Sony DRU-840A 20x DVD±RW/RAM

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.10.1.0 andDLA 5.20:

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.

Turbo Boost Off

By default, the DRU-840A has a maximum writing speed of 40x. To reach this speed, it uses P-CAV, or Partial Constant Angular Velocity. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that the drive starts writing at 21.47x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at about the 48 minute mark

Turbo Boost On

With the Turbo Boost enabled, the DRU-840A has the ability to write at 48x. Instead of increasing the rotation speed, the drive's writing method switches to CAV. With Fuji's 48x media, the drive started writing at 21.47x and reached a maximum speed of 48.14x at the end of the session. This gave the DRU-840A an average writing speed of about 36.68x.

To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden manufactured Fujimedia rated at 48x. The results are below.

While faster than the SH-S203B, the DRU-840A took longer than expected to complete our CD writing tests. It trailed behind the drives from Lite-On and LG, taking nearly 3 minutes to write an entire 701MB CD.

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-52246S (firmware 6S0F) and read the discs at 32x.

Fuji 48x (Taiyo Yuden)

Imation 52x (MBI)

Verbatim 52x

The DRU-840As 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 and 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 DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 32x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

While the DRU-840A uses CAV when writing to CD-R discs, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 32x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it uses a total of three "zones" to reach its maximum speed. The drive starts writing at 16x and jumps to 24x at about the 9 minute mark.The SH-S203B writes at this speed until about the 29 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 32x and stays there until the end of the session.

Sony's new DVD writer didn't do as well as some of the other drives we've tested. Due to its Z-CLV writing method, the DRU-840A took 2:24 to write 400MB with Nero and a whopping 3:28 to do the same with DLA.

The DRU-840A also erases at 32x. While it didn't have the fastest quick erase time out of the four drives here, it was able to do a full erase in a respectable 3:16.