Yamaha CRW2100E CD-RW
6. CDR Tests
Yamaha CRW2100E IDE CDR-W - Page 6
CDR Tests
The Yamaha CRW2100E is the first recorder that supports 16x writing (even partial). The specifications state: Writing: 1X, 2X, 4X, 8X, 12X (CLV), 16X (12X-16X Partial CAV). As you understand, partial CAV is not as fast as full 16x CLV would be. According to Yamaha the difference in time would have been less than 15sec but we cannot confirm that since there is no 16x CLV drive out yet! Sanyo's CRD-BP4 is supposed to support full 16x CLV writing, so when it arrives we would have a better idea about the time differences of the two technologies.
The newest CD Speed v0.8 has build-in write tests for testing the writer's recording speed! If you insert a blank CD and press the start button you will see that the drive will start recording in start from 12.36x and at the 14mins climbs up to 16x and continues till the end. According to CD Speed the average writing speed of the Yamaha CRW2100E is 15.67x:
- Procedure:
We tested the Yamaha CRW2100E with the software that supports it and with
several media:
- Software used: Nero v5.0.3.1 / CloneCD v2.8.3.1 / Ez CD
Creator 4.0d-s25
- Media: Princo 74 & 80min / Ricoh Platinum 74 & 80min / Mitsui Gold
& SG / TDK 74 & 80 min / Verbatim 74min / Ricoh HS RW / TDK HS
RW media
- CD-R Tests:
The Yamaha CRW2100E comes with Ez CD Creator v4.0d-s25. We got the latest
update to 4.0e and we made some burns with it. The Ez CD Creator worked ok at
most cases but it becomes very sensitive when the multitasking time comes.
If you pressure the system it won't be able to continue writing. On the other
hand Nero 5.0.3.1 surprised us since it manages to be very solid and you must
push your system hard to make a buffer underrun. Remember that the drive doesn't
support any kind of anti-coaster technology as the competition does (BURN-Proof
or JustLink).
For most of our tests we used Nero v5.0.3.1. We made a Data CD job with data slight higher than 74mins (74:03:65). We burned the same job with all 4 CDR-W drives:
The CRW2100E and MP7120A gave the lower burning times (404sec) compared to the PX-W1210A/S. The Average CPU usage is higher than the competition but this must be a troubling point. Of course most people will prefer the 16x writing option instead of 12x but we had to do the tests anyway ;)
- 80min CDs:
As previous we created a DataCD with Nero 5.0.3.1 and used the same media
for all burns:
As we saw before with the 74min CDs, all of four drives had timing differences between them. The Yamaha CRW2100E finished the task in 438 sec, 2 more than MP7120A and 2 less than Plextor based drives.
- 16x partial CAV against 12x CLV:
Here is the most interesting point of the burning tests. How much time a CD would take to burn with a 16x partial CAV writing speed? Our tests showed that the CRW2100E took 319 secs (5:19min) for finishing a full 74min and 358 secs (5:58min) for a full 80min CD. The above times are a bit higher than the one Yamaha gives, since they include the lead-in and lead-out writing times.
- Overburning Tests:
The CRW2100E can burn 90min CDs without any problems. We used 90min CDs
(from Medea International)
and by using Nero we burned them up to 89mins without any problem at 16x (6:38mins).
The drive refuses to write more than 89mins that means you cannot use the drive
for writing 99min (or higher) CDs.
- AudioCD Tests:
We created several Audio CDs (including CD-Text). All of the CDs we created,
were tested with the Plextor PX-40TS and Plextor's CD-Text compatible CD player.
From what we saw, everything worked just fine.
- CloneCD Tests:
Yamaha
added DAO-RAW support with 1.0h firmware revision. In order to use the Yamaha
2100E/S you need to get the v2.8.4.1 version of CloneCD which now supports fully
the drive. Notice that the DAO-RAW works perfectly and will help you backup
your favorite protected CDs. Last the Yamaha 2100E seems behaving very good
for SD2 protection and will make accurate images. But still you will need a
Philips based recorder to backup it.
- Buffer Underrun tests:
You must have understood so far that the drive doesn't support any kind
of anti-coaster technology. According to Yamaha the combination of 8mb buffer
and LSI chipsets will prevent any buffer underrun. Can this be true? Yes and
no. Lets do some tests here. Shall we?
The OEM/retail package of CRW2100x series arrives with Ez CD Creator v4.0d-s25, which supports 16x-writing speed. It worked ok for most tests except the ones for buffer underruns. It's weakness it's obvious when you will start to multitask several applications. On the other hand Nero seems very stable ,at least when burning at 16x from HD, even when you start pressure your PC. However if you overdo it the coaster will come..
When the time comes, both software seems very unstable when it comes the time for CD-to-CD copy especially for AudioCD duplicate. Again Nero works slight better but a coaster will come if multitasking starts. Yamaha suggests not using for CD-to-CD Copy at 16x any IDE devices (at least in the same IDE channel). We used Plextor PX-40TS for several on the fly copies ,with Nero, and when we pressured the machine we got buffer underruns. That means that high-speed writing really needs anti-coaster technologies - such as existing BURN-Proof or JustLink (or a faster drive than Plextor PX-40TS ;)
Verdict of CDR Results:
The Yamaha CRW2100E performed very well in most of our CDR Tests. The drive
supports 16x-writing speed, which even thought is not full 16x (15.67x average),
works very good. The 8mb buffer and the proper software will generally protect
you from buffer underruns. Don't expect miracles. With normal use (Internet
Surfing, Word, Excel) the drive will wring at 16x without any problems. Problems
will appear when you start opening many applications. If they also use the HD
very much you will probably get a coaster. The drive supports DAO-RAW ,even
with a newer firmware update, and users will find it useful. Last the drive
supports overburning and goes only up to 89mins as most the other drives do.