[KLUG Members] [Hardware] Lite-On 16x CD-R outpaces TDK VeloCD 24x?

[Bryan-TheBS-Smith]

[ PS, is there a KLUG "hardware" list??? ]

Yes, we're back to that old marketing game!

When is a 24x really a 24x?  And when is a 16x really a 16x?

I recently (in mid-July) bought a $199 (retail, CompUSA) 24x TDK VeloCD
Ultra33 (UltraDMA mode 2, 33MBps) CD-R drive.  I had read some reviews
and realized it was one of those new-fangled dual-CLV/CAV drives which
started burning at 12x and slowly moved out to the middle of the disk
and reaching 24x.  After buying it, and putting into my 1.3GHz Athlon
(Abit KT7 mainboard) at home, I wrote a review (with several follow-ups)
here:
   http://www.zepa.net/hypermail/elug/hardware/2001/07/0020.html

I just (last week) bought a $95 (retail, NewEgg) 16x Lite-On ATA-2
(Multiword ATA mode 2, 16MBps) CD-R drive for my new 1.2GHz (ECS K7S5A
mainboard) here at AVS.  I wasn't sure, but thought I had read it was a
true 16x CLV drive.  After my recent review and after reading other
reviews about 16-24x drives making little difference in performance, I
figured it would be just as fast.

It was actually _significantly_ faster!

I'm not comparing the exact same CD sizes here, but they are the same as
far as figuring out what DTR (data transfer rate) I'm getting.  And
since CD-R drives are so much slower than the maximum DTR of even age
old ATA-2 (16MBps), the interface shouldn't make any difference either
(I'll have to swap drives/systems to be sure though).  Here's the
"quick" comparison:

VeloCD 24x -- Mandrake 8.0 CD
645MB / 309.177s = 2.086MB/s / 0.1544x/MB = 13.5x
[ See previous ELUG-HARDWARE post for dump ]

Lite-On 16x -- TurboLinux 6.1 CD
586MB / 212.396s = 2.759MB/s / 0.1544x/MB = 17.9x
[ See cdrecord dump below ]

17.9x???  That's gotta be wrong!  Weird!  It still seemed to take the
same 'start up' to get the buffer filled and start burning as the TDK. 
I guess the cdrecord program doesn't count the "lead in" burn time in
its calculations (it must not).  Oh well, it seems the Lite-On is just
_solid_ for burning.  Maybe it was the media?  No, I used the TDK 24x
rated media on the follow-up burn (see the follow-up ELUG-HARDWARE post)
and it made _no_difference_.

Of course, CD-R burning speed is *NOT* the only consideration.  CD-RW
read/rewrite speeds are a consideration, as are ripping speeds (my TDK
rips/DAE at 24x, don't know about this Lite-On).  But for burning, this
Lite-on rocks!!!

You can buy the drive here (now $2 cheaper at $93 retail, plus only $1
for shipping):
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=5&manufactory=1336

-- TheBS

# cdrecord -v -eject TLW-6.1.en.SOURCE.iso    
Cdrecord 1.9 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2000 Jörg Schilling
TOC Type: 1 = CD-ROM
scsidev: '0,1,0'
scsibus: 0 target: 1 lun: 0
Linux sg driver version: 3.1.17
Using libscg version 'schily-0.1'
atapi: 1
Device type    : Removable CD-ROM
Version        : 0
Response Format: 1
Vendor_info    : 'LITE-ON '
Identifikation : 'LTR-16101B      '
Revision       : 'TS0L'
Device seems to be: Generic mmc CD-RW.
Using generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-R driver (mmc_cdr).
Driver flags   : SWABAUDIO
Drive buf size : 1658880 = 1620 KB
FIFO size      : 25165824 = 24576 KB
Track 01: data  586 MB        
Total size:     673 MB (66:42.16) = 300162 sectors
Lout start:     673 MB (66:44/12) = 300162 sectors
Current Secsize: 2048
ATIP info from disk:
  Indicated writing power: 4
  Is not unrestricted
  Is not erasable
  Disk sub type: Medium Type A, high Beta category (A+) (3)
  ATIP start of lead in:  -11079 (97:34/21)
  ATIP start of lead out: 359849 (79:59/74)
Disk type:    Long strategy type (Cyanine, AZO or similar)
Manuf. index: 11
Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Blocks total: 359849 Blocks current: 359849 Blocks remaining: 59687
Starting to write CD/DVD at speed 16 in write mode for single session.
Last chance to quit, starting real write in 1 seconds.
Waiting for reader process to fill input buffer ... input buffer ready.
Performing OPC...
Starting new track at sector: 0
Track 01: 586 of 586 MB written (fifo 100%).
Track 01: Total bytes read/written: 614727680/614727680 (300160
sectors).
Writing  time:  212.396s
Fixating...
Fixating time:   19.755s
cdrecord: fifo had 9683 puts and 9683 gets.
cdrecord: fifo was 0 times empty and 2987 times full, min fill was 98%.

-- 
Bryan "TheBS" Smith    mailto:b.j.smith@ieee.org    chat:thebs413
Engineer  Absolute Value Systems, Inc.  http://www.linux-wlan.org
President     SmithConcepts, Inc.    http://www.SmithConcepts.com