While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.
Test System:
| CPU: | Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30 GHz | |
| Motherboard: | Gigabyte GA-H67MA-D2H-B3 (Intel H67 chipset) | |
| Memory: | G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) | |
| Graphics: | Intel HD Graphics 3000 | |
| Hard Drive: | Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 SATA 3.0Gb/s 500GB | |
| Case | Cooler Master HAF 912 | |
| Operating System: | Windows 7 Enterprise x64 SP1 |
For Blu-ray Disc Combo drives, the performance tests are normally broken down into five sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read, DVD write and BD read. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three.
CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.7.7.16 are used to test read speeds, access times and CPU usage. For DAE testing, CD Speed is used to give an overall speed rating.
CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 650MB and 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.
DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.7.7.16 is used to test read speeds, access times, and CPU usage.
DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write a 4.38GB image to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. For this, 4GB of random files and directories are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.
BD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the BD benchmarks, CD Speed v4.7.7.16 is used to test read speeds, access times, and CPU usage.
CD Winbench 99 Scores:
| Samsung SE-406A | |
| CD Winbench 99 | 1185 KB/sec |
| Transfer Rate: Inside | 1510 KB/sec |
| Transfer Rate: Outside | 3320 KB/sec |
| Random Access Time | 126ms |
| CPU Utilization | 0% |
The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.
Samsung's portable Blu-ray combo drive gave us some mixed performance in our CD Winbench tests. In the transfer speed tests, the drive started reading at about 10x on the inside of the CD and was able to reach 22x on the outside of the disc. While this is pretty decent for a drive with a maximum read speed of 24x, the SE-406A's access time and overall score were not as good as some of the other portable drives we've looked at.
CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - Pressed CD:
For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.
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Transfer Speed | Access Times | CPU Usage | |||||||
| Average | Start | End | Random | 1/3 | Full | 1x | 2x | 4x | 8x | |
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Samsung SE-406A |
18.51x | 10.71x | 24.47x | 137ms | 157ms | 239ms | 6% | 1% | 3% | 6% |
The SE-406A performed a little better in our CD Speed tests. The drive started reading at 18.10x and quickly accelerated, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 24.47x. Unfortunately, its access times were a little higher than we'd like to see.
CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-R Media:
For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.
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Transfer Speed | Access Times | CPU Usage | |||||||
| Average | Start | End | Random | 1/3 | Full | 1x | 2x | 4x | 8x | |
|
Samsung SE-406A |
18.52x | 10.82x | 24.44x | 140ms | 155ms | 238ms | 6% | 2% | 3% | 6% |
The SE-406A was a little slower when reading CD-R media. Nevertheless, it had no problems reaching a maximum transfer speed of 24.24x in our tests.
While Samsung's new BD combo drive had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media, it slowed down considerably when reading it back. As you can see, the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of only 11.35x.
CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-RW Media:
For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests.
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Transfer Speed | Access Times | CPU Usage | |||||||
| Average | Start | End | Random | 1/3 | Full | 1x | 2x | 4x | 8x | |
|
Samsung SE-406A |
18.58x | 10.81x | 24.53x | 147ms | 159ms | 255ms | 7% | 2% | 3% | 6% |
The SE-406A also reads CD-RW media at 24x. As you can see, it had no problems reaching this speed in our tests.
CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (DAE) - Pressed CD:
For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.
Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that the Samsung SE-406A supports accurate stream, caches audio data and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from audio CD's.
| CD Speed | Average | Start | End | Quality | Accurate Stream |
| Samsung SE-406A | 18.69x | 10.97x | 24.69x | 10 | Yes |
For a portable drive, the SE-406A did very well in our DAE tests. The drive started out at 10.97x and reached a maximum speed of 24.69x.
CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (DAE) - CD-R Media:
For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.
| CD Speed | Average | Start | End | Quality | Accurate Stream |
| Samsung SE-406A | 18.52x | 10.87x | 24.41x | 10 | Yes |
The SE-406A was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media. This time around, it reached a maximum DAE speed of 24.41x. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.
Samsung's portable BD combo drive completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 17.61x. While the drive was able to go through the tests without creating any errors, it was unable to pass all of the on the fly copying tests. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the SE-406A was able to read the CD-Text and subchannel data but failed to read the lead in and lead out sections of the CD.
