Model: ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 8x USB 2.0 DVD±RW/RAM
Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer, Inc

ASUSTeK Computer is no stranger to the computer industry. A favorite among computer enthusiasts, this Taiwanese company is recognized as one of the world's leading manufacturers of computer components. While best known for their motherboards, graphics cards and notebook computers, ASUS has shown us that they're pretty serious about optical storage. Over the years, they've introduced a wide range of products for the portable and desktop markets. With their innovative technologies and impressive performance, these drives have been popular right from the start. 

With the growing popularity of ultraportable notebooks and netbooks, the portable optical drive market has experienced something of a renaissance. To keep these computers small and lightweight, manufacturers have opted not to include a built-in optical drive. As a result, netbook owners have looked to external DVD writers to backup their data and play movies. In response, ASUS has introduced its own external slim DVD writer, the SDRW-08D1S-U. This stylish and compact drive is capable of 8x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 6x DVD±R DL and 5x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 8x. A truly portable solution, the SDRW-08D1S-U is also USB powered, eliminating the need for an AC adapter.

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what the SDRW-08D1S-U has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect from ASUS's new DVD writer, we'll take a look at some of  the drive's features and then put it through its paces to see how it performs. Is the SDRW-08D1S-U the best choice for the person on the go? Read on as we find out.


 


What's in the box?:

  • ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 8x USB 2.0 DVD±RW/RAM Drive
  • Quick Installation Guide
  • Software CD
  • Vertical Drive Stand
  • USB Y Cable

Physical Features:

The drive ASUS sent us for this review was manufactured in April of 2009 and had firmware 1.02. At the time of this review, this is the only firmware available for the SDRW-08D1S-U.

The ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U is one of the smallest DVD writers to come through the 'Labs. Measuring 156.4 x 140.8 x 21 mm, it's not much larger than a couple of jewel cases stacked on top of one another. The drive is also constructed of a lightweight, black plastic. The glossy finish looks nice, but it scratches easily and finger prints and smudges have a tendency to stand out.

Aside from the large "ASUS" logo, the top of the SDRW-08D1S-U is fairly plain. On the bottom of the drive you can see four small rubber feet as well as a rubber rectangle. The rectangle covers the open space where the stand attaches to the drive.

The LED and eject button are located along the front of the SDRW-08D1S-U.  This LED lights up green when both reading and writing. 

Along the rear, you can see the SDRW-08D1S-U's USB 2.0 interface. This connector not only transfers data but provides power for the drive. To ensure that the SDRW-08D1S-U gets the power it needs, ASUS includes a special USB cable that plugs into two ports on your computer.

Technical Specs:

Most of the specs below have been taken from ASUS's website and the manual that came with the drive.

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 8x USB 2.0 DVD±RW/RAM
DVD+R Write Speeds 8x (CAV)
4x (P-CAV)
2.4x (CLV)
DVD+RW Write Speeds 8x, 4x (Z-CLV)
3.3x, 2.4x (CLV)
DVD-R Write Speeds 8x (CAV)
4x (P-CAV)
2x (CLV)
DVD-RW Write Speeds 6x, 4x (Z-CLV)
2x (CLV)
DVD+R DL Write Speeds 6x, 4x (Z-CLV)
2.4x (CLV)
DVD-R DL Write Speeds 6x, 4x (Z-CLV)
2x (CLV)
DVD-RAM Write Speeds 5x (P-CAV)
3x, 2x (CLV)
CD Write Speeds 24x, 16x (Z-CLV)
10x (CLV)
CD Rewrite Speeds 16x (Z-CLV)
10x, 4x (CLV)
DVD Read Speeds 8x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer)
8x Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer)
8x Max (DVD±R)
8x Max (DVD±RW)
6x Max (DVD±R DL)
5x Max (DVD-RAM)
CD Read Speed 24x Max
DAE Speed 24x Max
Buffer Size 2MB
Access Times
160 ms (DVD-ROM)
140 ms (CD-ROM)
CD Formats CD-DA
Photo CD
Video CD
CD-Extra
CD-Text
CD-R
CD-RW
DVD Formats DVD-ROM
DVD-R/RW
DVD+R/RW
DVD+R DL
DVD-R DL
DVD-RAM
CD Recording Modes Track At Once
Session At Once
Disc At Once
Packet Writing
DVD+R Recording Modes Sequential Recording
Multi-Session
DVD+RW Recording Modes Random Write
DVD+R DL Recording Modes Sequential Recording
Multi-Session
DVD-R Recording Modes Disc At Once
Incremental Recording
Multi-Border
DVD-RW Recording Modes Disc At Once
Restricted Overwrite
Incremental Recording
Multi-Border
DVD-R DL Recording Modes Disc At Once
Incremental Recording
Multi-Border

By looking at the picture below, you can see that ASUS's new DVD writer is identified as an "ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U."


Nero also shows that the SDRW-08D1S-U has a maximum CD writing speed of 24x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by ASUS's FlextraLink technology. According to Nero, the SDRW-08D1S-U can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that the drive was able to overburn up to 95:10 with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media. 

Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the SDRW-08D1S-U is a "two sheep" burner and is capable of backing titles protected by SafeDisc 2.90. Like most drives, it did not pass the "three sheep" test.

Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the SDRW-08D1S-U's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.

InfoTool also shows that the SDRW-08D1S-U is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware.  The drive's region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. Unfortunately, a patched RPC-1 firmware is not yet available for this drive.

While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the SDRW-08D1S-U's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities.  By looking at the screenshot above you can see that while ASUS's new drive can read and write to most DVD formats, it does not support technologies like LightScribe or Labelflash.

The SDRW-08D1S-U doesn't let you set the book type of single layer DVD+R or DVD+RW media. However, the drive automatically sets the book type for DVD+R DL discs to "DVD-ROM". This greatly reduces compatibility problems, especially with older DVD players.


For the SDRW-08D1S-U's software bundle, ASUS has turned to CyberLink. The CD that comes with the drive contains a stripped down version of the CyberLink DVD Suite which includes a single application: Power2Go 6 LE.

CyberLink Power2Go 6 LE - Power2Go is the main disc burning program included with the SDRW-08D1S-U. With this software, users can create their own CD's and DVD's, copy and erase discs and rip audio CD's to WMA or WAV files.  Power2Go also offers enhanced security features, allowing you to password protect and encrypt the files on your discs.

Unfortunately, the SDRW-08D1S-U does not come with PowerDVD or any other DVD playback software. If you want to play DVD movies on your notebook or netbook, you will need to go out and buy your own playback software.

While small in size, ASUS's external slim DVD writer isn't short on features. The SDRW-08D1S-U supports most CD and DVD formats and offers some of the fastest writing speeds available on a portable unit. The drive is capable of 8x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 6x DVD±R DL and 5x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 8x. The SDRW-08D1S-U also includes features like a 2MB buffer and a USB 2.0 interface that provides power for the drive. Unfortunately, it lacks bitsetting support for single layer DVD+R and DVD+RW media and comes with a less than impressive software bundle. Even then, the SDRW-08D1S-U scores a solid 8 out of 10 for its features.


ASUS's new portable DVD writer was very easy to install. Thanks to its USB 2.0 interface, the entire installation process took only a matter of minutes.  With no jumpers to worry about, it was as simple as connecting the USB cable. Once connected to our test computer, it took only a matter of seconds for plug and play to install the necessary drivers. After making sure that the drive was recognized correctly in the Device Manager, I was ready to start installing the software.

Software Installation:

As I mentioned earlier, the SDRW-08D1S-U comes with a CD full of software from CyberLink. If you have autorun enabled on your computer, the menu pictured below will automatically come up when you insert the disc.

As you can see, this menu is pretty straight forward. To start the setup process, simply click on the "Install Power2Go 6 LE" button. After selecting your preferred language and entering your customer information, the setup program will install Power2Go, ASUS's firmware update utility and the Turbo USB drivers onto your computer. With a drive like the SDRW-08D1S-U, the Turbo USB drivers really aren't necessary. However, they're available if you need them.

The Documentation:

Like ASUS's other DVD writers, the SDRW-08D1S-U doesn't offer much in the way of documentation.  The closest thing to a manual is the drive's "Quick Installation Guide". This small, fold out guide is broken up into 33 different languages with everything, but English, getting less than half a page worth of instructions. As you can imagine, the instructions are very brief. Thankfully, there are also a few small diagrams showing how to hook the drive up to your computer and attach the included stand. If you're looking for things like the SDRW-08D1S-U's specs or system requirements, you'll have to check the back of the box or visit ASUS's website. You won't find that information in the guide.

In the end, installing the SDRW-08D1S-U was very easy. I had no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working. The documentation included with the drive is brief, but should be enough to get the drive up and running. Nevertheless, I still would have liked to have seen a little more drive specific information. With this in mind, I give the installation an 8 out of a possible 10.


While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.

Test System:

CPU:  AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4GHz 
Motherboard: ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe with BIOS 0304
Memory: Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400
Video Card: MSI NX7900GT-T2D256E - ForceWare v93.71
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0Gb/s 320GB
Operating System: Windows XP SP2 - NVIDIA nForce v9.16

For DVD writers the performance tests are broken down into four sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read and DVD write tests. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 and CD Speed are used to test transfer speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing, CD Speed is used to give an overall speed rating and is used in combination with CD DAE to see how well a drive reads scratched and dirty discs.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks, CD Speed is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write a 4.38GB image to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. For this, 4GB of random files and directories are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

CD Winbench 99 Scores:

   ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U
CD Winbench 99 1110 KB/sec
Transfer Rate: Inside 1730 KB/sec
Transfer Rate: Outside 3480 KB/sec
Random Access Time 133ms
CPU Utilization 4.21%

The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.

ASUS's new portable DVD writer performed fairly well in the CD Winbench portion of our tests. In the transfer speed tests, the drive started reading at about 11.5x on the inside of the CD and was able to reach 23.2x on the outside of the disc. While this helped give the SDRW-08D1S-U a respectable overall score, its access time was not as low as some of the other portable drives we've looked at.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.


 

 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

18.10x 10.44x 23.88x 140ms 170ms 292ms 1% 2% 3% 6%


The SDRW-08D1S-U didn't perform as well as I had expected when reading pressed CD's. While rated at 24x, ASUS's new portable drive came up short of this number in our tests. Looking at the other scores, its seek times were also a little higher than we'd like to see.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-R Media:

For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.


 

 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

18.35x 10.48x 24.26x 140ms 173ms 302ms 1% 1% 3% 6%

The SDRW-08D1S-U was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this small speed boost, it had no problems reaching a maximum transfer speed of 24x in our tests.

ASUS's portable DVD writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The SDRW-08D1S-U read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 24.71x.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-RW Media

For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests.



 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

18.18x 10.53x 23.94x 141ms 171ms 295ms 1% 1% 3% 6%

The SDRW-08D1S-U also reads CD-RW media at 24x. As you can see, the drive came very close to reaching this speed in our tests.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (DAE) - Pressed CD:

For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.

Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that while the ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U supports accurate stream and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from the CD, it does not cache audio data.


 
CD Speed Average Start End Quality Accurate
Stream
ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 14.91x 8.71x 19.71x 10 Yes

For a portable drive, the SDRW-08D1S-U did farily well in our DAE tests. The drive started out at 8.71x and reached a maximum speed of 19.71x.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (DAE) - CD-R Media:

For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.

 
CD Speed Average Start End Quality Accurate
Stream
ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 14.76x 8.72x 19.48x 10 Yes

The SDRW-08D1S-U was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media. This time around, it reached a maximum DAE speed of 19.48x. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

ASUS's portable DVD writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 14.04x. While the drive was able to go through the tests without creating any errors, it was unable to pass all of the on the fly copying tests. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the SDRW-08D1S-U was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and lead in but failed to read the lead out section of the CD.

To see how well the SDRW-08D1S-U can read scratched and dirty discs, I used CD Speed's ScanDisc utility to see how many sectors were damaged or unreadable. This is a very rough, but good way to test the drive's error correcting abilities.


CD Speed - ScanDisc

The SDRW-08D1S-U didn't handle scratched discs as well as some of the other DVD writers we've looked at. While there weren't any unreadable sectors on the disc, the drive considered 76% of the CD to be "damaged."

You can also get an idea of how well the drive can read scratched and dirty discs by using CD DAE. CD DAE will extract the audio tracks twice and then compare them. From this information we can see what the drive's average speed was and how many errors it generated.  

CD DAE Avg. Speed Errors % of Disc
ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 14.0x 2945877 0.38%

ASUS's portable DVD writer did much better this time around. The scratches on the disc had little effect on the drive's speed and the number of errors remained relatively low.


CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0 and Drag-to-Disc 9.0:

For this test I randomly generated 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.

The SDRW-08D1S-U has a maximum CD writing speed of 24x. To reach this speed, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the drive uses a total of five "zones." The SDRW-08D1S-U starts writing at 10x and quickly jumps to 12x at the 5 minute mark. When it reaches the 18 minute mark, the drive changes to 16x and then to 20x at the 39 minute mark. The drive writes at this speed until about the 65 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 24x and stays there until the end of the session.

To test the drive's writing times,  I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden media rated at 52x. The results are below.

  Write Tests

701MB
79:44:21

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

5:34

The SDRW-08D1S-U took about five and a half minutes to write an entire 701MB CD. While most of the internal writers we've looked at lately can do this in half the time, this is pretty good for a portable drive.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52327S (firmware QS09) and read the discs at 32x. 


Moser Baer 52x


Taiyo Yuden 52x


Verbatim 52x

The SDRW-08D1S-U's writing quality was very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors. More importantly, there were no C2 errors at all. 

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using Drag-to-Disc from Roxio. Verbatim's 24x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

The SDRW-08D1S-U also uses Z-CLV when rewriting at 16x. The drive starts writing at 10x and jumps to 16x at about the 18 minute mark. 

  Nero
400MB
D-to-D
Write
D-to-D
Read
Quick
Erase
Full
Erase
ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 4:02 4:19 0:56 0:25 5:59

ASUS's portable DVD writer did fairly well in our rewriting tests. The drive took 4:02 to write 400MB with Nero and 4:19 to do the same with Drag-to-Disc. Erasing wasn't a problem for the SDRW-08D1S-U either. In our tests, it took 25 seconds to do a quick erase and 5:59 to fully erase the disc.


Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-ROM:

For this test I used a single layer, single sided data DVD-ROM disc that is 4.37GB in size.


 

 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

6.05x 3.36x 8.09x 144ms 185ms 315ms 7% 12% 23% 51%

The SDRW-08D1S-U performed relatively well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 3.36x and reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8.09x. Unfortunately, like in our CD read tests, the drive's seek times were pretty high.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disc using some general use 8x DVD-R and 6x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. For the DVD-RAM tests, media from Maxell was used. The results are below.


Verbatim DVD-R
 

 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

6.06x 3.36x 8.10x 153ms 189ms 312ms 7% 26% 23% 50%


Verbatim DVD-RW

 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

6.07x 3.36x 8.12x 152ms 192ms 317ms 7% 26% 23% 50%

 


Verbatim DVD-R DL
 

 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

4.52x 2.51x 6.02x 159ms 191ms 324ms 6% 12% n/a n/a

The SDRW-08D1S-U had no problems reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. In our tests, the drive was able to read DVD-R and DVD-RW media at 8x, but slowed to 6x when reading DVD-R DL discs.


Maxell 5x DVD-RAM
 

 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

4.62x 2.82x 5.01x 200ms 230ms 359ms 15% 29% 56% n/a

ASUS's new drive has a maximum transfer speed of 5x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot you can see that it starts reading at about 2.8x and then accelerates, reaching 5x at about the 1.6GB mark. 

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disc using some 8x DVD+R and 8x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.


Verbatim DVD+R
 

 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

6.06x 3.36x 8.11x 153ms 187ms 317ms 7% 26% 24% 50%


Verbatim DVD+RW

 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

6.08x 3.38x 8.13x 154ms 193ms 315ms 7% 27% 25% 53%


Verbatim DVD+R DL
 

 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

4.52x 2.51x 6.02x 160ms 191ms 317ms 6% 12% n/a n/a

The SDRW-08D1S-U's performance was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. The drive read DVD+R and DVD+RW media at 8x and DVD+R DL discs at 6x.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.



 

 

Transfer Speed Seek Times CPU Usage
Average Start End Random 1/3 Full 1x 2x 4x 8x

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U

2.98x 1.65x 3.99x 161ms 199ms 326ms 7% 12% 76% n/a

The SDRW-08D1S-U wasn't nearly as fast when reading DVD videos. In our tests, it reached a maximum speed of only 4x when reading both single and dual layer discs.

To see how well the SDRW-08D1S-U worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith using Nero Showtime. The drive had no problems playing back these movies and was fairly quiet.


DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0 and Drag-to-Disc 9.0:

To test the DVD writing performance of ASUS's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW and 8x DVD+RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.


Verbatim 16x DVD+R

 


Verbatim 16x DVD-R

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 8x, the SDRW-08D1S-U uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that ASUS's new drive starts writing at about 3.4x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.


Verbatim 8x DVD+RW

 


Verbatim 6x DVD-RW

The SDRW-08D1S-U also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. In both cases, the drive uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum writing speed.

  DVD+R DVD-R DVD+RW DVD-RW
ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 11:04 11:21 12:02 13:06

The SDRW-08D1S-U performed as expected in our DVD writing tests. While not as fast as some of the internal DVD writers we've looked at recently, it turned in some respectable times with DVD±R and DVD±RW media.

To check the media compatibility of the SDRW-08D1S-U, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below.

  Manufacturer ID Max
Write Speed
Average
Write Time
Moser Baer 16x DVD+R MBIPG101 R05 8x 11:11
Sony 16x DVD+R SONYD21 8x 11:09
Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD+R YUDEN000T03 8x 11:08
Verbatim 16x DVD+R MCC-004 8x 11:04
Moser Baer 16x DVD-R MBI 01RG40 8x 11:18
Sony 16x DVD-R SONY16D1 8x 11:11
Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD-R TYG03 8x 11:14
Verbatim 16x DVD-R MCC 03RG20 8x 11:21

So what about writing quality? Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates. For these tests I used a Lite-On SHM-165H6S (firmware HS0E) and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter. 


Moser Baer 16x DVD+R @ 8x
(
MBIPG101 R05)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate


Sony 16x DVD+R @ 8x
(SONYD21
)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate


Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD+R @ 8x
(
YUDEN000T02)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate


Verbatim 16x DVD+R @ 8x
(
MCC-004)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate

The SDRW-08D1S-U's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media I tested. Aside from a few isolated spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits. For whatever reason though, there were some readability issues with Sony's 16x DVD+R media. If you look at the transfer rate graph, you can see that the DW1640 wasn't able to read these discs back at full speed.


Moser Baer 16x DVD-R @ 8x
(
MBI 01RG40)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate


Sony 16x DVD-R @ 8x
(SONY
16D1)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate


Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD-R @ 8x
(TYG03)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate


Verbatim 16x DVD-R @ 8x
(
MCC 03RG20)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were pretty good for the most part. While not quite as bad as what we saw with Sony's 16x DVD+R discs, there were also some readability issues with their 16x DVD-R discs.

  DVD+RW
Quick
DVD+RW
Full
DVD-RW
Quick
DVD-RW
Full
ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 0:13 12:02 0:56 13:01

To test the SDRW-08D1S-U's packet writing performance I used Drag-to-Disc 9.0. Verbatim 6x DVD-RW, Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and Maxell 5x DVD-RAM media were used once again.

  DVD+RW
Write
DVD+RW
Read
DVD-RW
Write
DVD-RW
Read
DVD-RAM
Write
DVD-RAM
Read
ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 11:16 12:29 11:05 14:10 25:07 13:37

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the SDRW-08D1S-U, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Verbatim and Memorex. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

  DVD+R DL DVD-R DL
ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 26:56 28:19

The SDRW-08D1S-U performed relatively well when writing to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media. Thanks to its 6x writing speed, the drive took 26:56 to write 8001MB of data to DVD+R DL media and 28:19 to do the same with DVD-R DL discs. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.


Verbatim 2.4x DVD+R DL @ 4x
(MKM 001)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate


Memorex 8x DVD+R DL @ 4x
(RITEK S04)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate


Verbatim 8x DVD+R DL @ 6x
(MKM 003)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate


Verbatim 8x DVD-R DL @ 6x
(
MKM 01RD30)

BenQ DW1640 - CD Speed
Transfer Rate

The writing quality was pretty good with Verbatim's DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media.. Aside from a few isolated spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits. Unfortunately, the results weren't as good with Memorex's 8x DVD+R DL media. When tested with CD Speed, the error rates were fairly high throughout the second layer of the disc.

Performance Revisited:

For a portable drive, the SDRW-08D1S-U performed pretty well in our tests. When writing DVD's, it turned in some relatively good times with DVD±R, DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media. The drive was also fairly quick when reading DVD's. In our tests, the SDRW-08D1S-U was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD±R/RW media at 8x but slowed to only 4x when reading DVD videos.

The SDRW-08D1S-U also did relatively well in our CD read tests. While its seek times were a little higher than I would have liked, the drive read data CD's at speeds as high as 24x and ripped audio CD's at 20x. Writing CD's wasn't a problem for the SDRW-08D1S-U either. The drive turned in some respectable writing times and the writing quality was quite good. With all of these things considered, the ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U gets a solid 8 out of 10 for its performance.


 

ASUS has shown us once again that their engineering expertise isn't limited to just motherboards and video cards. With the SDRW-08D1S-U, the company has delivered a compact and versatile DVD writer that offers good looks, useful features and some of the fastest reading and writing speeds available on a portable drive.

The SDRW-08D1S-U performed relatively well when writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 8x. At this speed, it took a little more than 11 minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD. The drive also did pretty well in our rewriting tests, turning in some respectable times with DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM media. Writing to DVD±R DL media wasn't a problem for the SDRW-08D1S-U either.  Thanks to its 6x writing speed, it took the drive about 28 minutes to burn 8GB of data.

Finding compatible media really wasn't an issue with the SDRW-08D1S-U. The drive wrote to all of the DVD±R media I tried at 8x and was even able to write to Verbatim's 2.4x DVD+R DL media at 4x. The SDRW-08D1S-U's writing quality was also pretty good for the most part. However, there is still room for improvement, especially with Sony manufactured DVD±R discs.

The SDRW-08D1S-U also performed fairly well in our DVD read tests. While its seek times were a little higher than I would have liked, the drive was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's as well as DVD±R and DVD±RW media at 8x. The SDRW-08D1S-U also read DVD±R DL discs at 6x, but slowed to only 4x when reading DVD-Videos.

Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the SDRW-08D1S-U either. While its seek times were again a little high, the drive read pressed and recordable CD media at speeds as high as 24x. This level of performance carried over to our DAE tests, where the drive ripped audio CD's at 20x. As a writer, the SDRW-08D1S-U performed as expected. The drive was relatively quick when writing to CD-R and CD-RW media and its writing quality was quite good.

ASUS's new DVD writer also has its share of features. A truly portable drive, the SDRW-08D1S-U is powered off a computer's USB bus. Without the need for an AC power source, you can burn and play DVD's wherever you go. The drive also features ASUS's FlextraLink buffer underrun protection as well as the ability to set the book type of DVD+R DL media. The SDRW-08D1S-U also includes a software bundle consisting of CyberLink's Power2Go. While Power2Go can burn and copy discs as well as password protect your files, you will need to pick up additional software if you plan to edit videos or playback DVD movies.

One thing the SDRW-08D1S-U definitely has going for it is its price. Available in your choice of black or white, the retail version of the drive can be picked up for about $60 through some of the online vendors listed on Pricegrabber.

ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U
8x USB 2.0 DVD±RW/RAM
Features:
Installation:
Performance:
8
8
8
Overall: 8

Highs:

  • Writes to DVD±R media at 8x
  • Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
  • Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
  • Writes to DVD±R DL media at 6x
  • Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 8x
  • Reads DVD±R and DVD±RW media at 8x
  • Reads DVD±R DL media at 6x
  • Reads and writes to DVD-RAM media at 5x
  • Features 24x CD-R and 16x CD-RW writing speeds
  • Good CD writing quality
  • Features ASUS's FlextraLink technology
  • Very compact and lightweight design
  • Powered off the USB bus
  • Supports bitsetting for DVD+R DL media
  • Includes vertical drive stand
  • Affordably priced

Lows:

  • Doesn't include any DVD playback software
  • Questionable writing quality with Sony manufactured DVD±R media
  • Bundled version of Power2Go doesn't support disc encryption
  • Reads DVD-Videos at only 4x
  • Cannot set the book type of DVD+R or DVD+RW media
  • High seek times
  • Overburns to only 95:10