- Smart Erase

SmartErase is a technology which can destroy recordable discs and data on recordable discs permanently. SmartErase will overwrite the data stored on recordable media with random characters and make the disc and data stored no longer can be accessed or restored.

To erase the data on your CDs and DVDs and destroy the disc with SmarErase, you need the following a SmartErase-capable drive like the LiteOn iHAS524, the SmartErase software (available through Nero Essentials 8 suite) and of course, a recordable CD or DVD.

SmartErase will destroy the disc and the data on the disc. Once the data is destroyed, it can not be restored. SmartErase supports all recordable media, but cannot erase or destroy rewritable media.

SmartErase provides two methods to destroy the disc and data: Quick Erase and Full Erase.

Quick Erase only destroys the information stored in Lead-In area and data stored on the first track of a disc. It takes less time to erase a disc but not all the data on the disc is destroyed.
Full Erase destroys all the information and data stored on a disc. It takes a longer time but all
the data on the disc is destroyed.

If you use Full Erase mode to SmartErase the disc, all the information and data stored on a disc is destroyed and the disc can no longer be restored again. If you erase a disc with Quick Erase mode, not all the information and data is destroyed. The information and data which is not destroyed may have the chance to be restored by specific devices and software.

How to use SmartErase

1 Launch SmartErase from the menu of the burning software bundled with your drive. In our case, we used Nero Express Essentials 8 which integrates the SmartErase application.

2 We select our LiteOn drive in the drop down menu.

3. The next step is to insert a DVD recordable disc. We used a DVD-R full with data.

4. You are ready to 'SmartErase' the disc. Click Quick Erase or Full Erase to erase the disc.

The 'quick erase' function for a DVD R SL will not take more than 30 seconds. The disc was not readable or even recognizable by any DVD burner we tried after a quick 'Smart Erase'.

The 'Full erase ' takes more than 7 minutes to complete. Again, the 'SmartErased' disc is completely unreadable.

- LabelTag

At CeBIT 2009 Lite-On announced the introduction of LabelTag , a new feature to label discs in a fast and convenient way. Now, with the introduction of the iHAS524 , Lite-On presents its first DVD writer with LabelTag.

Using LabelTag means a convenient and cost-effective way for labeling any DVD±R single layer or CD-R discs without using additional software. LabelTag is a patented new feature that allows you to create a circular label on the data discs. When creating the disc, you can add text and/or images printed on the same side of the disc where the data is stored. There is no need to use markers, stickers, or even the hassle of flipping the disc. There is no special media required and the disc remains compatible with other playback devices.

The LabelTag feature is implemented into the NERO 8 software, which is bundled with the drive. It works very easy. You can follow your usual steps for burning a CD-R or DVD recordable disc and just before you click the "burn" button, you can choose to add a label on your disc (see screen shot below).

Let's start with a typical data DVD creation procedure using Nero Express Essentials 8:

We typically add some data files on the DVD-R. Notice that we left some space free. This will be used by the software in order to burn the label we choose on the data area of the disc (LabelTag):

We click "Next" and the following window appears. Here you can choose whether you will create LabelTag on the disc:

After enabling the 'LabelTag' option, we clicked the "Burn" button and the software prompted us to remove some files from our DVD compilation in order to have enough space free to burn LabelTag. The minimum amount of free space required for LabelTag on DVD recordables is 546MB:

We left the required free space and the then the Label Design View software appeared, right before the burning process. Here is some useful information: LabelTag images cannot be copied from disc to disc. In addition, 'LabelTaged' ' discs are closed so no additional information can be burned after the labeling /burning process:

Let's take a look at the software. The layout is simple and straight-forward so there is no need to have any previous experience with disc labeling software packages in order to use it.

You can enter the text that will be labeled on the disc's surface on the top side of the software's main window.

The text can be easily formatted as desired using the available formatting buttons (Bold, Underlined, text size etc).

You can also choose the layout of your text. The text can be either wrapped around the complete reserved area for LabelTag, or left to the default layout.

Photos or graphics can be also added to the label. However, these will be automatically resized by the software in order to fit to the available space left for the LabelTag. So it would be better to burn less data and leave enough space for your labels if you want to LabelTag photos on the disc surface.

The height of the LabelTag area can be adjusted using the available "Zoom" sliders.

A preview of the the text or photos you have added on the disc is also available. You can also zoom on them using the 'Preview' slider.

Last but not least, a very useful window provides information about the capacity of the disc, the space used for data and the free space left for the LabelTag.

In the following pictures you can see how you can adjust the text you have added for LabelTag using the software's 'Layout 'and 'Zoom' options:

Once you have finished with the LabelTag text/pictures, you are ready to proceed with the burning of the disc. The software will burn the data on the disc first. In our example, we burned 3.22Gb of data on a DVD-R disc:

Immediately after the end of the data burning process, the LabelTag burning begins:

As you can see it took about 3 minutes to LabelTag our DVD-R. We remind you that the reserved area we had chosen for the LabelTag was around 1.16GB:

Below you can see a DVD-R disc with LabelTag: