- CD-R Format

The drive supports 8X, 16X, 24X, 32X, 40X and 48X (CAV) writing speeds.

According to Nero CDSpeed, the reported average speed when recording at 48X is 37.32X.

- CD-R Recording Times

We created an 80min data compilation with Nero Burning Rom and burned it on a 700MB disc. The writing performance varies according to the inserted media. Below is a chart depicting all recording times with the various media used.

As the above graph indicates, not all inserted media were burned at their certified speed. MMore media was burned at 40X in 3:07mins, while Traxdata media was burned at 48X in 2:47mins, despite the fact that it was certified for 40X. Also, BenQ took too long to burn, 3:52 mins being too long for 48X burning speed.

- Other features

According to Nero's CDSpeed and its overburning simulation test, the Samsung drive is capable of burning up to 101min on a CD. Note that this test is done with a 99min disc. No such overburning is possible on an 80min CD, while not many drives can write to 99min discs.

- CD-RW Format

The SE-W164C supports 16X (CLV), 24X (Z-CLV) and 32X (Z-CLV) rewriting speeds, with Ultra Speed Rewritable Media (US-RW).

Below you can see the Nero CD-DVD Speed writing simulation test with blank 32x US-RW media from Mitsubishi Chemicals.

The drive, when recording at 32X, reported an average writing speed of 28.10X.