CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 9.4.26.0 and Drag-to-Disc 9.0:
For this test I randomly generated 650MB and 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.
The PX-B940SA has a maximum CD writing speed of 40x. To reach this speed, it uses P-CAV, or Partial CAV, technology. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that the drive starts writing at 19.17x and accelerates, reaching 40x at about the 67 minute mark. This gave Plextor's new drive an average writing speed of about 32.20x.
To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden media rated at 52x. The results are below.
| Size in MB | Size in Time | Plextor PX-B940SA |
Pioneer BDR-2203 |
LG BH08LS20 |
Sony BWU-300S |
| 701MB | 79:44:21 | 3:15 | 3:58 | 2:40 | 2:43 |
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.
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 Verbatim 52x |
The PX-B940SA's writing quality was pretty good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the number of C1 errors stayed relatively low. 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.
While the PX-B940SA uses P-CAV when writing to CD-R discs, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 24x. The drive starts rewriting at about 16x and then jumps to its maximum speed at the 13 minute mark.
| Software | Plextor PX-B940SA |
Pioneer BDR-2203 |
LG BH08LS20 |
Sony BWU-300S |
| Nero | 2:38 | 2:36 | 2:23 | 2:23 |
| Drag-to-Disc Write | 2:41 | 2:43 | 2:34 | 2:26 |
| Drag-to-Disc Read | 1:22 | 0:58 | 2:06 | 1:52 |
Plextor's new drive didn't do as well as some of the other drives in our rewriting tests. Due to its Z-CLV writing method, the PX-B940SA took 2:38 to write 400MB with Nero and 2:41 to do the same with Drag-to-Disc.
| Plextor PX-B940SA |
Pioneer BDR-2203 |
LG BH08LS20 |
Sony BWU-300S |
|
| Quick Erase | 15 seconds | 16 seconds | 18 seconds | 16 seconds |
| Full Erase | 3:41 | 3:52 | 3:41 | 3:39 |
The PX-B940SA also erases at 24x. At this speed, it took the drive 15 seconds to do a quick erase and 3:41 to fully erase the disc.
