For our CD transfer rate tests, we used the Nero CD-Speed utility and a set of data and audio CD-R/RW/ROM media. The drive can read CD media at a maximum speed of 32X.

For each CDSpeed graph, you can click on the image to see the complete screenshot, including full measurements.

-CD-ROM

- US RW

The following CD Speed graph shows the reading performance with US-RW media. Reading reached a maximum of 24x, as per the specifications.

- AudioCD

In the CD Speed Advanced DAE quality test, the drive's average speed was 23,13X with a quality score of 100.

- 90/99 mins Audio disc

90 min Audio

99min Audio

DVD Format

Now let's take a look at how the drive performs with DVD media. This time, a set of SL and DL DVD media was used. The drive is capable of reading at 12X maximum speed with single layer DVD ROM and at 8X with dual layer DVD ROM media.

DVD-ROM SL

DVD-ROM DL

PTP DVD-ROM

The two layers of a PTP DVD-ROM disc are read sequentially with the drive starting reading from the inner part of the disc, which is the beginning of each layer, progressing towards its outer range.

OTP DVD-ROM

The first layer of an OTP dual layer DVD-ROM is read exactly the same way as the first layer of the PTP disc we tested previously. The difference here is the reading strategy of the second layer of the disc. The beginning of the second layer is located in the outer part of the disc, so the drive starts reading from the outer tracks and progresses towards the inner part of the disc.

DVD-R

DVD-RW

DVD+R

DVD+RW

DVD+R DL

DVD-R DL

DVD RAM (2-5x media)

DVD Video Ripping

A DVD-Video SL movie was ripped to the hard disk for this test. The drive's performance is given below:

Average Read Rate: 5,231 KB/s (3,8x)

Maximum Read Rate: 7,410 KB/s (5,4x)

Blu-Ray

BD-R SL (25GB)

BD-R DL (50GB)

Unfortunately, the drive could not read our 50GB TDK BD-R disc with data. The specific disc had been recorded with another Blu-Ray disc drive and was readable with the Philips, LiteOn and LG BD burners. The behavior was expected since the drive does not support reading of BD-R DL media.

BD-RE SL (25GB)

BD-ROM SL (25GB)

- Summary of reading tests

All of the reading graphs are as steady and smooth. The drive failed to completely read the 90min and 99min audio CDs though, while it did not manage to read our BD-R DL disc.

Notice that the reported seek times in all the reading tests is obviously not correct, possibly due to a bug or incompatibility in the CDSpeed software.