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In this part of the Yamaha CRW-F1 review we'll start testing the reading and writing of copy-protected data discs. Copy-protections are used on almost every game nowadays so it's important a writer can handle the various protections out there. For the tests we used the latest CloneCD version 4.0.1.10 from Elaborate Bytes . As you might know if you've read our CloneCD v4.0 preview , CloneCD now uses Profiles for each type of disc. In this review we created a separate Profile for each protection with the common settings used in the old CloneCD versions. E.g. for SafeDisc we only selected the 'Fast Error Skip' setting.

As an extra 'service' or help you can download the Profiles we have used in this review. Click on the Profile images to download the used Profile. Store these files in your CloneCDProfiles folder on your hard disk. Alternatively you can view and download all used Profiles from our CloneCD forum , by clicking here.

Now let's start by giving you a screenshot of the supported drive capabilities of the Yamaha CRW-F1 drive with CloneCD v4.0.1.10:

As you can see in the picture above, the Yamaha CRW-F1 is fully supported by CloneCD (DAO-RAW96). To determine the copy-protection used on our game discs we scanned every disc with the latest ClonyXXL version 2.0.0.6. ClonyXXL can be obtained from kickme.to/englishclony. In the table below we've summed up all of our results and after the table we will clarify our results and compare the read times with other recorders we've previously reviewed:

LaserLock:

For the LaserLock test we use a game called 'Desperados' protected with LaserLock 2. As a comparison we read from both the original disc and from a back-up (CD-Recordable) disc. We did this because there can be quite a difference in read time as you can also see from the results we got with the Yamaha CRW-F1 drive. While the original disc is read in 46 minutes and 33 seconds, the back-up was read in 4 minutes and 58 seconds. Not a bad result for LaserLock as you can see from the table below:

SafeDisc:

To test the SafeDisc protection we used a game called 'Beavis and Butthead: BungHole in One'. The SafeDisc protection is quite old but it uses a lot of errors on the first 5% of the disc which can make reading the disc take a really long time. But, just as we saw with the Yamaha CRW3200E drive the Yamaha's work very well with CloneCD's 'Fast Error Skip' and the disc is read at full speed in 2 minutes and 36 seconds. Just a few seconds short of our 'SafeDisc Reader Champions', the Plextor drives:

SafeDisc 2:

For our next tests we used a game called 'The Sims: House Party' protected with SafeDisc version 2.10.030. As expected the disc was again read at full speed in 2 minutes and 10 seconds. To test the Yamaha CRW-F1's ability to write this protection we wrote the image with ' Amplify Weak Sectors ' (AWS) disabled. The created back-up disc was then tested in the following drives:

• Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502: success
• Plextor PX-W4012A: success
• PleXCombo PX-320A: success
• Lite-On LTR-48125W: success
• Yamaha CRW-F1: success

The SafeDisc 2 protection was no problem at all for the Yamaha CRW-F1 drive. A better result than we got with the Yamaha CRW3200E drive since this drive couldn't create a fully working back-up without using 'AWS'. An interesting result! Let's compare the read time with some of the other drives we've reviewed:

SafeDisc 2.51:

Besides our SafeDisc and SafeDisc 2 tests we need to take a look at the latest SafeDisc 2 version 'called' SafeDisc v2.51. This is a new version of the regular SafeDisc 2 and has caused quite a few problems for a lot of writers (which didn't have problems with the normal SafeDisc 2). For this test we used a game called 'Serious Sam 2: The Second Encounter' protected with SafeDisc v2.51.021:

We read the image with the Yamaha CRW-F1 drive using the same 'SafeDisc (2) [no AWS]' Profile as for our normal SafeDisc and SafeDisc 2 tests. The ' Hide CDR Media ' option was enabled in the CloneCD tray to test playing from the CD-RW drives. The results when playing from the following drives:

• Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502: failed
• Plextor PX-W4012A: success
• PleXCombo PX-320A: success
• Lite-On LTR-48125W: failed
• Yamaha CRW-F1: success

As you can see from the list above the created back-up didn't play from all drives. It failed in the picky Toshiba DVD-ROM and it also failed to start from the Lite-on drive. Next we re-wrote the same image file but now with the 'AWS' option enabled using the 'SafeDisc 2(.51) [AWS]' Profile. The 'Hide CDR Media' option was again enabled in the CloneCD tray to test playing from the CD-RW drives. The results when playing from the following drives:

• Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502: success
• Plextor PX-W4012A: success
• PleXCombo PX-320A: success
• Lite-On LTR-48125W: success
• Yamaha CRW-F1: success

With 'AWS' enabled the Yamaha CRW-F1 created a fully working back-up which played from all drives we tested it in. Let's give you a final comparison of the read times we achieved with the Yamaha drive and compare it to other drives we've reviewed:

SecuRom *NEW*:

The next protected data tests we did was with a game called 'Neverwinter Nights' protected with a newer version of SecuRom. Note that we didn't apply the official game patch for this title since with this patch no back-up works. We tried to read the third disc of the game (play disc) and the Yamaha CRW-F1 could read the disc at full speed. We then tested the created back-up disc in several drives and the game started every time. When playing from a CD-RW drive you have to enable CloneCD's 'Hide CDR Media' option.

PlayStation/LibCrypt:

As expected the Yamaha CRW-F1 had no problems reading the PlayStation disc and can read the SubChannel Data at full speed. The CRW-F1 drive was again a little faster than the previous Yamaha model, the CRW3200E as you can see from the table below where we compare the achieved read times to other recorders we've reviewed for the final time:

Conclusion:

Just as we saw with Yamaha's previous model, the CRW3200E, the CRW-F1 drive showed some excellent performance when reading and writing the various copy-protections. The Yamaha CRW-F1 has been improved a lot and could read all protections even faster than the CRW3200E. When reading the SafeDisc and SecuRom protections the CRW-F1 drive is extremely fast and was the fastest reader more than once.

When writing the various copy-protections the Yamaha CRW-F1 didn't disappoint us one bit. It could create a fully working back-up of the SafeDisc 2 protection, something that CRW3200E drive couldn't do. When dealing with the SafeDisc v2.51 protection the drive could create a partially working back-up which worked in most drives we tested it in. When we enabled CloneCD's 'Amplify Weak Sectors' option the back-up worked in all drive we tested it in. It's too bad the drive still needed 'AWS' to make a perfect back-up since else the Yamaha CRW-F1 could be considered the best drive for data protections...

Next up in our Yamaha CRW-F1 review, the reading of protected audio discs...

Write Quality

Protected Audio