DIGISTOR offers a number of external Blu-ray drives. Aside from having either a slot or tray load mechanism, the biggest difference between them all is the accessories they come with. With the DIG-79102 you get ArcSoft TotalMediaExtreme 2 for Windows, REWIND archiving software for Mac and PC, a couple of USB cables, a quick start guide and a free 25GB Archive For Life BD-R disc.
DIGISTOR also sent along a few spindles of their 25GB and 50GB Archive For Life BD-R media as well as an 80 disc storage cabinet. The cabinet is stackable and features a gliding drawer and built in lock.
Physical Features:
If you're looking for a thin or lightweight Blu-ray Disc writer, the DIG-79102 is probably not for you. Thanks to its built-in battery, it's larger and heavier than most of the other portable drives on the market today. That being said, the DIG-79102 is still small enough to fit in your laptop bag and with its durable, matte black finish it should stand up well to every day use.
On top of the DIG-79102 there are two LED's. The large, rectangular one lights up blue whenever the drive is powered on. The smaller, circular LED above it is the battery level indicator. As long as the battery is fully charged, this indicator will remain unlit. However, once the battery drops below 100%, it will light up and change colors to show how much charge is left. According to DIGISTOR, you can get 3-4 hours of use off of a single charge and the battery will automatically recharge while the drive is idle.
The activity LED and eject button are located along the front of the DIG-79102. This LED lights up green when the drive is both reading and writing.
The rear of the DIG-79102 is pretty straight forward. From left to right you can see the drive's power switch, DC-IN jack and USB 2.0 port. The DIG-79102 can be powered off a single USB port with some assistance from the built in battery. If you're looking to use the drive for an extended period of time though, DIGISTOR recommends using the dual USB cable which plugs into both the mini-USB and DC-IN ports.
Technical Specs:
Most of the specs below have been taken from DIGISTOR's website and by running a few simple tests.
| DIGISTOR DIG-79102 Portable 6x Blu-ray Disc ReWriter | |
| BD-R Write Speeds | 6x (CAV) 4x (P-CAV) 2x (CLV) |
| BD-R DL Write Speeds | 6x (CAV) 4x (P-CAV) 2x (CLV) |
| BD-R XL Write Speeds | 4x (P-CAV) 2x (CLV) |
| BD-R LTH Write Speeds | 6x (CAV) 4x (P-CAV) 2x (CLV) |
| BD-RE Write Speeds | 2x (CLV) |
| DVD+R Write Speeds | 8x (CAV) 4x (Z-CLV) 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Write Speeds | 8x, 4x (Z-CLV) 3.3x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R Write Speeds | 8x (CAV) 4x (Z-CLV) 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RW Write Speeds | 6x, 4x (Z-CLV) 2x (CLV) |
| DVD+R DL Write Speeds | 6x (Z-CLV) 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R DL Write Speeds | 6x, 4x (Z-CLV) 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RAM Write Speeds | 5x (Z-CLV) 3x, 2x (CLV) |
| CD Write Speeds | 24x (CAV) 8x (CLV) |
| CD Rewrite Speeds | 16x (Z-CLV) 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| BD Read Speeds | 6x Max (BD-ROM Single Layer) 6x Max (BD-ROM Dual Layer) 6x Max (BD-R) 6x Max (BD-R DL) 4x Max (BD-R XL) 6x Max (BD-R LTH) 6x Max (BD-RE) 6x Max (BD-RE DL) 2x Max (BD-RE XL) |
| DVD Read Speeds | 8x Max (DVD-ROM) 8x Max (DVD±R) 8x Max (DVD±RW) 8x Max (DVD±R DL) 5x Max (DVD-RAM) 4x Max (DVD-Video) |
| CD Read Speed | 24x Max |
| DAE Speed | 20x Max |
| Buffer Size | 2MB |
More Features:
By looking at the picture below, you can see that DIGISTOR's new Blu-ray Disc writer is identified as an "MATSHITA BD-MLT UJ260."
Nero also shows that the DIG-79102 has a maximum CD writing speed of 24x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by some form of buffer underrun protection. According to Nero, the DIG-79102 can write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that the drive was able to overburn up to 95:10 with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media.
Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the DIG-79102 is a "two sheep" burner. This means that DIGISTOR's new drive is capable of backing up titles protected by SafeDisc 2, including version 2.51.
Here is a screen shot from Erik Deppe's Opti Drive Control. Among other things, this program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. Opti Drive Control had no problems detecting the DIG-79102's reading and writing speeds and supported disc types.
Opti Drive Control also shows that the DIG-79102 is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. Unfortunately, a patched RPC-1 firmware is not yet available for this drive.
While Opti Drive Control gives us a quick glance at the DIG-79102's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that DIGISTOR's new drive can read and write to most BD and DVD formats.
Oddly enough, the DIG-79102 does not support bitsetting. I tried a number of programs, including Nero and CD Speed, and none of them let me change the book type of DVD+R, DVD+RW or DVD+R DL media. After running a few tests, I found that the DIG-79102 does not automatically set the book type either. This really is too bad as setting the book type to "DVD-ROM" can greatly reduce compatibility problems, especially with older DVD players.
