Sony AW-G170A DVD Burner Preview

Optiarc AW-G170A detail information

Posted by	Wendy Collins
Posted on	15/10/06 14:34
Manufacturer	Optiarc
Product	Optiarc AW-G170A
Description	Sony's first drive manufactured by Optiarc Supports DVD-RAM

Conclusion

Introduction

Features

Reading performance

Writing performance CD-R/RW

Writing performance DVD+R/RW

Writing performance DVD-R/RW

Writing performance DVD±R DL & DVD-RAM

Text Size Text Size

Conclusion

Positive:

Supports DVD-RAM read and write 12x
Supports DVD±R at 18x
Can write DVD±R certified media at higher speed
Supports DVD±R DL writing at 8x
Supports DVD+RW/DVD-RW writing at 8x/6x
Supports CD-R/RW writing at 48x/32x
Supports Bitsetting on DVD+R DL media (sets auto. BookType to DVD-ROM)
Reads DVD-Video SL/DL at 16x/12x
Reads DVD±R/RW at 16x/13x
Very good reading performance
Good write quality on our tested media
The hardware components are 'lead-free"

Negative:

Does not support Mt. Rainier
Reads CD-DA/CD-RW only at 40x
Does not support Bitsetting on DVD+R/+RW
Green LED for both reading and writing

Conclusion:

1154694510784 To sum it all up, this is what we would say:

The Sony AW-G170A is an interesting drive and has a good feature set. The AW-G170A also performs extremely well, with good write quality and performance and excellent reading performance.

The only slight negative is the Sony AW-G170A has limited Bitsetting capabilities. Only DVD+R DL having its Booktype set as DVD-ROM. We would also like to see Bitsetting support for DVD+R/RW.

The Sony AW-G170A is a fast and good performing drive, an excellent effort.

By using our price grabber feature cdfreaks.pricegrabber we did not find any offers, but at several online stores we found the drive listed at £17.99 +VAT

You may discuss/comment this article below or in this forum thread.

Thanks to:

Ricoh Europe '? For providing the media used in this review.

SVP Communications '? The United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.

Plextor SA/NV (B) for providing the Plextor media used in this review.

Verbatim - Germany and United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.

Daxon (Taiwan) for providing the Daxon media used in this review.

Introduction

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Reactions on this item

Posted by mallxx on Sunday 12 November 2006 03:30

ive just purchased a SONY AW-G170A BUT ICARNT GET IT TO WORK ON DVD-RAM (W2K)drivers required CAN ANYBODY HELP ?
THIS IS crazxxy !

Posted by Zakrozinsky (guest) on Sunday 18 February 2007 00:43

sucher Treiber fÃ¼r Windows XP fÃ¼r OPTIARC DVD RW
AD-7170A .... 1.85

Posted by col500 (guest) on Saturday 10 March 2007 23:24

I have a Sony AW-G170A which I have just bought but it will not read or write. It does all the right things except recognise a disc. The supplier has sent a replacement and allowed me to keep the old one. Is it recoverable or should I just bin it?

Posted by nospindisk (guest) on Thursday 15 March 2007 22:29

Well at least your one is seen by your system. My XP doesn't even see mine and it was only purchased five hours ago. I'm starting to think that technology is fraying at the seams in this day and age. 40 miles to return it to the store and 40 miles home isn't fun with something broken from new.

Posted by name (guest) on Tuesday 17 April 2007 01:14

i have this burner and just found out that all dvd-r discs i recorded at 2x speed are whack- 0% quality score, all red graphs

Posted by mickmbc on Wednesday 18 April 2007 10:15

i have had 3 of these drives and had no problems at all good burns good drive mickmbc

Posted by kaz (guest) on Thursday 19 April 2007 10:37

This is a good drive that works for me, but why is it so loud when reading/burning discs?

Posted by iengine (guest) on Friday 20 April 2007 09:31

I also have the Sony AW-G170A, with XP Home and SP2, but the drive is recognized as CD ROM only. It does record onto CR-R, but no chance with DVD. I used the firmware version 1.71 according to the clear instructions on this site but no improvement. Any ideas to help?

Posted by mickmbc (guest) on Friday 20 April 2007 10:26

post by iengine try firmeware 173 its on dee @liggys download page or at sony website

Posted by Sreeni (guest) on Tuesday 01 May 2007 18:42

reply to iengine

I had the same problem.XP did not recognize the Sony AW-G170A as a burner.
I downloaded the free cd burner software from
http://www.audioi.com/cd-dvd-writer.htm

And this software did recognize it as a burner and finally worked.Give it a try....

Posted by name2 (guest) on Wednesday 16 May 2007 14:28

I have similar issues with my AW-G170A. I bought it new three weeks ago and from day one the drive seldomly recognises discs and when it does it operates louder than my previous drive - Sony CRX320A.

I guess there is a bad batch out and about. I'm reluctant to return the drive because the problem is intermittent and I'm hesitant in flashing the firmware because it's still under warranty.

I will persist until it dies then I will return it :-)

Posted by Jay (guest) on Sunday 20 May 2007 22:56

Heard enough good comments on Sony AW-G170A, any difference compared to Sony AW-Q170A?

Posted by Carl (guest) on Wednesday 04 July 2007 00:26

Had my drive for ages now and have never been able to save anything to the DVD +R discs. Tried all manner of free software and nero, but still no luck. Am I being dumb? but the new discs register as 0 available and 0 used space, tried the update Firmware from this forum too, which didn't seem to make any difference. Trouble was those experts at the shop when I took it back say it was working fine, gotta be my machine or me???

Posted by saurabh.ag31 on Monday 27 August 2007 22:11

also have the Sony AW-G170A, with XP Home and SP2, but the drive is recognized as CD ROM only. It does record onto CR-R, but no chance with DVD. I used the firmware version 1.71 according to the clear instructions on this site but no improvement. Any ideas to help?

Posted by saurabh.ag31 on Monday 27 August 2007 22:12

Posted by mani (guest) on Tuesday 18 September 2007 06:18

I have SONY DVD RW AW-G170A, It's a good drive and I too accept as it is so loud when reading/writing discs.
The sound is heavy than a System's rebooting sound.
And while rebooting the system, Sony DVD's LED blinks now and earlier it was not blinking. I don't know the reason. Can anybody help me.

Posted by Roly62 (guest) on Wednesday 03 October 2007 23:29

I have a sony aw-q170a, work fine but not reconize a dvd rw 4 x, when i try to erase say not erase dvd , any help please?
Thnaks in advance

Posted by richard (guest) on Monday 08 October 2007 01:56

my aw-drive don't read any disks and makes a clicking noise, drive was fine for about 6 months, flash drive to updated firmware and drive was fine still, now drive is not working not no what has happen to it. strange, this is my second drive now from pc world and also a sony dvd was broke down with in a week of having it from pc world.
are pc world selling crap gear or what ?.

Posted by Prashant (guest) on Tuesday 23 October 2007 15:48

From the day i brought this thing it has only given me problems. It is in warranty so i already have got it replaced two times and it looks like the third ain't far away as i brought man on fire and it wont allow me to watch the movie

. I was told this was the best

rap:

Posted by bijender (guest) on Thursday 15 November 2007 05:35

hi ,
this is nice to use.

Posted by Northern Knight (guest) on Saturday 24 November 2007 18:16

Bought this drive about 18 months ago when it came out.
Very happy at first but for the last two months it thinks it is a DVD-Ram and refuses to read any other media or write.
I've been building computers since 1998 and never had trouble like this - stay clear of this drive!!!

Posted by neil (guest) on Sunday 25 November 2007 18:36

my compuuter runs Vista and my AW-G170 DVD burner works fine until i had the problem of my dvd driver being gone if i eft my computer open and nobody works on it so i have to restart the computer and eveytime i restart my computer it will not load my OS but i have to turn the switch on mmy powersupply to reset everything then it will load the OS but then again if i leave the computer alone, my dvd drive will dissappear again , can anyone HELP..!!!!!

Posted by Paul (guest) on Monday 26 November 2007 18:29

I bought one of these a few months ago, but didn't install it until yesterday. Unfortunately it's showing the same problem as some others here - it won't even read a disk, much less write one. Useless piece of kit. Now where did I put the invoice for this thing?.......

Posted by josna on Saturday 29 December 2007 12:31

this cant read certain brand dvd's

this is piece of shit crap

Posted by Sukhen K Mitra (guest) on Sunday 30 December 2007 03:41

It was working but after a defrag and a scandisk, I can't run DVD-Rs for multi-session recording. WinXP. Please help me at sukhen_mitra @ hotmail . com. Thanks

Posted by Lance4999 on Monday 21 January 2008 02:00

The answer to successful writing to RAM disks is easily solved at the following URL: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826510

Happy writing!
This message was edited at: 21-01-2008 02:04

Posted by jacobs2031 on Sunday 02 March 2008 19:14

Thanx for ur support in solving my problem

Posted by GeekJohn (guest) on Wednesday 26 March 2008 21:03

Guys, away from this drive. I was actually a fan of Sony's products but this thing really made me mad. I bought this drive 7 months back literally dumping my LG DvD writer. When I bought it was working fine though the noise was louuder than my previous drive. But the read and write speed was good. Slowly it stopped taking DVDs, then stopped reading, writing and now, its not even detecting in my computer. Am gonna replace it and see if I have any luck this time. One more time, Guys.. be away from this damn thing...

Posted by bimbo (guest) on Friday 06 June 2008 17:42

how to download???

Posted by Sasikumar (guest) on Wednesday 13 August 2008 13:01

I'm using Win XP and I have the same drive. It's burning CDs and not DVDs. It's burning upto 14% and stops. What is the reason. Please help..

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External links

Related : http://liggydee.cdfreaks.com/page/7170

Liggy & Dee's firmware page