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The specifications of the Samsung TS-H552B state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 40x 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 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 it takes to write a disc at the highest speed. (40x):

The drive used exactly 3 minutes to write the disc at 40x. Let us see how this compares to other drives for the same writing operation at 40x speed:

• Philips DVDR1640P used 3 minutes and 17 seconds
• NU DDW-082 used 3 minutes and 2 seconds
• Plextor PX-708A used 2 minutes and 58 seconds

Write Quality:

We will test CD-R discs from a total of 6 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 LTR-52327S drive with firmware QS0E 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.

Why wait any longer? Below are the obtained results:

EMTEC CD-R High Performance, this media got an average of 0.82 - C1 errors and is consider as 'Best disc quality". Recommended!

MMORE media - manufactured by Boser Baer India Limited and with it's average of 1.36 it goes in 'best discs" category.

Media made by Taiyo Yuden have always had a good reputation and with the average 0.96 it also goes into the group 'best discs".

Sky CD-R with Plasmon media code got an average of 2.39 and goes into the category 'good quality discs".

Also this media goes into the category 'good quality discs" for its average with 2.30.

Verbatim - a well known brand showed us an average of 4.31 it goes in the category 'Good Discs".

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 is the same as used earlier in this review so you may want to go back and read them if unsure. All discs used for these tests have been written to before, but none have been written to more than 5 times.

CD-ReWritable media:

It looks like the Samsung TS-H552B did not like this media. Very high C1 Errors and many C2 Errors. According to the reading curve, there was no problem at all reading this 'bad burned disc".