CDR Tests

The Iomega Predator supports up to 4x writing. It only has 2 Mb of buffer and doesn't have any anti-coaster technology (BURN-Proof, JustLink, SeamLess Link), which is a negative for the possible buyer. We used the CD Speed's build-in writing speed test which confimed the 4x writing speed (4.00x average):

- Procedure: We tested the Iomega Predator with Nero v5.5.2.3, CloneCD v3.0.2.3, Padus DJ v3.00.780 software and with the following media: Verbatim 74min (16x) & 80min (16x), TraxData 80min (16x), Prodisc 74min (16x) and with RICOH 4x CDRW.

We didn't notice any problems with any of the involved media, except with the previous version of CDSpeed - 082 beta - but once we replaced the program with the newer version everything worked fine.

- CD-R Tests:
We created "DataCD" job with data slightly higher than 74mins (74:03:65):

As you can see, the Iomega has a long burning time (it's only 4x)

- 80min CDs:
In our burning tests the 80min CD contains a slightly higher than 80min amount of data (80:02:16) but since the Iomega drive doesn't support overburning (actually it supports but it's problematic- it never stops writing up until 91:25 mins) we had to remove some of the data in order for the project size to fall in 79:59 mins. So the posted 80min burning time is actually lower than the expected real one (2-3 seconds higher):

The Iomega's time is again very slow since it's only 4x fast.

- Overburning Tests:
No such tests since Iomega simply doens't support overburning! This is another negative issue since nowdays we have media supporting 90 and/or 99min writing. Iomega should improve this.

- AudioCD Tests:
We created several Audio CDs (CD-Text is not supported though). The Nero 5.5.2.3 performed excellently and the produced CDs were played without any problem in the same drive and other drives as well.

- CloneCD Tests:
The Iomega supports only DAO-RAW writing mode as the latest CloneCD (3.0.0.23) reports. The drive also supports "Simulation". Our test results confirmed that the drive works with DAO-RAW but doesn't support writing 96bytes of SubChannel data. This mean you can forget writing CD-Text, CD+G and PSX Libcrypt PSX CDs.

- SD2 Support:
For the SD2 test we used the "No One Lives For Ever" CD title. We used another drive as the reader since the Iomega is TOO slow when reading protected CDs and of course the Predator as the writer. The produced backup played without any problems in the same or any other drive we tested! Very good news for Iomega Predator users :-)

- Buffer Underrun tests:
The Iomega Predator doesn't support any anti-coaster technology. Instead it supports 2MB of Buffer in order to solve this problem. As you understand if you are doing multiple things, while writing, a coaster is on the way...

Verdict of CDR Results:
The Iomega general performance with CDR media didn't showed any serious problems. The drive seems to take around 18,5mins to finish a 74m recording job (different software programs, produced more or less the same time as well) which is what we've been expected since it's a 4x drive. Plus, it doesn't support overburning, which means you can forget 90 and 99min CDs. On the other hand it supports DAO-RAW but failed to backup SecuROM 2 protected CDs, since it doesn't support writing of SubChannel data. On the other hand it support SD2 backups! Last but not least, the drive doesn't support any kind of anti-coaster tehcnology making it less attractive to the user's eyes...