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Review: Waitec MEGALUS
Reviewer: G@M3FR3@K
Provided by: Waitec
Firmware: version 6.34

24x recorders aren't that uncommon anymore and in fact most brands are already releasing a 32x model or are even planning to release a 40x model. But still a 24x drive is nice to have Most people will however only know the top brand models like the Plextor PX-W2410A and the Lite-On 24102B. But, since we already reviewed these drives we thought we would take a look at a different brand named Waitec. Their 24x recorder is called the Waitec MEGALUS (24/10/40). In this review we will take a look at the drive's performance and how it compares to the mentioned Plextor and Lite-On recorders.

The Package:

Inside the box we find the the following things:

• The recorder
• IDE 40-pins flatcable
• Audio cables
• Mounting screws
• One blank 24x 700MB CD-R (manufactured by Ritek)
• One blank 10x 650MB CD-RW (manufactured by CMC Magnetics)
• Prassi PrimoCD 2.0 CD-ROM
• Waitec User's Manual CD-ROM

So nothing really special. Prassi PrimoCD is a good program but for the tests we'll be using Nero Burning Rom (simply because it's our personal favourite). One remark on the IDE flatcable: it only had two connections so only one device could be attached and the SLAVE position had to be left empty (since the other connection is used for the motherboard). Of course you could just use a different flatcable.

On the front of the writer we find the MEGALUS logo, the Waitec logo and the BPRec logo. Then we have a headphone jack, a volume control, busy/write LED's and of course an eject-button.

The back of the writer is standard. We find the usual IDE and power connectors, the MASTER/SLAVE jumpers and the SPDIF (analog/digital) output connectors.

Test Machine:

For the tests we'll be using the following configuration:

Hardware:

• Processor: AMD Athlon 700Mhz
• RAM: 256MB (PC133)
• Motherboard: ASUS K7V

Setup:

• IDE1 MASTER: 30GB Maxtor (7200rpm) harddisk
• IDE1 SLAVE: Toshiba SD-M1502 DVD (firmware 1012)
• IDE2 MASTER: Waitec MEGALUS (firmware 6.34)
• IDE2 SLAVE: empty

Software:

• OS: Windows Millenium Edition
• VIA 4in1 Drivers: v3.37

Direct Memory Access (DMA) was enabled for every device.

Installing the Drive:

As mentioned above the Waitec was setup as MASTER on the second IDE. Let's have a look how Nero Burning Rom identifies the drive:

And CloneCD:

As you can see from both pictures the Waitec supports the reading and writing of CD-text (96 bytes of SubChannel Data), has a buffer-underrun technique called SafeLink (although the box said BURN-proof), has a 2MB buffer and supports DAO-RAW writing.

Now let's start testing this baby!

Conclusion

Write Tests