Sony DRU-830A detail information
| Posted by | Zevi A. |
| Posted on | 27/11/06 06:56 |
| Number of views | 38669 |
| Manufacturer | Sony |
| Product | Sony DRU-830A |
| Description | Sony’s twelfth generation multi-format DVD burner now has the capability of burning DVD±R discs at up to amazing 18X speed. |
To round off this review, we will run some advanced tests on the Sony DRU-830A.
The “Sheep Test”:
For this test, we will use the Sheep tests made by Alexander Noé. Why is it called sheep test? That’s because the logo of the first 1 to 1 copy program called CloneCD is a sheep. When looking at supported writers, you will notice that the feature list has sheep to indicate if a feature is supported or not. In this case we are interested in the writer’s ability to backup/write weak sectors. Also called: “Correct EFM encoding of regular bit-patterns.”
- No sheep: Can’t backup any Safedisc 2 versions without the help of software tricks
- 1 Sheep: Can backup Safedisc 2 up to version 2.4x without software tricks
- 2 Sheep: Can backup Safedisc 2, including version 2.5x
- 3 Sheep: Can write all possible weak sectors, few if any writers could do this.
One of our forum moderators Womble, has written a guide concerning the “Sheep Test” that can be found here.
In the screenshot below taken from CloneCD, we see the Sony DRU-830A supports everything.

The Sony DRU-830A supports RAW-DAO recording mode, which basically means, it can write uncorrected data and sub-channel data.





As we can see from the table the Sony DRU-830A is a “Two Sheep Burner”, it successfully write the Safedisc V2.90 but however failed to write the Sheep3 tests.
CD-R Overburning test:
To test the CD-R overburning capabilities of Sony DRU-830A, we used the overburning test in Nero CD-DVD Speed. According to Nero CD-DVD Speed the drive can overburn disc larger then 99/100 minutes. For this test we used unbranded Infodisc 99min/900mb CD-R which is rated 10x speed.


The Sony DRU-830A reported no problem with an overburn capacity of 99:00 minutes in simulation mode, so we attempted to created a test disc using Nero CD-DVD Speed. See below:

There are no problem writing this media around 99 minutes. We now ran a quality scan to check the created discs readability.

The scan shows a very good result. We conclude that the Sony DRU-830A supports overburning 99 minutes CD-R.
DVD+R Overburning test:
To test the DVD+R overburning capabilities of the Sony DRU-830A, we used the overburning test in Nero CD-DVD Speed with Taiyo Yuden DVD+R 8x certified media.


From Nero CD-DVD Speed Overburning Test screenshots above, the drive does not support overburning. The test stopped at 4482MB which is the standard size for DVD+R media. We will now attempt to verify this using Nero CD-DVD Speed Create Data Disc:

As you can see that the drive failed to overburn the media. We conclude that the Sony DRU-830A does not support overburning 4600MB DVD+R.
This concludes our Sony DRU-830A review, lets head on to the last page to read our conclusion…

The DRU-830A has performed brilliantly, burning a whole load of DVDs that the ND-3450A refused to do.
I'm not too bothered if it's actually a Samsung, or a Ford as long as it does the job well!
I chose Sony because their products are generally very good and on the rare occasions when they have underperformed, Sony have been reassuringly good at putting things right.
Yes I did pay a bit more than for some of the other decks, but I was really desperate. Normally I bite the pennies in half, but when you think of what you are doing when writing precious video to disc, or backups etc., you really need to be confident that the drive works reliably. which this one has done so far.
Nero 7 Essentials (bundled with the DRU-830A) seems a useful package, BUT:
- It doesn't seem to have been written by MS Windows fanatics, as everything works in a peculiar way, taking a bit of getting used to. Certainly not untuitive.
- It's also very crammed with features, which is fine as long as you can remember where to find them!


My Sony 810A dies and the replacement was the DRU-830A. The firmware was upgraded to SS23. But the performance when reading DVDs is very slow. For example burning a 1 GB data disk (Nero 7) takes a few minutes, but the verification takes 22 minutes (most of the time at less than 1X). Many Many Many calls to Sony did not change anything. I tried to join the forum here but the code does not appear on the registration page. A note to the webmaster has gone unanswered.
What's the best DVD burner in terms of speed and quality data? The 810A was acceptable buy Sony will no longer sell me one.










The drive burns correctly CDs, DVD-Rs, DVR-RWs, reads them. But starting from today it refuses to read DVD-Rs, still continue to read all other formats and as well burning DVD-Rs.
In first days it read DVD-Rs
I have called the Sony’s UK hotline, they suggested upgrading my firmware and that’s what I did. I upgraded it from SS23 to SS25. Still the problem persists.



_Second, when write CD-RW, it not recognizes ELGIN CD-RW 12x (IF12X80 AG41..) with 12x, it recognizes how to 10x. The results of record not open in some CD-drives. Strangely, the DVD RW it appeared with hole, without scratch and kept in DVD case
. The laser of the drive open the hole in CD-RW and my DVD+RW discs?
, i´m investigating.
_third, well, after this problems, the DRU-830 is bealtiful and record very well DVD+R till moment. Need improve with more discs registered to recognizes speed (DVDs+-R) and record quality, especially RWs


mine works lyk a charm xcept dat it recognises discs as 4.29 gb instead of 4.7 gb
wots wrong?


wots wrong? "
oops stupid mistake. 4got computer recognition is diiferent. pls ignore it.


"hey Italo Valerio. to turn on dma uninstall the ide controller from device manager and restart. then the windows will automatically reinstall it and enable dma. "
- I had make this, but not work. In PC of my friend witch have Samsung happen the same, i did try to make this changes but only swapping drives an turn again worked.









my dvd riter sOny DRU-170C giving me same things. it isnt reading any of DVD s and saying that insereted disc is a blank cd (instead of a DVD ).all of my frnds having same problem . it s IC problem .
The IC of sony dvd riter /cd riter is faulty !
and they arent taking pains to rectify the errOr!
sony sucks!!!!


P.S
http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/firmware.htm


The drive does not support Book Typing therefore making a good Double Layer (ROM) DVD is impossible.
I personally feel with most stores carring blank DVD's there is a large market for making back-up copies of your DVDs and Sony has missed the boot on this issue!
The Lie-On DVD Burners is a better choice for those of use who have a need to make back-up copies of their DVDs and no drive that does not support BOOK TYPING should not be considdered!



Happened with: 2 discs SONY DVD+RW AccuCORE (VER. 1.2), 1 DVD-RW Opto Digital (OTC -W84083N0 W004), 1 DVD+RW OPTO DIGITAL (OTC+W84169N0 0P4), 1 DVD+RW HP (PHILIPS ODTC 1-4X D25051). Loose 2 Elgin DVD+DL discs too, no burn second layer.
I wait till now, waiting an firmware version to correct RW problems. I no have time to wait more.
I like the quality burns of DVD-R/+R, its beautiful drive but i need good RW drive.
Good luck to all users.




I have the same problem stated above.. the drive reads a DVD-R16x as an emtpy CD disc... i updated the firmware like Chris_504 suggested, still nothing.
The DVD disc works fine on another computer. Any ideas?? Thanks


Updating Nero to version 7 which came with the drive achieved nothing.
I've yet to get home and try the advice received today from Sony Tech, which follows:
Dear Sony Valued Customer,
Please go through these steps:
Standard controller/disable DMA/disable CD Recording
Please ensure the system is in the correct configuration:
1. Change the main controller you have to a Standard Dual Channel Controller
Open the Device Manager(open up the Start menu, right click on My Computer,
left click on Properties, click on the button labeled Device Manager under
the Hardware tab
Click on the + next to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
A Primary IDE channel, Secondary IDE channel, and a PCI Controller
(sometimes an Intel or SIS or VIA) will be listed
Double click on the controller, click on the Driver tab, then click on the
Update Driver button
This will open up the Hardware Update Wizard, if it asks if Windows can
search select No, and click Next
Choose "Install from a List or Specific Location," and click Next
Select "Don't Search, I will Choose a Driver to Install" and click Next
Under "Model" select the Standard Dual Channel controller and click Next
Click "Finish"
At that point a window will appear with Standard Dual Channel printed at the
top. Close this, but do not restart your system if it prompts you to.
2. Disable DMA:
· Double click on the Secondary IDE Channel.
· Click on the Advanced Settings tab.
· Change the Transfer Mode for Device 0 from DMA to PIO.
· Click OK
3. Disable CD Recording:
Open up My Computer.
Right click on the Sony drive and left click on Properties.
Click on the Recording Tab, uncheck the box next to "Enable CD Recording on
this drive".
Click apply and okay.
Also, you may wish to visit our website at http://sony.storagesupport.com
This website has manuals and drivers for our products as well as FAQ's.
Thank you,
Melissa
Sony Technical Support
---------------------------------------------------------------
Good luck fellow 830 victims.








I bought two of these drives so that I could have a reliable system and my issues are the same.
I bought sony for the same reason I buy Toyota. I thought that I was buying quality.
What pieces of doodoo...and of course they are now a few months old so I can't just walk them back into the store.
Please if anyone comes up with the answer email me directly.
Thanks
JT
jaxmut@hotmail.com


THat was a quote from the review above. What a crock. Like Siskel and Ebert are going to say a new movie sux.
I've thought of taking my computer into Best Buy, let them get these P.O.S.s working and then sending the BIll to Sony









This message was edited at: 16-03-2008 15:21


Stops being seen by windows. Junk





Dru 830 a is pure madness... Are you complaining about "complex" things like recording? Well let me tell you about the most shitty issue on this player/recorder... My dru 830 wouldn't play movie dvd's correctly... And I bought this unit to enjoy the capabilities of my computer to watch movies... At this moment I have no money to afford a new dvd-rw... I've tried everything... from the new firmware to the IDE device set up thingy. none of them worked...
The error message when playback? "Css copy protection failed"
I'm really pissed off...


Writing a DVD in PIO mode takes ages. In my case the writing and verification process took ~45 minutes, but at least the entire process was successful. Then I went back to using the "Secondary IDE Channel" drivers, with DMA on. It actually worked this time. Under Advanced Settings Device 0 (my DVD player) is configured:
Device Type: "Auto Detection" (ghosted out)
Transfer Mode: "DMA if available"
Current Transfer Mode: "Ultra DMA Mode 4" (ghosted out)
Works fine and fast now, after a reboot. It does DVD-Rs & Rewritables. It also plays DVD movies once I installed an old version of WinDVD4 I had lying around. If you don't install a DVD playblack plugin like the one from Nero, WinDVD, or PowerDVD, the DVD will appear to have no name and no contents when you "explore" it.


Ugh, in any case, the next DVD drive won't be a Sony, that's for for sure.


regards....




It worked fine for a couple of years on my HP, but then when inserting a new disk, it would light-up Window's XP's blue screen of "dumping memory" death.
It wouldn't do that all the time, just 75% of the time.
Now, the drive door won't stay shut. Any ideas?

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