32x CD-RW Roundup Vol 1 - Page 3

Data Tests

- SCSI Mechanic v3.0x results

The LiteOn LTD-32123S is the definite winner at the SCSI Mechanic tests, since it has the highest performance of all competitor drives. The drive has an average of 4623Kb/s when reading pressed CDs, while its' "Average Random I/O" mark is high with 856Kb/s. The Mitsumi CR-480ATE comes second and Freecom 32A comes third with 4464Kb/s "Average Sequential I/O" mark. The drive's "Average Random I/O" mark is rather poor with only 659Kb/s due to its high seek times, compared with the rest of the drives. Finally, the Yamaha CRW3200E needs improvement since it comes last with 4459Kb/s.

- Pressed CD results: (Click to see the Freecom & LiteOn CD Speed Graphs)

At the Nero CD Speed test, the LiteOn 32x drive continues holding the first place with 31.49X average reading speed. The Mitsumi CR-480ATE comes second but now Yamaha CRW3200E comes third with 30.56X and Freecom 32A last with the minimal 0.01X difference from the Yamaha 24x drive. The LiteOn 32x needs some extra fine tuning in order to beat the PleXWriter PX-W2410A that holds the title of the fastest CD-RW reader with 31.79X (with pressed CDs).

Things change when we look over the seek times. The Yamaha beats the competition with only 84msecs, while Mitsumi and LiteOn have similar times (113msecs). The Freecom 32A comes last with 126ms.

- CDR Media: (Click to see the Freecom & LiteOn CD Speed Graphs)

All drives improved their reading performance when CD-R media was used. The LiteOn LTR-32123S gave an outstanding performance with 32.3X over passing the competition. The Mitsumi CR-480ATE comes again second (31.45X), Freecom now gets the third place (31.19X) and Yamaha CRW3200E comes last with only 30.56X.

- HS-RW media: (Click to see the Freecom & LiteOn CD Speed Graphs)

For the RW tests we used the Mitsubishi Chemical/LiteOn Hs-RW media written at 10x/12x speeds. The Mitsumi CR-480ATE is currently the faster drive when HS-RW media was used with a 31.35X average reading speed. The Yamaha CRW3200E comes close after with 31.13X, LiteOn LTR-32123S comes third and Freecom 32A last with 24.93X: