Media Test Results

    Each brand is tested twice at speed of 32X, 40X and finally 48X. This means a total of 6 CD for each brand and a grand total of 102 (6*17=102) to be consumed! I created a Test folder (a diverse mix of big and small file sizes) consisting of normal word documents, excel tables, powerpoint slides, pdf files, executables, mpeg, avi, mp3. Total size is 703mb. For media not certified for 40X / 48X, Smart-Burn will be turned off. Fastest time recorded and tabulated below.

Explanation

    Based on the results, burning at 48X fails to yield a marked decrease in timings as compared to burning at 40X. The Lite-On drive seems to be extremely picky when it comes to different brands of CD-R medias and most of the bunch that it recognize can be used at 48X?! The  The writing quality is very good at 32X/40X but at 48X, it's very subjective. On further investigation, I realised that there is a distinct pause during the last 5-10mins of the burning process (normally the Lead In/Lead out). The drive comes to a COMPLETE stop and then it spins down and up repeatedly, 'struggling' to read the CD-R. This is what I call the "hanging moment". If it gets past this stage, you should be fine. If not, the drive will keep trying and ultimately freezing your PC. The only media that didn't have this problem is the 40X rated CD-R from Ridata. The transition is smooth with a slight drop in speed only toward the very end. See illustration below.

Example of 'Hanging' - Still burning at over 4 mins

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