Lite-On eTAU208 8x USB 2.0 DVD±RW/RAM

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 eTAU208 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 four "zones." The eTAU208 starts writing at 10x and jumps to 16x at about the 21 minute mark. When it reaches the 42 minute mark, the drive changes to 20x and writes at this speed until about the 69 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.

The eTAU208 took about six 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 eTAU208'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 eTAU208 also uses Z-CLV when rewriting at 24x. As with CD-R media, it starts writing at 10x and jumps to 16x at about the 21 minute mark. When the drive reaches the 42 minute mark, it changes to 20x and then to 24x at the 69 minute mark.

Lite-On's portable DVD writer did fairly well in our rewriting tests. The drive took 4:20 to write 400MB with Nero and 4:21 to do the same with Drag-to-Disc. Erasing wasn't a problem for the eTAU208 either. In our tests, it took 32 seconds to do a quick erase and 5:45 to fully erase the disc.