CD Recording Tests

- CD-R Format

The NEC-3500A probably has the largest combination of writing speeds and writing strategies. Supported writing speeds are as follows:

• 8X and 16X CLV
• 24X Z-CLV, 24X P-CAV
• 32X Z-CLV, 32X P-CAV
• 40X Z-CLV, 40X CAV
• 48X Z-CLV, 48X CAV

It's uncommon for a drive manufacturer to support both Z-CLV and P-CAV/CAV writing strategies for the same writing speeds, but depending on the media manufacturer, the drive adjusts accordingly to produce the best possible results. We experienced the same writing methodology with the TDK 1616N model.

According to Nero CDSpeed, the drive clocked in an average speed of 36.31X. The test started at 21.47X and finished at 40.07X.

- CD-R Recording Times

We created an 80min data compilation with Nero Burning Rom and recorded it on a 700MB disc. The writing performance varies according to the inserted media. Below is a chart depicting all recording times with various media.

You will notice that not all media could be recorded at 48X. This is a major drawback for this drive, since not even good quality media like TY could be recorded at full speed. The ND-3500A returned a time of 3:34 minutes at the 32X writing speed with Intenso 52X media being written at 32X, and 3:01 at 48X writing speed with BenQ 52X media. Very good performance at this speed. It should be noted that all media was recorded at maximum supported speeds by the drive.

- Other features

The NEC ND-3500A supports overburning up to 90mins at full speed and can both read and write CD-Text.

Unfortunately, the drive cannot overburn more that 90mins, and gives the following error message.

- CD-RW Format

The ND-3500A supports 4X, 10X, 16X (CLV) and 24X (Z-CLV) rewriting speeds, with Ultra Speed Rewritable Media (US-RW).

Below you can see the Nero CD-DVD Speed writing simulation test with blank 24x US-RW media from Mitsubishi Chemicals.

- CD-RW Mount Rainier

The NEC ND-3500A does not support the Mount Rainier feature.