What's in the box?:
- LG GSA-2166D USB 2.0 "Super-Multi" DVD±RW/RAM Drive
- DVD Writer Solution CD
- Quick Guide For Drive
- USB 2.0 Cable
- AC Power Adapter
- Warranty Information
Physical Features:
The drive that LG sent us for this review was manufactured in July of 2005 and had firmware version 1.00. At the time of this review, this is the only official firmware available for the GSA-2166D.
From the front, the GSA-2166D looks nothing like its internal counterpart, the GSA-4166B. LG's new external writer sports a more sophisticated look thanks in part to its glossy black bezel and silver highlights. The GSA-2166D still has its share of logos though. Along with the large "LG" logo, you can see a few showing support for theDVD+R DL and DVD Multi specifications, as well as HP's LightScribe technology.
Below the tray you can see the GSA-2166D's single LED. Itlights up green when the drive is both reading or writing.
While not the most compact or lightweight external drive we've tested, the GSA-2166D is very well constructed. Like the front bezel, the top of the enclosure is made out of a glossy black plastic. While this looks nice, finger prints and smudges have a tendency to stand out.
 |
 |
Looking at the bottom, you can see that the GSA-2166D has four rubber strips, or feet, to keep it from sliding around. It's hard to tell but these strips also run up the sides so that the drive can be positioned either horizontally or vertically.
The rear of the GSA-2166D is pretty straight forward. Starting from the left, you can see its USB 2.0 connector, power connector and on/off switch.
Technical Specs:
Most of the specs below have been taken from LG's website and the guide that came with the drive.
| LG GSA-2166D USB 2.0 DVD±RW | |
| CD Write Speeds | 48x, 40x (CAV) 24x (Z-CLV) 16x (CLV) |
| CD Rewrite Speeds | 32x, 24x (Z-CLV) 16x, 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+R Write Speeds | 16x (CAV) 12x (P-CAV) 8x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Write Speeds | 8x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R Write Speeds | 16x (CAV) 12x (P-CAV) 8x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RW Write Speeds | 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x, 1x (CLV) |
| DVD+R DL Write Speeds | 8x, 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R DL Write Speeds | 4x (CLV) |
| DVD-RAM Write Speeds | 5x (P-CAV) 3x, 2x (CLV) |
| CD Read Speeds | 48x Max (CD-ROM/CD-R) 32x Max (CD-RW) |
| DAE Speed | 48x Max |
| DVD Read Speeds | 16x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer) 8x Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer) 16x Max (DVD±R) 8x Max (DVD±RW) 8x Max (DVD+R DL) 8x Max (DVD-Video) 5x, 3x, 2x (DVD-RAM) |
| Buffer Size | 2MB |
| Access Times |
120 ms (CD-ROM) 140 ms (DVD-ROM) 250 ms (DVD-RAM) |
| CD Formats | CD-Audio CD-ROM CD-ROM/XA CD-R CD-RW Photo CD Video CD CD-Extra CD-I CD-Text |
| DVD Formats | DVD-ROM DVD-R/RW DVD+R/RW DVD+R DL DVD-R DL DVD-RAM |
| CD Recording Modes | Disc At Once Session At Once Track At Once Packet Writing |
| DVD-R/RW Recording Modes |
Disc At Once Incremental Recording Restricted Overwrite |
| DVD+R Recording Modes |
Sequential Recording |
| DVD+RW and DVD-RAM Recording Modes |
Random Write |
| DVD+R/-R DL Recording Modes |
Sequential Recording |
LightScribe:
Note: We took a much closer look at LightScribe technology in our review of the BenQ DW1625. In this review we'll just go over some of the basics and see how the GSA-2166D performs with the bundled software.
The GSA-2166D is the first external drive from LG to feature LightScribe technology. Developed by HP, LightScribe lets you burn durable, silk screen quality labels directly onto your CD's and DVD's using the same drive that burned the data. According to HP, it's as simple as burning the data, flipping the disc, and then burning the label.
Of course you can't do this with just any drive, media or software. While LightScribe capable drives use the same laser when burning both the data and label, they have to be able to accurately control the laser's focus and position as well as the spindle speed. They also must be able to recognize LightScribe media. These special discs have a thin dye coating on the label side that absorbs laser light. This triggers a chemical reaction that produces a color change, allowing the user to print text, artwork or graphics.
Even if you have a LightScribe capable drive and media, you will need software that supports it. Most major software companies have pledged support for the technology. However, at the time of this review, the list of compatible software is still relatively short. For the GSA-2166D, LG turned to Nero. Using the bundled software you can both create and burn LightScribe disc labels.
Once you've created your LightScribe label, you're ready to print it. Before you can do this though, you will need to choose the contrast. Keep in mind this option not only changes the level of detail, it also affects the amount of time it takes to print the label. The higher the quality, the longer the process will take.
How long does it take to print a label? For testing purposes, we created a few discs using Verbatim's LightScribe CD-R and DVD+R media. In both cases, the quality was set to "best". The results are shown below.
 |
 |
|
| Verbatim CD-R - 23 minutes | Verbatim DVD+R - 29 minutes |
As you can see, printing a LightScribe label isn't exactly a speedy process. Fortunately, faster LightScribe media is on the way that should cut the amount of time it takes to print a label by almost half.
More Features:
By looking at the picture below, you can see that LG's new DVD writer is identified as an "HL-DT-ST DVDRRW GSA-2166D".
The Nero screenshot also shows that the GSA-2166D has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by some form of buffer underrun protection. In this case, the technology used is "Super Link." According to Nero, LG's new DVD writer can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that the drive was able to overburn up to 93:56with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media.
Like LG's previous "Super-Multi" drives, the GSA-2166D can do EFM encoding correctly. Using CloneCD version 4.2.0.2 with AWS disabled, Iwas able to reproduce older SafeDisc 2 protected titles like Max Payne along with some of the newer ones protected by SafeDisc 2.51 like Serious Sam: The Second Encounter.
Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the GSA-2166D's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.
InfoTool also shows that the GSA-2166D is a RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The drive's 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 InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the GSA-2166D'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 while LG's new drive can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media, it does not support the Mt. Rainier format.
LG's external DVD writer also supports a feature called "bitsetting." By default, the GSA-2166D automatically sets the book type for DVD+R and DVD+R DL discs to "DVD-ROM". For whatever reason though, the drive does not let you set the book type of DVD+RW discs.
