CenDyne 48x24x48x CDR/W in OfficeMax is a Samsung

[weaponmaster]

Careful with that drive- I updated the firmware and screwed it up. Apparently the firmware available from samsung can not
be used for this drive, and cendyne offers no firmware for it.

One more info, the CenDyne 48x12x48 from officemax is sw248f, so it is actually a 48x24x48.

good deal

[MadOvercloker]

LeBrian, you sed that you're gonna answer me when you will get home.
Please tell me if your drive supports C2 Error Reporting in NeroInfo Tool.

Thanks

[UALOneKPlus]

Okay I gather from this post that BenQ is a bad CD-RW maker. Any other bad CD-RW brands to avoid?

[cfitz]

Okay I gather from this post that BenQ is a bad CD-RW maker. Any other bad CD-RW brands to avoid?

Acer, if you still find one anywhere. Acer is BenQ's old name.

Artec has made some duds as well, although I don't know if a general warning against them is warranted.

cfitz

[Reg-da-Ripper]

Careful with that drive- I updated the firmware and screwed it up. Apparently the firmware available from samsung can not
be used for this drive, and cendyne offers no firmware for it.

I think that there may be a workaround (emphasis on "may"). Since the SW-248F uses Ricoh's chipsets (it has JustLink buffer underrun protection), you will need to get the latest version of Ricoh's flash updater (RFlash) and Samusng's latest firmware binary for the SW-248F.

First, you'll need to use the RFlash utility to back up your current firmware. Use the Samsung binary file as the source file. The flashing in this instance will not update your firmware (if you look at the progress at the bottom, you should see where the backup completes, but the flashing "races" through to completion).

Once you back it up, save a copy of it in another location (in case of emergency). Remember the names of the backup's and Samsung's binary files. Keep RFlash and both binaries in the same folder.

Second, use RFlash once again to update the firmware . Select your drive as the target drive, and select the Samsung binary as the source file. But... before you press "Start" on RFlash, change the name of Samsung's binary to the name of the backup binary and vice versa. Keep the name of Samsung's binary file as the source file in RFlash (the file name is cached at this point). Press "Start." The flashing will begin. If you are successful with the flash update, reboot your machine. You'll have successfully converted your OEM firmware to Samsung's firmware.

The idea came from here.

Disaster recovery: Should anything fail, you should be able to reflash your drive with RFlash and the backup binary from the alternate location. The Samsung flash utility may work with this backup binary as well.

Note: I'm saying that this may work for the Samsung because I just helped a friend update an OEM AOpen CRW5224. Before the update, this burner would not accept AOpen's firmware. After the update, the burner is recognized as an AOpen-brand burner, and it accepts AOpen's firmware updates (by using RFlash).

Disclaimer: Use this method at your own risk. I cannot be held responsible for a flash update that goes bad or for an inoperable drive after a flash.

[LeBrian]

MadOvercloker,

Where can i find it in NeroInfo? I just opened it up and found nothing.

[cfitz]

Select the Samsung drive in the drop-down box at the top of the Info Tool window, then open the "Drive" tab and report whether or not the the "C2 Errors" check-box at the lower-right corner of the "Supported Read Features" sub-frame (in the middle of the main window) is checked:



The above example has the box checked.

cfitz

[LeBrian]

Yes, C2 Errors is checked. BTW, how can i post a screen capture here?[/img]

[cfitz]

We have a FAQ on that subject:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=8826

cfitz

[MadOvercloker]

thanks, I'll change the drive with an 248f.
One more question, can you run ScanDisk ?
When I run Scan Disk in CDSpeed it says that :
,, Warning! The drive is unable to report damaged sectors "
At you how it is ?


Thanks a lot

[Kennyshin]

$20? The retail Samsung 48x costs something like 4x as much in Seoul.

[cfitz]

thanks, I'll change the drive with an 248f.
One more question, can you run ScanDisk ?
When I run Scan Disk in CDSpeed it says that :
,, Warning! The drive is unable to report damaged sectors "

It should be able to, since the inability of the 248b to report C2 errors is what causes CD Speed to display the above warning message. The 248f, as reported by LeBrian, does report C2 errors so scan disc should run with no problems. However, InfoTool occasionaly reports inaccurate information (primarily because a drive itself reports inaccurate information), so it would be nice if LeBrian would confirm that scan disc runs properly.

In any event, MadOvercloker, I think you have plenty of justification by now to spend the three extra dollars on the 248f version. Happy burning!

cfitz

[cfitz]

$20? The retail Samsung 48x costs something like 4x as much in Seoul.

Yeah, it's kind of amazing how much effort has been expended to demonstrate that a $20 Samsung 248f is a great deal. One might have thought it was self-evident. But, of course, I don't think a $20 BenQ is a good deal, so a $20 price alone doesn't make for a good CD-RW drive deal, and I can't blame anyone for questioning and wanting to get more facts before making a decision. Questions are why we are here.

cfitz

[Dave C]

OM was out of the Verbatim 48x12x48 drives today and was selling the Cendyne 48x12x48 instead. The one I picked up was a Samsung 48x24x48 drive model sw-248F. On Samsung's site, this drive is supposed to have a 8mb buffer. Nero InfoTool shows a 2mb buffer and only a 32x write speed?!?!? Not sure what the scoop is here.

[cfitz]

The 8 MByte buffer comes only in the retail packages. OEM drives, like the one repackaged in your Cendyne box, come with a 2 MByte buffer. It's one small inducement to get you to buy the retail package.

As for the write speed, put a good quality blank CD-R in the drive and see what it says.

cfitz

[cfitz]

Or rather, go get the latest version of Info Tool at www.cdspeed2000.com. You have an old version.

cfitz

[dodecahedron]

$20? The retail Samsung 48x costs something like 4x as much in Seoul.

same price in Israel too.