The DVD RW AD-7200 A/S drives are Optiarc's new high speed DVD media multi writers. The sample we received was the AD-7200S, which connects to the PC via an S-ATA interface. This is not something to be neglected, as it can support up to 150 MByte/sec transfer rate. The specifications of the drive are good, thus making us wait for the test results to see if it is indeed one of the best.

The CD error correction mechanisms of the drive proved to be mediocre, generating high levels of noise, some times audible. DVD error correction was good, successfully reading all of our defective discs while maintaining the reading speed at high levels.

As far as reading and writing speeds are concerned, the drive satisfied us, meeting its specifications. However only a few of the high speed discs were burned at 20X. Some of them were burned at 18X, while other drives can burn them at 20X. Also, some other discs, such as the TTH02 and the MCC03RG20 showed some fluctuations at the writing speed near the end of the process, as it was approaching the maximum speed. Average performance here, too.

Moving on to the writing quality tests, performed well, rarely producing huge amounts of uncorrectable errors. All of the burned discs were able to be read and many of them reported excellent test results.

To sum up, the AD-7200S proved to be an overall good DVD multi writer, supporting high speeds as well us qualitative burning. We enjoyed the decent writing quality of the drive with various DVDs, making it reliable enough for worry-free back ups.

You can find it at the stores for about $30.