Sony DRU-830A 18x DVD±RW/RAM

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 andDLA 4.95:

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-830A 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 21.72x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at about the 42 minute mark

Turbo Boost On

 

With the Turbo Boost enabled, the DRU-830A 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 about 21.91x and reached a maximum speed of 48.94x at the end of the session. This gave the DRU-830A an average writing speed of about 37.06x.

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

The DRU-830A did fairly well in our CD writing tests. While not as fast as the drive from Plextor, it was able to write an entire 700MB CD in 2:48.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Sony 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)

Fuji 48x (Prodisc)

Verbatim 52x

The DRU-830A's 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.

The DRU-830A 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 7 minute mark.The DRU-830A writes at this speed until about the 27 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 in our rewriting tests. Due to its Z-CLV writing method, the DRU-830A took 2:21 to write 400MB with Nero and a whopping 3:29 to do the same with DLA.

The DRU-830A 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 3:18.