After installation, we used Sisoft Sandra 2007 to gather more information about the device. According to Sisoft Sandra, the device uses a Cypress Semiconductor chip and the connected drive was operating at 480MB/s, USB2.0.

Our test PC was:

• Asus M2N32 WS Pro (nForce 590 SLI) + AMD Athlon X2 4600+
• 1GB of DDR2 6400 memory

We used Nero CD/DVD Speed v4.51 and v4.60 for all tests. With Single layer discs, we expected to see a maximum of 12X. However, the speed never passed 5.67x.

That troubled us, especially since the device was operating at USB2.0. We installed another optical drive, a Plextor PX-716, which showed similar behaviour:

We had the luck to have another 5.25" case, from Spire-cooler, the GigaPod III. This time, connected to the same PC, the Plextor PX-716A reached a top 12x CAV speed.

Again we were troubled, since according to Sisoft Sandra, both external 5.25" cases had exactly the same chipset from Cypress Semiconductor. For that reason, we tested both external cases on a different PC, this time with an Intel 3.0Ghz+Asus P5ND2SLI Deluxe (nForce4). We saw exactly the same performance, where the Vantec NexStar-DX NST-530U2 couldn't pass 5.67x, while the Spire-cooler GigapodIII reached 12x, with the same drive, same tested disc.