Memorex 52/24/52 CD-RW Quickie Preview

[cfitz]

psych0naut and vinnie97,

Because psych0naut initially reported that he used a bin file (6WS2.BIN) for the update and not a pre-packaged exe, I had assumed that psych0naut was using mtkflash from the beginning but it wasn't able to restore his drive. Apparently I made the classic "assume" mistake, because psych0naut's later post said he didn't know about mtkflash and how to use it. Which brings me to my questions:

psych0naut - how did you originally flash the drive?

vinnie97 - do you have firm knowledge that mtkflash can restore a drive that has been brain-damaged by a bad flash, even without using reset jumpers, etc? (of course, anyone with a definitive answer to this is welcome to answer also)

Thanks,

cfitz

[KuoH]

I don't have any definitive answers, but I have read posts on other forums hinting that setting the jumper isn't always necessary, but it probably depends on which chipset is used.

There is one way to be sure though. Kill power to the computer during a flash, then try and restore the firmware. Do you feel lucky today?

KuoH

vinnie97 - do you have firm knowledge that mtkflash can restore a drive that has been brain-damaged by a bad flash, even without using reset jumpers, etc? (of course, anyone with a definitive answer to this is welcome to answer also)

[cfitz]

There is one way to be sure though. Kill power to the computer during a flash, then try and restore the firmware. Do you feel lucky today?

Nope, 'cause I only counted four shots...

cfitz

[KuoH]

Punk!

KuoH

[vinnie97]

cfitz, no, I cannot guarantee, but if anyone here wants to tempt fate, they should feel more than welcome to.

I don't have any guinea pig drives, atm, altho I have an old Yamaha 4x4x16 that could be put to use.

[coolestnitish]

Is the Lite-On 52x24x52x available in stores across the US?? I mean the actual Lite-On not the rebadged models.

[eliminator]

Genuine, retail box was never available in stores, just online (that I know of)



http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.a ... 14&order=1

$79

[Action Jackson]

Is the Lite-On 52x24x52x available in stores across the US?? I mean the actual Lite-On not the rebadged models.

Why shop from the US when we Canadians can get it slightly cheaper with direct pickup [if you live near the stores in BC or ON]:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=7043

Okay, our insane sales tax kinda nullify the price differences.

[coolestnitish]

I live in Mississauga (near Toronto) but I haven't seen any 52x24x52x drives out in any computer stores in Toronto or Mississauga.
Well, Americans are telling us that the drive is only available online currently, so it will take time to come to Canada. Jus hoping it'll be here before Christmas.
PS: BestBuy Canada has almost the same products as the American Best Buys so we might find a rebadged Memorex, and others there. By the way who makes those Digital Research drives which are sold like pop-corn at Best Buys?

[Robotnik]

Is the Lite-On 52x24x52x available in stores across the US?? I mean the actual Lite-On not the rebadged models.

Okay, our insane sales tax kinda nullify the price differences.

You guys have GST right? Do you know where your government got the for that tax?

[coolestnitish]

did we get it from the "Great Britain"

[Action Jackson]

I live in Mississauga (near Toronto) but I haven't seen any 52x24x52x drives out in any computer stores in Toronto or Mississauga.
Well, Americans are telling us that the drive is only available online currently, so it will take time to come to Canada. Jus hoping it'll be here before Christmas.
PS: BestBuy Canada has almost the same products as the American Best Buys so we might find a rebadged Memorex, and others there. By the way who makes those Digital Research drives which are sold like pop-corn at Best Buys?

We hardly have any 48/16/48's let alone that 52x. You're right, our market is saturated with 48/12/48's.

FYI, I called TY Computers [from the link in that post] and they didn't have any 52x LiteON's in stock, so I ordered one. Maybe by tomorrow or Friday I'll have my grubby little hands on one.

[cfitz]

Here's a little preview to give you an idea of what to expect from Memorex's new 52x writer.

<snip>

Check out those RPM's. The thing starts writing at 23x and spins at about 11,000 RPM.

<snip>

How about rewriting? It uses CAV like the TDK veloCD 48x.

So, does anyone have any theories as to why the LiteOn-based drives only rewrite at 24x CAV as opposed to 24x P-CAV (e.g. Yamaha CRW-F1) or even 24x CLV? The drives can obviously rewrite at 24x at the end of the disc, since that is where the rewrite speed peaks. And they can obviously write CD-R's at darn near 24x at the beginning of the disc, as noted by Ian's report that CD-R writing begins at 23x. So why can't they do rewriting at 24x across the whole disc? Is CD-RW rewriting significantly more difficult than CD-R writing, so the fact that a drive can write CD-R's at 23x at the beginning of the disc doesn't mean that drive can do the same when rewriting a CD-RW?

cfitz

[Ian]

Well, CAV can deliver better performance when reading and writing to UDF formatted discs. If you're accessing files all over the disc, its faster because the drive doesn't need to change rotation speeds.

[cfitz]

That makes sense if one is doing packet writing. I guess, then, that it boils down to a decision that it isn't worth LiteOn's effort/expense to provide two 24x rewriting modes - CAV for packet writing and CLV for TAO/DAO writing. And, if only one mode is going to be supported, they choose to support the mode that is likely to benefit the presumed majority of CD-RW usage - packet writing.

Thanks Ian. I should have read your CRW-F1 review more thoroughly. I now see that you did explain this and also detailed the F1's ability, when using InCD, to select between CAV and P-CAV rewriting modes.

By the way, I noticed that in your test of the F1, P-CAV rewriting actually did better than CAV. I'm assuming that is because you were writing one big, contiguous block of files rather than writing files randomly scattered throughout the disc. Do you or anyone else now have any test data for random writing?

cfitz

[Ian]

We use a bunch of files, instead of one big image when testing packet writing.... but anyway, that wasn't your main question.

I'm not really sure if its a noticeable benefit. You might see performance increase if you're editing or overwriting a bunch of files, but how often do you do that? That might be an interesting test..

[cfitz]

Yes, I read that you copy some 400 MBytes worth of files onto the CD-RW drive to test the CD-RW performance. But, since they are all being copied in one big copy and paste operation, the OS can still write them to the drive in a linear fashion, giving the advantage to P-CAV over CAV.

In order to really test the potential benefit of CAV in random access rewriting, we would need to fill the CD-RW with a bunch of files so that those files are distributed throughout the disc, and then rewrite (or, as you say, edit) those files on a random basis. Even this might not be a true test since the filesystem cache could reorganize the writes to be more linear. We would have to force file write-through to guarantee that the drive actually seeks and writes.

Hmm, this might not be too hard to gin up...

cfitz

[tHatDudeUK]

I am thinking of buying a 52x. But the way Lite-on releases burners, its not far before they release a 56x.

Hmmmm. It's difficult to even get 40X media, never mind 52X

[eliminator]

maybe / maybe not ... more likely will just increase r-w to 32x...

[coolestnitish]

Its hard to find even Fuji 48x media locally here. But I will still buy the 52x drive even though 48x is $30 cheaper, I'll be replacing my LG 40x and I want a drive which is a lot faster than that too....lol.. if they made drives according to speeds i wanted, fire departments around the world would unite to ban optical storage..lol.
I think the same, after that news article a couple of weeks ago, 52x will be max write, probably make RW to 36x just like elim said.

[eliminator]

what do 52x lite-ons & clones go for in Canada ?

maybe you should order one from a US friend !?

[Action Jackson]

what do 52x lite-ons & clones go for in Canada ?

maybe you should order one from a US friend !?

$119 + [depending on Province] 15% tax in Canada.

or $77 USD + tax. This info is 2 weeks old.

[Spazmogen]

I've had mine for around a week now and I'm still happy with it.

I'm even happier now that I got paid for the old LG 16x drive!

The Lite On 24x cd-rw disc is 100% fine @ 10x & 16x, but 24x causes errors all over the disc. But the files verified in Nero, so the errors were minor. I've ordered a 10 pack of Verbatim 24x cd-rw discs, I'll post my results with those in early December when I return from my Florida vacation.

I think I worked it out to be around $88 USD for the Lite-On 52x24x52x, but I had to ship it cross-country. Action Jackson got to pick his up across town.

Ordering it from a US retailer and shipping to Canada is a bad idea, Canada Customs will penalize you. Not to mention the additional $ for international shipping.

[coolestnitish]

Locally, the cheapest I found the 52x24x52x is at $120. That really isn't bad at all. As more and more stores get the drive, the cheaper it becomes. As we are on the topic, Action and Spaz, where do you guys buy fast high quality media like Fuji or any other TY?? I have found a lot of 50 packs of 16 x and 32x but any faster than that??

[Spazmogen]

Staples has 48x Verbatim Super Azo in 10 packs & 48x Fuji's in 15 packs.
or were the verbatim's 40x ? The Fuji's I'm sure were 48x anyway.

Verbatim's were about $14 + gst/pst. The Fuji's were multi-coloured and $17 for 15 pack.

I just bought a 32x Verbatim (single disc) to try out. I haven't burned it yet, but Smart Burn advises it's a 32x disc, nothing more.

Verbatim Data Life Plus (Super Azo) 32x 700mb
ATIP: 97m 34s 22f
Disc Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Chemicals Corp.
Reflective layer: Dye (Long strategy; e.g. Cyanine, Azo etc.)
Media type: CD-Recordable
Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f / LBA: 359849)
SMART-BURN Speed Limit = 32X



I was hoping Staples would have the 48x discs in singles, but 10 pack was the minimum.

Also: Canadian Tire sells Sylvania 24x discs (expensive though) but Smart Burn says they're 52x compatible! I tried one with Smart Burn on and it got up to 40x and stayed there. I may try one with Smart Burn disabled and see the results. Sylvania is CMC made.

Sylvania 700mb 24x rated
ATIP: 97m 26s 66f
Disc Manufacturer: CMC Magnetics Corp.
Reflective layer: Dye (Short strategy; e.g. Phthalocyanine)
Media type: CD-Recordable
Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f / LBA: 359849)
SMART-BURN Speed Limit = 52x