Test machine:

For this review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware 1:

HP Pavilion ZV6153EA

• Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3200+
• RAM: 1280 MB MDT PC2700 DDR
• GFX: ATI MOBILITY RADEON Xpress 200
• Sound: Conexant AMC Audio
• Hard disk: 100GB Seagate ST9100822A

Hardware 2:

HP Pavilion DV8213EA

• Processor: AMD Turion 64 ML-34
• RAM: 1 GB DDR 333 MHz (2 x 512 MB)
• GFX: ATI Radeon X200M
• Sound: Conexant AC-Link
• Hard disk: Hitachi HTS541616J9AT00 (160 GB) & Samsung HM160JC (160 GB)

System set-up 1:

As we can see above, the drive was running in UDMA 2 mode. See another Screenshot from Nero Infotool below

From the screenshot from Nero InfoTool above, we can see the Samsung SN-S082M does not support Mount Rainer. The drive came shipped with firmware version SB00.

System set-up 2:

Again we see the Samsung SN-S082M connected to the secondary IDE Channel and the drive appears to run in UDMA – 2 mode.

Installed Software:

Windows XP Professional is installed on the computer along with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. We will be using the following software in this review:

• Nero 7.10.1.0
• Nero CD/DVD Speed
• Nero InfoTool  
• KProbe v2.5.2
• Slysoft CloneCD v5.2.8.1
• Exact Audio Copy v0.95 beta 4
• Droppix Label Maker 2.9.1.0

Features and techniques:

Software Bundle:

Now let’s take a look at the software bundle which came together with the drive. Please note that we may not use this software in our review.

The supplied Software CD-ROM

In the above screenshot we see the available install options

• Nero 6
• Firmware Live Update
• User Guide

The Nero 6 installation screen

The Live Firmware Update utility

The software bundle is not as good as we have expected. For a drive, which has been produced in January 2007 we expected at least to find Nero 7 Essentials.

Disc Quality Scanning:

Unfortunately, the Samsung SN-S082M does not support Disc Quality Scanning.

Booktype (Bitsetting):

The Samsung SN-S082M supports bit-setting via burning applications such as Nero Burning Rom and supports Bit-Setting on DVD+R/RW/+R DL media types.

To check if your drive supports bitsetting you can open Nero CD/DVD-Speed, click Extra and Bitsetting. Now the following screen should appear.

As you can see above, the Samsung SN-S082M lets you set the Booktype for DVD+R/+RW manually and has a default DVD-ROM Booktype setting for DVD+R DL media.

Here is how you could check if your discs are really written with DVD-ROM book type:

Start Nero CD-DVD Speed and click the Disc info button and you should get something like this:

Another quick test is to start Nero CD-Speed and look at the disc information:

Writing Technology:

24x CD-Recordable Writing:

Now it’s time to take a closer look at the writing technologies used from that drive. According to the specs, the Samsung SN-S082M is able to write CD-R media at a maximum speed of 24x.

The Samsung SN-S082M uses P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) to write CD-R media at 24x speed. The average speed is 19.18x and total writing time is 5:19 minutes.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see from our table, the Samsung SN-S082M is slower than the NEC 7551A which has been tested a while ago.

24x CD-ReWritable writing speed:

The Samsung SN-S082M uses Z-CLV (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write CD-RW at 24x. The average speed is 16.18x and the total writing time is 6:09 minutes.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

Here, the Samsung SN-S082M is slightly faster than the NEC 7551A.

8x DVD+R/-R writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Samsung SN-S082M, it should be able to write DVD+R/-R media at a maximum speed of 8x.

DVD+R

The Samsung SN-S082M uses P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 6.01x and a total writing time of 10 minutes and 56 seconds.

DVD-R

The Samsung SN-S082M uses P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 6.02x and a total writing time of 11 minutes and 23 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table:

The drive was slightly faster than the NEC 7551A when writing DVD+R and significantly faster when writing DVD-R.

6x DVD+R DL writing speed:

The specs indicate that the Samsung SN-S082M writes DVD+R DL media with a maximum speed of 6x, let’s find out if this is true.

The drive uses Z-CLV (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at 6x. The average speed is 4.54x and the total writing time is 27:44 minutes.

4x DVD-R DL writing speed:

The Samsung SN-S082M uses Z-CLV (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-R DL at 4x. The average speed is 3.51x and the total writing time is 34:10 minutes.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Samsung SN-S082M performed good, compared to the NEC ND-7551A, when writing DVD+R/-R DL media.

5x DVD-RAM:

The SN-S082M uses P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-RAM media at its maximum speed of 5x (verify off). This resulted in an average write speed of 4.64x and a total write time of 12 minutes and 10 seconds.

Since we had no 5x writing tests of another Laptop drive available we can’t provide you with a comparison table this time.

On the next page: Reading performance… 

Introduction

Reading Performance