TDK CyClone 2401040 IDE CDR-W - Page 5

CDR Tests

The TDK CyClone 241040 supports up to 24x (Z-CLV) writing speed. We used CD Speed 99 build-in writing test in order to test the drive's writing performance. The drive's average writing speed is 22.56X as CD Speed 99 showed:

- Procedure:

We tested the TDK CyClone 241040 with Nero v5.5.2.4, CloneCD v3.0.0.20 and Padus DJ v3.00.780 software.

For the CDR tests we used: Verbatim 74min (16x) & 80min (16x), Taiyo Yuden 74 & 80min (24x), Mitsui 74min (24x), and Ricoh/Verbatim/TDK 74min HS-RW media.

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

The TDK drive had the lower burning time, among with Ricoh and Sanyo drives. The drive supports 16x CLV writing and as for the Yamaha 2200E, it stays behind due to P-CAV writing technology, which is around 7secs slower.

- 80min CDs:
As with the previous test, we created a DataCD (80:01:47) and used the same media for all burns:

This time the TDK drive gave the second higher burning time with 339secs. The champion is Ricoh (with 336) and Sanyo follows right after it. The Yamaha 2200E is again slower but this time the time difference is higher (12secs).

- Comparison Chart:

Let's see how the 24x Z-CLV writing technology compares against 20x Z-CLV and 20x P-CAV:

Ricoh MP7200A - Supports 20x Zone-CLV
Yamaha 2200E - supports 20x P-CAV
TDK and Sanyo drives - support 24x Zone-CLV

For a full comparion with several different media brands follow this link

As the following chart shows, the differences between various recording technologies and the times they need to complete a full burn are low but they do exist. The TDK and Sanyo drives are 25secs faster than Ricoh 7200A and 40secs than Yamaha 2200E (with 74min CDs). If we look at the 80min CD project, the time differences are much higher - 28 secs from Ricoh and 50secs than Yamaha 2200E:

There are differences between the TDK/Sanyo drives, especially in the 80min CDs. The time difference can be explained since the drives had different firmware revisions (TDK v6.34, Sanyo vHg.35). The Sanyo drive showed better behavior with non-certified 24x CDR media than the TDK one.

- Overburning Tests:
The TDK CyClone 241040 drive supports overburning up to 93minutes. The exact burning limit seems to be at 93:48:24 min with 99minute CDs.

- CD-Text Results:
We created several AudioCDs with CD-Text enabled. The TDK drive burned and read them back without any problems whatsoever.

- CloneCD Tests:
CloneCD v3.0.0.20 reports that the drive supports the DAO-RAW writing feature. The drive also supports BURN-Proof. From our tests results DAO-RAW writing works without any problem for the SafeDisc 1, LaserLock 1/2 and SecuROM 2 protections. Note that the recording speed in DAO-RAW is limited to 16x CLV (max)!

- SD2 Support:
For the SD2 test we used the "No One Lives For Ever" CD title. We used the TDK CyClone 241040 both as reader/writer. The produced backup didn't play using the same drive or any drive we tested. Therefore the TDK drive cannot produce SD2 working backups.

- 8cm mini CDs:
The TDK CyClone 241040 supports reading/writing of 8cm CDs. Our simulation tests with CD Speed 99 showed a possible problem since the drive halted by the end of the test. However we also used the Feurio and this time the tests completed without any problem. So we can say that TDK CyClone 241040 works with 8cm CDs...

- Buffer Underrun tests:
The TDK CyClone 241040 supports "BURN-Proof" anti-coaster technology. The drive worked perfectly under all heavy duty cycle attacks attempted by us, and it continued writing even after we tried to stop it (with ctrl+shift+del) several times.