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In this part of our Yamaha CRW-F1 review we'll start testing the reading of normal/unprotected data discs. Let's see how fast the Yamaha drive can read data and if it can really reach the claimed 44X. For the tests we used Nero CD Speed and repeated the tests several times to make sure the results were accurate.

The data read tests are divided into four sections:

• Original/Pressed Discs
• CD-Recordable Media
• CD-ReWriteable Media
• Conclusion

Transfer Rate Test - Original/Pressed Discs:

For the transfer rate tests we used a pressed CD-ROM containing PlexTools v1.05 which was exactly 74 minutes (333.000 sectors) long. Below the produced graph with Nero CD Speed:

And of course the speeds and seek times of the Yamaha CRW-F1 drive:

In the left screenshot you see that the Yamaha CRW-F1 couldn't reach the claimed 44X and gets a top reading speed of 41.18X. This is even slower than some 40X readers we've reviewed like the Plextor PX-W4012TU (41.71X)! The seek times with original/pressed media were also not that good as you can see in the screenshot on the right.

In the table below we compare the achieved times with other drives we've previously reviewed. The Yamaha CRW-F1 is listed separately since it's the only 44X reader. As you can see from the table below the Yamaha is slower than some of the 40X readers:

Transfer Rate Test - CD-Recordable Media:

For the transfer rate tests with CD-Recordable Media we again used the PlexTools v1.05 disc only this time we read from a back-up disc. The disc used was a 'That's Write' CD-R certified up to 16x writing and manufactured by Gigastorage. Here's the ATIP information from CDR Identifier:

• ATIP: 97m 28s 12f
• Disc Manufacturer: Gigastorage Corp.
• Reflective layer: Dye (Long strategy; e.g. Cyanine, Azo etc.)
• Media type: CD-Recordable
• Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
• Nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f / LBA: 359849)

The back-up disc was of course also 74 minutes (333.000 sectors) long. Below the produced graph with Nero CD Speed:

The speeds and seek times the Yamaha CRW-F1 drive reached with the CD-Recordable media:

In the left screenshot you see that the Yamaha CRW-F1 performed better with the CD-Recordable media than with the original/pressed media but it still fails to reach 44X. The top read speed was 42.57X. The seek times with CD-Recordable media were also better this time but still not the best we've seen as you can see in the screenshot on the right and in the table below.

In the table below we compare the achieved times with other drives we've previously reviewed. The Yamaha CRW-F1 performs better than the CRW3200E drive and the other 44X readers but it's very close:

Transfer Rate Test - CD-ReWriteable Media:

To test the transfer rate with CD-RW discs we again used the "PlexTools v1.05" disc only this time we read from a CD-ReWriteable disc. We created a back-up of the disc using a PleXCombo PX-320A . The disc used was a 'Plextor CD-RW' disc. Here's the ATIP information from CDR Identifier:

• ATIP: 97m 27s 00f
• Disc Manufacturer: Disc ID not allowed
• Reflective layer: Phase change
• Media type: CD-ReWriteable
• Recording Speeds: min. 4X - max. 8X
• Nominal Capacity: 651.86MB (74m 12s 00f / LBA: 333750)

The CD-RW disc was of course also 74 minutes (333.000 sectors) long. Below the produced graph with Nero CD Speed:

The speeds and seek times the Yamaha CRW-F1 drive reached with the CD-ReWriteable media:

In the screenshots you can see that the Yamaha CRW-F1 drive gets very close to 44X this time. The Yamaha drives are known for their high read speeds with CD-ReWriteable media. The top read speed was 43.66X. The seek times with CD-ReWriteable media were quite good as you can see in the screenshot on the right.

In the table below we compare the achieved results to some of the reviews we've done previously. The Yamaha CRW-F1 now does perform a lot better than the 40X readers but it's still a little short of the claimed 44X reading:

Transfer Rate Test - Conclusion:

Overall we had quite a disappointing result since we couldn't reach the claimed 44X with any of the read tests. When reading original/pressed media the Yamaha CRW-F1 drive was even slower than some of the 40X readers we've reviewed. When you look at the results Yamaha previous model, the CRW3200E, reached you can see that this drive was also slower than the claimed 40X. We therefore think that Yamaha uses the 80 minute mark as an indication for the read speed instead of the 72 or 74 minute mark other manufacturers are using. Perhaps it would have been better to release the drive as a 40X reader.

So far for the data reading part. Now let's check the audio reading (DAE) speeds on the next page...

Features Continued

Audio Read Tests