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CD Write Tests
The
BenQ DW1620 is capable of writing to CDR media at a maximum write speed of
40x. We tested a variety of CDR media to test maximum write speed as
well as media compatibility.
1.
CD-DVD Speed - CDR Media
The DW1620 uses the faster CAV method of writing
to this media. The drive starts writing to CDR media at about 18x and
had no problem reaching its maximum 40x write speed. This brings the
average write speed at about 30x.
In our actual write tests, the BenQ DW1620 wrote
exactly 695MB of data in 3:31 minutes. This is just slightly higher than
the speediest drives on the market and about average for a 40x writer. I
gathered up a variety of media of different speeds to tests the drive's media
compatibility. Below is a table of the results.
|
CDR Brand |
Write Speed |
Write Time |
| Verbatim (super Azo) 52x |
40x |
3:31 |
| Verbatim (Super Azo) 48X |
40x |
3:27 |
| Philips 40X |
40x |
3:33 |
| Ritek 48X |
40x |
3:31 |
| Imation 24X |
40x |
3:16 |
| FUJI 32X |
32x |
4:16 |
| Sony 32X |
32x |
4:12 |
CDR media compatibility was excellent.
Wrote to all discs at their rated speed and was able to write to Imation 24x
"music" CDRs at 40x without playback issues.
**click to enlarge**
The latest version of Nero's CD-DVD Speed offers
users the ability to run disc quality tests. With CD media, this utility
will measure the number of C1 and C2 errors. All drives will report a
certain amount of C1 errors, however, what you should mainly be concerned with
is the number of C2 errors. With the Ridata 48x discs used in our actual
writing tests, no C2 errors were reported and write quality was very good.
**click to enlarge**
Using the ScanDisc utility, there were also no
errors to report. A surface scan also did not report any damaged
sectors.
2. CD-DVD Speed - CDRW Media
The DW1620 uses the P-CAV method of writing to
CDRW media. Like we saw with CDR media, write speed started at about 18x
and was able to hit speeds just slightly over 24x. This actually
resulted in some slightly faster write times than we were able to achieve with mostly all the
other drives we have looked at. Below are the results.
|
CDR Brand |
Write Speed |
Write Time |
| Memorex (Ultra Speed) 24x |
24x |
4:22 |
| Ritek 24X CDRW |
24x |
4:19 |
Media compatibility was also excellent, writing
to both Memorex and Ritek ultra speed discs at 24x.
3. Over-burning and 99min CDR Media
For you over-burners out there, you'll be
pleased to know that the BenQ DW1620 does support over-burning as well as
99min CDR media. However, it only wrote to Melody branded 48x 99min CDR
media at 16x. With Ritek branded media, it was able to write to disc at
32x. As always, in order to check for playback issues, I created a music
compilation CD that was exactly 98min. No playback issues to report and
final tracks played well.
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