Lite-On 52x24x52x: An Owner's 1st Impression

[Spazmogen]

When I woke up this afternoon, I had a whole hour to myself.
So, I thought I'd try my hand with Mt. Rainier and cd-rw's.

I started with a full erase on the 24x cd-rw disc.

Using InCD 3.37 (Win98SE) I formated the disc in Mt. Rainier.

I was shocked how fast that was.

It was so fast, I didn't get a chance to time it the 1st time.

So I erased it and formated again.

This time I had my stop watch running.

It took a full 18 seconds. From the time it started until the pop up window appeared.

18 Seconds! Wow!

Mt. Rainier does not format the whole writing surface of the disc as does Direct CD. That's why it's so fast formatting.

I then tried a 479mb bulk file transfer from a 7200rpm IBM to the 24x cd-rw. It took just over 5 minutes. What about quality?


I then tried the same procedure with a Verbatim 10x cd-rw.

Formatting was also 18 seconds. This time the same 479mb file transfer was just over 8 minutes. A little slower, but still ok. Quality was pretty much the same as the cd-rw 24x disc.

Remember, if you're transfering large 400mb files, why waste disc space & time by formatting with Mt. Rainier? Just use the whole cd-rw disc like you would use a cd-r disc!

If you're like me, you may keep a few formatted discs lying around. I use mine for the latest drivers & patches, but I also keep the last known good drivers on them in case the new ones don't work.

The largest files I tend to send to the InCD discs is around 75mb.

Overall, I'm impressed with it.

The downside: a 650mb disc formatted allowed a useable space of 503mb.

[dodecahedron]

Mt. Rainier does not format the whole writing surface of the disc as does Direct CD. That's why it's so fast formatting.
...
This time the same 479mb file transfer was just over 8 minutes. A little slower, but still ok. Quality was pretty much the same as the cd-rw 24x disc.

Mt. Rainier does background formatting...you can start using the disc while it is still formatting the rest of the surface in the background.

spazmogen, i wonder if the results would be any bettter if you let background formatting finish before you start writing to the disc - if the recording time would be faster, and maybe also the quality better. in many reviews, the recording time is different while formatting is still going on or when it's done.
(of course this defeats the purpose of background formatting. but still i'm interested to see if the results would be better).

The downside: a 650mb disc formatted allowed a useable space of 503mb.

this is normal for packet-writing formatted CDs.

[Spazmogen]

Oddly enough, I thought that it was formatting in the background too.

But, I don't think it is.

There was no disc activity at all after the pop up window was displayed.

I used to have an HP drive that had 'fast format' for direct cd. It did the back ground format too, but it was always showing drive activity.

As for the formatted capacity-I was aware of the space limitation-but some people may get caught off guard by it.

I've yet to try out an 80 min rw disc, but I assume you get the same 503mb after formatting, but I'll have to try it myself this weekend.

When you try and eject it for the 1st time, it has to close the session or something. It takes about 1 minute to finish doing.

[Ian]

Yeah, it doesn't show up in the activity LED. It's really weird.

[Spazmogen]

I'll try onther one later on Friday and post the results.

This time, I'll let it sit for 10 minutes before I try and use it.

[jase]

man this thread is giving me one more reason to update my lite-on 48x to the 52x, besides, there dirt cheap, for like $75 at newegg.com

Can't you just overclock the 48x to a 52x?

Must sell a couple of my old drives to finance a 52x....

Having said that, dabs.com have a TEAC 48x listed as being for sale next week. That would seem to me to be in the running. Anyone seen a 48x TEAC in the flesh?

Then of course there's the ultra-cheap Aopen 52x which has just been released. So many drives... hmmmmmm....

BTW The Aopen 32x/40x can't be overclocked to 48x Tried last night. Hopefully Artec will release their 48x firmware as I'm reliably informed that that firmware will work on the Aopen/Artec 32x/40x drives.

This LiteOn does seem like another very nice drive. Must source one out.

That 52x CMC disc was fantastic!

<shudders> CMC discs are evil. I don't care what you say

[Tolyngee]

On a more serious note, I hate to see the troubles you are reporting so far. I haven't done any CD-RW testing on a modern CD-RW drive, so I wonder if CD-RW's never burn as well as regular CD-R's. There was a thread around here where some people were reporting that they don't use CD-RW because they have been burned (no pun intended) too many times by CD-RW failures. I fall into that same boat. Three to four years ago when I first purchased a CD-RW drive, I did use CD-RW media because at the time there was an economic incentive to do so. But they all became unreadable in very short order, so I lost confidence in them and switched to CD-R only. And with the way CD-R media prices dropped, I have never looked back.

That's interesting to read! 2.5+ years ago (sounds like more than enough time according to your experience) I burned 50-100+ cd-rws, and, last time I checked, they're readable (I cannot speak for c2 errors, as I didn't know to check for 'em back then). When I have time, I think I will go back and check 'em all.

Would it NOT be very interesting if (as of my last check) they are all fine!? (I believe they were all burned with a Ricoh burner...)

That drop in speed while reading is odd too. I don't recall every seeing a smooth roll-off in speed like that. Usually the drive shifts to distinctly lower speed when it encounters problems reading a disc.

I think that graph is an average of sorts. I have cd-rs that have trouble reading at the very end (at least on my older cd-rw drives), and would knock the speed down from 32x/40x/48x reading to a very slow 8x. At least that was what drive speed reported it had done, and could be verified by doing yet another cd speed, where it would stay at that speed. But the initial cd speed graph gave the same picture.

FWIW, this can also start to be semi-verified by looking at write speed graphs of Z-CLV burns... They drop off before they go up, and we all know the drive isn't slowing down the burn before it speeds it up...

[Tolyngee]

As for the formatted capacity-I was aware of the space limitation-but some people may get caught off guard by it.

I've yet to try out an 80 min rw disc, but I assume you get the same 503mb after formatting, but I'll have to try it myself this weekend.

I can verify that 74m and 80m packet-write-enabled cd-rws yield different storage capacities...

Been 2.5 years since I have used either, so, frankly no, I don't remember the capacities...

503mb sounds right, so probably ~503*14/13=~541mb...

Didn't use it for long though, as not only did you lose capacity, but the writing was slow, and only marginally less of a hassle for my usage...

[dodecahedron]

i think about 536MB for an 80min CDRW

[Spazmogen]

Today, I started playing with Smart Burn.

Smart Burn is not really part of the drive, it's software.

As a result, I'll simply be modifying my original post on page 5 of The Wizard's Media thread: http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... &start=125

I had some interesting results.

Rule #1: Disable Clone CD's Hide CD-R option, or Smart Burn doesn't run.

Next up:
some 80 minute 4x cd-rw next with InCD.

[Spazmogen]

I just formatted a 700mb 4x rated Memorex Disc.

It also took about 18 seconds until the pop up window appeared.

539mb formatted capacity. So I was wrong about the 650mb & 700mb having the same capacities.

Now there is NO drive activity at all. The disc is not spinning, there's no back ground formatting going on. It's only been about 1 minute since I started the whole formatting procedure.

This is odd. But the disc is ready to go!

[Spazmogen]

More on the Lite-On 24x cd-rw disc:

The disc is flawless at both 10x & 16x. I started getting an average of 30% damaged when written at 24x.

I would have to recommend not using the Lite-On branded disc that comes with the retail drive at a speed higher then 16x.

The files did verify at ALL speeds, so whatever damage there was at 24x was very minor.

I've ordered a 10 pack of Verbatim 24x cd-rw's from Amazon.com.
I'll post more results in about a month when I have returned from Florida with them.

Oh. Burn Times.

652mb files.

10x: 8:06 no errors at all.
16x: 5:08 no errors at all.
24x: 4:56 30% damaged.

I recommend Ultra Speed discs at 16x, until I can test the Verbatims.

[Spazmogen]

I just formatted the 24x cd-rw disc again. This time with InCD 3.51.61

It only took about 18 seconds.

[lppnet]

Oh! The time difference between 16x and 24x re-write is so small only. Why it uses CAV rather than P-CAV since the CAV is so slow? Is CAV provides better quality?

[buff nasty]

OK, this might show how stupid I am but that's OK. I was just wondering, I saw up above on the first picture that it says that it supports CD-Text, CD+G and C@ Errors. What do these mean? What are they exactly? Also, how do you scan your discs after a burn to find whether or not they have bad sectors, I have been trying to figure out how to do this and can't.

[Alejandra]

Today I got my 52246S, is nice to see no speed drops with Benq and CMC media, with Ritek I got drops.

[lppnet]

can anyone answer my previous question? thanks.

[cfitz]

can anyone answer my previous question? thanks.

This might shed some light:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... 8599#38599

cfitz

[BB88]

Anyone else used the Verbatim 24x media from Amazon? $13.95 for 10 24x cd-rw is really a steal....

[TheWizard]

A steal is right, buy two 10-packs and get free shipping at Amazon.com.

[BB88]

That's a robbery !

[Alejandra]

That's a robbery !

For CDR sure it is, but for CDRW at 24x is not.

[cfitz]

I think BB88 meant the price is so good it is like robbing Amazon, not the other way around (the price is so bad it is like being robbed by Amazon)

cfitz

[BB88]

You own me cfitz

[Spazmogen]

Here's another update.

We'll I returned from Florida with my luggage crammed with alcohol & CD-RW discs.

I tested the Verbatim 24x CD-RW's.

They are 100% excellent @ 24x. Not one error on the whole disc. I tested it several times too.

My hunch about the Lite On 24x RW disc that came with the drive was right, it's got problems @ 24x.

If you're going to use Ultra-Speed RW discs at all, get the Verbatim 24x RW.

For High Speed (4x-10x) I recommend Jensen 700mb discs from Circuit City in the USA.



I burned them @ 12x with not one error on the disc.

$6.99 for 5 discs is expensive, but the quality is there that I was looking for.

I also bought a spindle (100 discs) of 99 minute discs from www.yesbuy.net

The drive made a 98:50 audio cd @ 8x with out an error on the entire disc!