ASUS SDRW-08D1S-U 8x USB 2.0 DVD±RW/RAM

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.