Test Method:
- SCSI Mechanic v3.0 & CD Speed 99 v0.80 Tests: With these tests we attempted to compare the I/O performance of TDK's Vortex 121032 to other various CDR-W drives (see charts) and we also checked the drive performance. In all of our following tests we used a pressed CD containing PlexTools v1.08 original CD.

- SCSI Mechanic v3.0 results:

The graph above gives TDK Vortex 121032 good chances against the competition since the drive performed well in most of the tests. The Average Random I/O performance (738) places the drive in the second position behind the Acer 1208 (798). At the Average Sequential I/O test all of the drives have almost the same behaviour with a slight leading to the Plexwriter PX-W1210A. Lastly, at the Same Sector I/O test TDK Vortex 121032 did not manage to reach the remarkable Plexwriter PX-W1210A performance (13150) but it came up with better results against the three remaining drives. You could also notice that Ricoh MP7125A performed in an almost identical way to the TDK Vortex 121032.

- CD Speed 99 v0.80 results: (click here to see the CD Speed 99 graph)

At the CDspeed 0.80 reading performance test all the drives tried to reach the 25X average speed. All the drives started their reading session at approximately 14,5X and ended at almost 32X, as expected. TDK Vortex 121032 performed adequately in the above tests delivering a smooth operating behaviour.

Seeking time results of TDK Vortex 121032 are not so good compared to the other drives. Acer 1208 holds the first place since it gave some very good times when was tested. TDK could calibrate the drive's mechanism a little better.