CDR Tests

The CyberDrive CW038D supports up to 16x (CLV) writing speed. We used Nero CD Speed build-in writing test in order to test the drive's writing performance. According to Nero CD Speed the drive's average writing speed was 15.14x.

The interesting fact here is that the drive doesn't use pure 16x CLV writing speed. The drive starts writing at 12x, for the first 12mins, then jumps up to 16x at 18mins and stays there until the end. The writing method seems like Z-CLV but we thought that OAK's chipsets didn't supported such writing method :-)

The drive also has a build-in system for recognizing lower quality media and automatically reducing the writing speed. That means you are not allowed to write un-certified media at 16x! Also note that the drive doesn't support simulation when "ExacLink" is activated according to the Nero 5.5.4.0:

- Procedure:

We tested the CyberDrive CW038D with Nero v5.5.4.0, CloneCD v3.0.8.3 and Padus DJ v3.50.799 software.

For the CDR tests we used: Verbatim 74min (16x) & 80min (16x), Taiyo Yuden 74 & 80min (24x), Mitsui 74min (24 & 16x) and Ricoh/Verbatim/TDK 74min HS-RW media. The drive's build-in quality media detection system seems to have some bugs and flaws, since it reported that our brand new Mitsui 24x CD-R media can be written at only 12x!

- CD-R Tests:
We created a "DataCD" job with data slightly higher than 74mins (74:03:65). We burned the same job with all 4 CDR-W drives:

The CyberDrive managed to outperform all the other recorders in the 12x writing speed! The drive needs only 400secs to finish the task. Other recorders (LiteOn, PleXtor) need 5-6secs and the Teac 27secs more!

While the drive's performance was superb in 12x recording speed, in the 16x writing speed things are much different. Despite the fact that we used all different brands of media, the drive kept giving the same burning time. According to our tests, CyberDrive CW038D needs 15secs more than the rest to finish the task. The answer can be found if we have a look at the Nero CD speed writing graph! The drive uses Zone-CLV to achieve 16x writing speed! The PleXWriter PX-W1610A still holds the first position with only 312secs.

- 80min CDs:
Following the same procedure like the one in the previous test, we created a DataCD with data lower than 80min (79:49:50), since the drive doesn't support overburning, and used the same media for all burns:

Again in the 80min CD task, the CyberDrive is the fastest recorder with only 429secs. The competition needs 6-9 more seconds to finish.

With 80min CDs at 16x writing speed, the CyberDrive is 12secs faster than the Teac 516EB with 347secs. The PleXWriter comes first with only 334secs and the LiteOn third with 341secs.

- Overburning Tests:
The CyberDrive CW038D doesn't support overburning!

- CD-Text Results:
We created several AudioCDs with CD-Text enabled. The CyberDrive can write/read CD-Text enabled CDs.

- CloneCD Tests:
CloneCD v3.0.8.2 reports that the drive supports the DAO-RAW as well as SAO-RAW writing mode. CloneCD also recognizes that the drive also supports anti-buffer underrun protection (even with the name BurnProof/JustLink). From our test results DAO-RAW recording works without problems for the SafeDisc 1, LaserLock 1/2 and SecuROM 2 protections.

- SD2 Support:
For the SD2 tests we used the "No One Lives For Ever", "Emperor Battle for Dune" and "Max Payne" CD titles. We used the CyberDrive CW038D both as reader/writer. The produced backup didn't play using the same drive or any drive we tested. Therefore the CyberDrive CW038D cannot produce SD2 working backups.

- 8cm mini CDs:
The CyberDrive CW038D does support 8cm CDs.

- Buffer Underrun tests:
The CyberDrive CW038D supports "ExactLink" anti-buffer underrun technology, which was developed by OAK Technologies. The drive worked without any problems when we tried to caused buffer underruns intentionally. Whenever we pressed ctrl+alt+del the drive's LED started blinking and when we un-froze the PC the writing procedure was resumed :-)