from many different CD-R manufacturers. To really measure the write speed, we used the 'create data CD" function in Nero CD-Speed. The discs were written 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. 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 SOHR-5239S drive with firmware 2S0B 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 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.

Below are the obtained results:

Media made by Taiyo Yuden have always had a good reputation and with the average C1 errors of 0.16 it goes into the group 'best quality discs" category. Highly recommended!

The result on this Verbatim Super AZO disc is very good. With a C1 error average of 0.24 this disc goes into our 'best quality disc" category. Highly recommended!

The Sony result is excellent. With a C1 error average of 0.93 this disc goes into our 'best quality disc" category. Highly recommended!

The Ridata CD-R manufactured by RITEK, with its C1 average of 1.77 places this disc in our 'best quality disc" category.

Writing Quality with Re-Writable discs:

Due to requests from our readers, we will add a few write quality tests with re-writable media. Settings and testing procedures are the same as used earlier in this review, so you may want to go back and read them if you are unsure. All discs used for these tests have been written to before, but none have been written to more than 5 times.

CD Re-Writable media:                                                                                                           

With a C1 average of 1.66 this places this Verbatim media in our 'best quality disc" category. A good result, recommended.

The Maxell CD-RW manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation, has performed extremely well. With a C1 average of 0.29, this places this disc in our 'best discs" category; an excellent result. Highly recommended!

Summary: The CD-R/RW writing quality is excellent.

So let us head on to next page and read about DVD-Writing performance…