CenDyne (CDICD00118) CD-RW Burner
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- Enclosure Type: Internal
- Read Speed: 48x (CD)
- ReWrite Speed: 12x (CD-RW)
- Write Speed: 48x (CD)
- Burner Type: CD-RW
- Platform: PC
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The Cendyne Lightning IV (LiteOn 48125) - Near State of the Art CD Writing
Pros
Performance, Mt. Rainier works well, easy to install/use, Nero 5.5, mfd. by LiteOn,
Cons
Mediocre documentation
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Another great "rebadged" LiteOn drive that provides "near" state of the art performance for a list price of under $90.
The Cendyne Lightning IV is an internal IDE CD-RW drive, 48X Write, 12X Rewrite, 48X Read, for the PC. The Lightning IV is Cendyne's top of the line CD Writer, part of an extensive line of internal and external CD writers, cd-rom and dvd-rom drives, and dvd writers. (This drive will not be Cendyne's fastest model much longer, as a 52X cd writer, the Lightning V was announced on October 22nd) As is described on the Cendyne website, Cendyne is "a marketer of computer peripheral products to the computer", and sells "rebadged" drives made by other leading manufacturers, including Aopen, LiteOn, Teac, and Acer. When my son requested a cd writer to be added to his PC recently, I started looking for a LiteOn cd writer, drives with a reputation for top of the line performance, frequently updated firmware, and aggresive pricing. I found this Cendyne drive on sale a Circuit City for $60 less a $30 rebate, for a net cost of $30. Knowing that Cendyne drives are often rebadged LiteOn drives, I checked the drive's model number, LTR/48125W, conveniently listed on the Cendyne packaging, which indicated the Cendyne drive was a 48X LiteOn model, and quickly made my purchase.
The Lightning IV offers the following features:
- Up to 48X CD Write speeds (actual speeds also depends on the cdr's used)
- Up to 48X Read speeds
- Up to 12X CD Rewrite speeds with high speed rated cdrw's
- Smart Burn buffer underrun technology
- Mt. Ranier UDF support (Software and Hardware)
- Nero 5.5.8 CD authoring software
- CAV Write technology
- InCD Packet Writing software with Mt. Rainier support
The LiteOn LTR/48125W cd writer is one of the first drives to offer Mt. Ranier UDF support, and one of the first cd writers to use CAV writing. Increasing the maximum write speed to 48X and using CAV writing technology only provides modest reductions in cd write times over previous generations of cd writers. More importantly, for those who like to take advantage of the Universal Disk Format (UDF), which allows "drive letter access" (DLA), or "drag and drop" saving of files to CD-RW disks, Mt Rainier packet writing is a major improvement, and you will want to seriously consider upgrading to a Mt. Rainier capable cd writer if you find yourself wanting to save and delete files to CD-RW disks using windows explorer or other applications.
Mt. Rainier is a user friendly extension of the UDF packet writing technology used in cd burning progams like Roxio's DirectCD and Ahead's InCD. To access CDRW's as if they were another hard drive or floppy disk, they must be formatted to meet the UDF 1.5 standard, after which you can save files to CDRW as if it were another hard disk or floppy drive. One major drawback of this option has been that UDF formatting of a CDRW typically takes 30-60 minutes. A CD writer/software combination that takes advantage of the Mt. Rainier standard allows you "start" formatting a cdrw, and after about 30 seconds, you can start saving files to the CDRW. The cdwriter then continues to format the disk in the background, with minimal impact on system performance. You can remove the CDRW at anytime, even though this background format process may be still going on.
Most CD readers and writers have used CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) reading technology, but previous generations of high speed cd writers have used Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) write technology This means a typical 40X cd writer, which starts burning a cd from the inside out, initially starts burning at 20X speed, then step up speed in 4 or 5 increments, 24, 28, 32, and finally 40X writing, and require about 3 minutes and 40 seconds to burn a full 700 mb cd. The Lightning IV increases writing speed steadily from 20X to 48X at the end of a cd, by holding the cdrom rotational speed constant. The required slightly over 3 minutes in my tests (including spin up time and time required to finalize a cd) to burn a full 700 mb cd with Nero.
In the box you'll find everything need to install and use the Lightning IV, including one blank generic CDR, a Nero 5.5 softare CD, IDE cable, audio cable, mounting screws, and a 28 page installation and a troubleshooting guide.
Installation
This drive was installed in a 500 mhz pentium II system with an Abit BE6 motherboard, 128mb ram, Geforce 2 video card, Soundblaster Live sound card, 45mb IBM hard drive, and a LG 32X cdrom drive, running Windows ME. Installation went smoothly with the key steps being:
- Set the Master/Slave jumper on the back of the drive (you can attach two IDE drives to each IDE channel on your system, one is the Master, and one must be set as the slave). I set this drive to the the master on the second IDE channel, and made the the cdrom drive the slave.
- Install the drive in the computer case
- Plug in the IDE cable
- Attach the audio cable to your sound card (allows you to play back music cd's through the speakers attached to your sound card)
- Install Nero and InCD. I also updated Nero to the latest version available on the Nero website (5.5.9.14), and updated the Lighting IV's firmware to VS08, available as a download from the Cendyne website.
The installation went very quickly, and required about 20 minutes.
Software
It seems like almost all cd writers sold recently come with the Nero cd authoring software, and this drive was no exception, as it included a full version of Nero Burning Rom CD authoring softare on one cd. A hard copy manual was not included.
With Nero, you can burn data cd's, VCD's and SVCD's, audio cd's, and burn several disk image files formats, including bin/cue files. Nero will convert mp3 and wma files to wave files transparently when burning audio cd's. Likewise, Nero will convert avi files to VCD compliant mpg files for VCD's, although this can take a long time (hours). The necessary codec's to make SVCD compliant mpg2 files from AVI or other types of video files, is available for $16 as a download plugin from the website, and works very well. Nero also only includes the capability to encode 30 mp3 files, with unlimited encodes available via a $15 MP3 upgrade at the Nero website. The most recent version of Nero, 5.5.9.14, is a available as a free upgrade from the Nero website, and includes a front end, called Nero Express, to walk users through the cd creation process. New and casuals users of Nero will appreciate Nero Express, and will find that Express makes Nero as easy to use as any cd authoring program available. Experienced users will still be able to access the menu driven/Explorer-like interface of Nero. Nero also includes InCD, Mt. Rainier capable packet writing software which allows you to treat CDRW's (but not CDR's) as a large floppy disk. I have reviewed Nero separately (http://www.epinions.com/content_66308640388 ), if you want to read more details about this terrific cd authoring program.
CD Burning
Burning Data CD's with Nero
As you might expect, this drive is fast. Some typical burn times using Nero and InCD are listed below. The times listed are measured from when I push the "start" button, until Nero has finished burning the lead out track and ejected the CD. This doesn't give you a picture of raw burning speed, but it does give a good picture of real world performance, as most writers take 10-20 seconds to start the burn process and another 15-20 seconds write the lead in/lead out tracks to the cd. Nero reports the spin up time (time required to accelerate to top speed) for this drive to be 3.5 seconds, and spindown time is 4 seconds.
CD Type.........File(s) size.......Burn time
Fuji 40X CDR (Using Nero)
VCD...............470mb..........2 min 10 seconds
SVCD.............805mb.........2 min 49 seconds
Data CD..........690mb........3 min 10 seconds
For comparison, burning 800 mb SVCD on a LiteOn 24X cd burner takes only about 1 minute additional time. Although the 48X writer ultimately reaches 48X write speeds, for the first half of the data burning process it is burning at 24X to about 32X speeds, not much faster than the 24X operates for the same first half of the burning process.
I have been using 32X rated Imation CDR's, and 40X rated Fuji and Philips CDR's, and have been successfully burning at 48X speeds. However, some users have reported problems burning some brands 24X and 32X CDR's, and have had to drop back to 32X maximum speeds. As 48X rated CDR's become available, this problem should go away.
Burning Data CD's with InCD (Packet Writing under Mt. Rainier)
"Drag and drop" or "Drive Letter Access" to CDRW's is made possible through the use of "packet writing" software, which must be running in the background of any computer that you will use to read or write to a CDRW in this fashion. If you want to save small amounts of data to a CDRW at several different times, packet writing is the most efficient method. You can use Nero to add data to a CDR or CDRW in several sessions, but each session results in the loss of ~13mb of disk space. The Universal Disk Format (UDF) standard provides for files to be added to a CD-RW disc one file at a time, in 32kb "packets". The UDF standard also allows for random deletion of files. Most packet writing software, including the version of InCD which comes with the Lightning IV, conforms to the UDF (Universal Disk Format) 1.5 standard. (Direct CD, the packetwriting software that comes with Easy CD Creator is also UDF 1.5 compliant.)
The recent major improvement in packet writing, called Mt. Rainier, can be used with the latest generation of cd writers, some 40X models, and many 48X and upcoming faster cdwriters. Previous versions of InCD, used in conjunction with older cd writers, required 20 - 60 minutes to format a CDRW before you could drag and drop files to your cd writer as if it were another hard drive. Mt. Rainier technology has almost completely taking the formating time out of the picture, allowing you to initial formating a CDRW in about 30 seconds, before you can start to save data to the cd. Drag and drop saving now goes like this:
- Insert the CDRW disk into the CD Writer
- InCD recognizes the blank CDRW disk and you choose to format the CDRW, with the Mt. Rainier option turned on.
- 15-20 seconds later InCD says "You can now use this cdrw as a large floppy disk".
Formatting a 650 mb CDRW with InCD, leaves about 509mb of space available for data, and leaves about 539mb space on a 700mb CDRW. About 80mb of the "lost" space is taken up by the installation routine for a Mt. Rainier UDF reader. If you try to read one of your UDF cd's on a computer without UDF software, you would not be able to read it initially, but the UDF installer would launch, allowing you to install a UDF reader (called EasyWrite), ensuring you will be able to read your CDRW on any computer. THe EasyWrite UDF/Mt Rainier reading software is also available at the Nero website.
Using 10X rated (Smartbuy brand) CDRW disks, I tested drag and drop saving, with the following results:
CD Type.............Data size.............Burn time
10X CDRW.......355 mb (23 mp3 files).....5 min 21 seconds (~1100kb/sec)
10X CDRW.......100 mb (37 mp3 fies)......2 min 30 seconds (~670kb/sec)
10X CDRW.......167 mb (4 mpg files).......2 min 30 seconds (~1100kb/sec)
I've occasionally have noticed that UDF writing speeds with Mt Rainier are a little inconsistent (as can be seen by this data), and it seems to speed up and slow down somewhat as you are saving to the CDRW. Usually write speeds using Mt Rainier packet writing are similar to those you get when using Nero to write data to a cdrw. Unlike writing to CDR's, writing data to the slower CDRW's should occur at a constant rate over the complete cd, being limited by the capabilities of the media, and not the velocity at which the cd writer can rotate, so whether you are writing data to the beginning or the end of the CDRW, the writing speed is about the same. Deleting files is very quick, and only takes a second. Unfortunately, InCD only works with CDRW's, not CDR's. When you eject a UDF CDRW from your cd writer, it will take a few seconds for the writer to prepare the cd prior to opening the door.
Writing to CDRW's with Nero
Using 10X rated generic (Smartbuy) cdrw's, I used Nero to burn 610 mb of data to the cd. Nero recognized the cdrw's 10X rating, and did not give an option to burn at higher than 10X speeds. (I have not tested 12X CDRW's yet, but I would expect the writer to burn at 12X speeds) Write speeds to CDRW's using Nero are about the same as saving files to a UDF formatted CDRW using InCD.
Smartbuy 10X CDRW (Using Nero)
Data CD.....610mb.....7 min 51 seconds
Read Performance
The Lightning IV provides excellent read performance, on par with the fastest cd writers available. As with cd writing, the Mach 48 rotates the CDROM at a fixed speed, which results in increasing read speeds as you move from the inside to the outside of the CD. CD Speed, a CDROM evaluation program which is now included with Nero, reported the average read speed for several 74 minute cdroms to be ~36X, with reading speeds typically starting at 20X at the inside edge of a cd, and reaching 48X at the outer edge. I grabbed a couple of music cd's, and using the CDSpeed evaluation program, generated the following data:
CD 1 (Best of Kansas)
Size 487mb
Starting read speed 22X
Max speed: 40.3X
Ave 31X
As you can see, the drive never reached 48X, as there was no data to be read on the outside of the cd, where read speeds are fasted.
CD2 (Best of The Outlaws)
Size 716 mb
Starting read speed: 22X
Max read speed: 48X
Average 35X
This cd was full of data, meaning data was read from the outside edge of the cd, were read speeds reach 48X. I did notice that the Lightning IV slowed down to about 35X just as it reached the end of the cd. The Lightning IV firmware adjusts (slows) drive speeds as needed to minimize errors, using technology called "SmartX".
Digital Audio Extraction is also fast and accurate. To test audio extraction performance, I used CDDAE, a cd ripping program that optionally verifies ripped files and provides a lot of performance data. The first cd, was a Kansas cd (Best of) containing 487 mb of data in 10 tracks. CDDAE required to extract 1 minute and 45 seconds to extract 10 wav files. The second cd, Best of The Outlaws contained 716 mb of data in 16 tracks. CDDAE required only 2 minutes and 24 seconds to extract 16 wav files. As in the read tests with this cd, I did notice that the Lightning IV did slow down about halfway through the 16th track. In both cases, CDDAE reported all of the wav files were extracted with no errors. You won't find a cdwriter that beats these digital audio extraction speeds by more than a few seconds.
CDDAE and CDSPEED are free downloads from these link:
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=cdspeed.html
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=cddae.html
The Lightning IV is fairly noisy when burning at high speed, making a noticeble whirring sound (rotation speeds can reach 10,000 rpm). In normal use as a cdrom drive, playing games or music cd's for example, it doesn't usually spin this fast, and it runs reasonably quiet. Nero does include a utility, called Drivespeed to slow the drive down to reduce noise if needed for some applications.
Support
The installation and troubleshooting guide included with the Lighting IV is a generic manual included with all Cendyne cdwriters, and is good enough to allow anyone comfortable with opening their computer case to install this drive easily. A hard copy manual for Nero is not included, but pdf versions of the excellent 34 page quickstart guide and terrific 120 page Nero user manual are included on the cd. Each provides clear pictures and detailed information to allow users to take full advantage of this highly regarded program. Support on the Cendyne website is pretty good, offering firmware downloads, FAQ's, online manuals, and a fairly active message board.
WOULD I BUY IT AGAIN?
Yes. If you are upgrading from a 24X or faster CD writer, this cd writer will provide only incremental improvements in cd authoring speed. But, surprisingly, even installed on a "slow" 500mhz pentium III system this burner performs very well and has produced no coasters in the first month of use.
If you use packet writing software, this drive provides a dramatic improvement in the time required to format and use CDRW's. If you are buying a new cd writer, models with Mt. Rainier should be at the top of your list. This drive is manufactured by LiteOn, one of the most respeced cd writer manufactures, and this is a high quality cd writer. LiteOn has already provided firmware upgrades to this model to support additional types of blank cd's, and in the past LiteOn has provided firmware updates to other drives as needed to optimize their performance. LiteOn drives have had a good reputation, offering an excellent combination of performance, reliability, and features. A complete version of Nero and InCD are included with this cd writer. Nero is supported by Ahead, who provides frequent updates to their software, and incremental updates (I updated the version 5.5.8 included to 5.5.9.14) are free. In my judgement, Nero is the best cd authoring program available. Even considering the mediocre hard copy documentation, this drive/software combination is a great value.
Manufacturer websites:
Cendyne
www.cendyne.com
Nero/InCD
www.ahead.de
LiteOn
www.liteonit.com
Mt. Rainier
www.mt-rainier.org
Related reviews
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http://www.epinions.com/content_60692991620
Nero 5.5
http://www.epinions.com/content_66308640388
Easy CD Creator Platinum
http://www.epinions.com/content_34642562692
NTI CD Maker 2000 Professional
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Pacific Digital 48X CD Writer
(Another 48X LiteOn drive)
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The Lightning IV offers the following features:
- Up to 48X CD Write speeds (actual speeds also depends on the cdr's used)
- Up to 48X Read speeds
- Up to 12X CD Rewrite speeds with high speed rated cdrw's
- Smart Burn buffer underrun technology
- Mt. Ranier UDF support (Software and Hardware)
- Nero 5.5.8 CD authoring software
- CAV Write technology
- InCD Packet Writing software with Mt. Rainier support
The LiteOn LTR/48125W cd writer is one of the first drives to offer Mt. Ranier UDF support, and one of the first cd writers to use CAV writing. Increasing the maximum write speed to 48X and using CAV writing technology only provides modest reductions in cd write times over previous generations of cd writers. More importantly, for those who like to take advantage of the Universal Disk Format (UDF), which allows "drive letter access" (DLA), or "drag and drop" saving of files to CD-RW disks, Mt Rainier packet writing is a major improvement, and you will want to seriously consider upgrading to a Mt. Rainier capable cd writer if you find yourself wanting to save and delete files to CD-RW disks using windows explorer or other applications.
Mt. Rainier is a user friendly extension of the UDF packet writing technology used in cd burning progams like Roxio's DirectCD and Ahead's InCD. To access CDRW's as if they were another hard drive or floppy disk, they must be formatted to meet the UDF 1.5 standard, after which you can save files to CDRW as if it were another hard disk or floppy drive. One major drawback of this option has been that UDF formatting of a CDRW typically takes 30-60 minutes. A CD writer/software combination that takes advantage of the Mt. Rainier standard allows you "start" formatting a cdrw, and after about 30 seconds, you can start saving files to the CDRW. The cdwriter then continues to format the disk in the background, with minimal impact on system performance. You can remove the CDRW at anytime, even though this background format process may be still going on.
Most CD readers and writers have used CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) reading technology, but previous generations of high speed cd writers have used Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) write technology This means a typical 40X cd writer, which starts burning a cd from the inside out, initially starts burning at 20X speed, then step up speed in 4 or 5 increments, 24, 28, 32, and finally 40X writing, and require about 3 minutes and 40 seconds to burn a full 700 mb cd. The Lightning IV increases writing speed steadily from 20X to 48X at the end of a cd, by holding the cdrom rotational speed constant. The required slightly over 3 minutes in my tests (including spin up time and time required to finalize a cd) to burn a full 700 mb cd with Nero.
In the box you'll find everything need to install and use the Lightning IV, including one blank generic CDR, a Nero 5.5 softare CD, IDE cable, audio cable, mounting screws, and a 28 page installation and a troubleshooting guide.
Installation
This drive was installed in a 500 mhz pentium II system with an Abit BE6 motherboard, 128mb ram, Geforce 2 video card, Soundblaster Live sound card, 45mb IBM hard drive, and a LG 32X cdrom drive, running Windows ME. Installation went smoothly with the key steps being:
- Set the Master/Slave jumper on the back of the drive (you can attach two IDE drives to each IDE channel on your system, one is the Master, and one must be set as the slave). I set this drive to the the master on the second IDE channel, and made the the cdrom drive the slave.
- Install the drive in the computer case
- Plug in the IDE cable
- Attach the audio cable to your sound card (allows you to play back music cd's through the speakers attached to your sound card)
- Install Nero and InCD. I also updated Nero to the latest version available on the Nero website (5.5.9.14), and updated the Lighting IV's firmware to VS08, available as a download from the Cendyne website.
The installation went very quickly, and required about 20 minutes.
Software
It seems like almost all cd writers sold recently come with the Nero cd authoring software, and this drive was no exception, as it included a full version of Nero Burning Rom CD authoring softare on one cd. A hard copy manual was not included.
With Nero, you can burn data cd's, VCD's and SVCD's, audio cd's, and burn several disk image files formats, including bin/cue files. Nero will convert mp3 and wma files to wave files transparently when burning audio cd's. Likewise, Nero will convert avi files to VCD compliant mpg files for VCD's, although this can take a long time (hours). The necessary codec's to make SVCD compliant mpg2 files from AVI or other types of video files, is available for $16 as a download plugin from the website, and works very well. Nero also only includes the capability to encode 30 mp3 files, with unlimited encodes available via a $15 MP3 upgrade at the Nero website. The most recent version of Nero, 5.5.9.14, is a available as a free upgrade from the Nero website, and includes a front end, called Nero Express, to walk users through the cd creation process. New and casuals users of Nero will appreciate Nero Express, and will find that Express makes Nero as easy to use as any cd authoring program available. Experienced users will still be able to access the menu driven/Explorer-like interface of Nero. Nero also includes InCD, Mt. Rainier capable packet writing software which allows you to treat CDRW's (but not CDR's) as a large floppy disk. I have reviewed Nero separately (http://www.epinions.com/content_66308640388 ), if you want to read more details about this terrific cd authoring program.
CD Burning
Burning Data CD's with Nero
As you might expect, this drive is fast. Some typical burn times using Nero and InCD are listed below. The times listed are measured from when I push the "start" button, until Nero has finished burning the lead out track and ejected the CD. This doesn't give you a picture of raw burning speed, but it does give a good picture of real world performance, as most writers take 10-20 seconds to start the burn process and another 15-20 seconds write the lead in/lead out tracks to the cd. Nero reports the spin up time (time required to accelerate to top speed) for this drive to be 3.5 seconds, and spindown time is 4 seconds.
CD Type.........File(s) size.......Burn time
Fuji 40X CDR (Using Nero)
VCD...............470mb..........2 min 10 seconds
SVCD.............805mb.........2 min 49 seconds
Data CD..........690mb........3 min 10 seconds
For comparison, burning 800 mb SVCD on a LiteOn 24X cd burner takes only about 1 minute additional time. Although the 48X writer ultimately reaches 48X write speeds, for the first half of the data burning process it is burning at 24X to about 32X speeds, not much faster than the 24X operates for the same first half of the burning process.
I have been using 32X rated Imation CDR's, and 40X rated Fuji and Philips CDR's, and have been successfully burning at 48X speeds. However, some users have reported problems burning some brands 24X and 32X CDR's, and have had to drop back to 32X maximum speeds. As 48X rated CDR's become available, this problem should go away.
Burning Data CD's with InCD (Packet Writing under Mt. Rainier)
"Drag and drop" or "Drive Letter Access" to CDRW's is made possible through the use of "packet writing" software, which must be running in the background of any computer that you will use to read or write to a CDRW in this fashion. If you want to save small amounts of data to a CDRW at several different times, packet writing is the most efficient method. You can use Nero to add data to a CDR or CDRW in several sessions, but each session results in the loss of ~13mb of disk space. The Universal Disk Format (UDF) standard provides for files to be added to a CD-RW disc one file at a time, in 32kb "packets". The UDF standard also allows for random deletion of files. Most packet writing software, including the version of InCD which comes with the Lightning IV, conforms to the UDF (Universal Disk Format) 1.5 standard. (Direct CD, the packetwriting software that comes with Easy CD Creator is also UDF 1.5 compliant.)
The recent major improvement in packet writing, called Mt. Rainier, can be used with the latest generation of cd writers, some 40X models, and many 48X and upcoming faster cdwriters. Previous versions of InCD, used in conjunction with older cd writers, required 20 - 60 minutes to format a CDRW before you could drag and drop files to your cd writer as if it were another hard drive. Mt. Rainier technology has almost completely taking the formating time out of the picture, allowing you to initial formating a CDRW in about 30 seconds, before you can start to save data to the cd. Drag and drop saving now goes like this:
- Insert the CDRW disk into the CD Writer
- InCD recognizes the blank CDRW disk and you choose to format the CDRW, with the Mt. Rainier option turned on.
- 15-20 seconds later InCD says "You can now use this cdrw as a large floppy disk".
Formatting a 650 mb CDRW with InCD, leaves about 509mb of space available for data, and leaves about 539mb space on a 700mb CDRW. About 80mb of the "lost" space is taken up by the installation routine for a Mt. Rainier UDF reader. If you try to read one of your UDF cd's on a computer without UDF software, you would not be able to read it initially, but the UDF installer would launch, allowing you to install a UDF reader (called EasyWrite), ensuring you will be able to read your CDRW on any computer. THe EasyWrite UDF/Mt Rainier reading software is also available at the Nero website.
Using 10X rated (Smartbuy brand) CDRW disks, I tested drag and drop saving, with the following results:
CD Type.............Data size.............Burn time
10X CDRW.......355 mb (23 mp3 files).....5 min 21 seconds (~1100kb/sec)
10X CDRW.......100 mb (37 mp3 fies)......2 min 30 seconds (~670kb/sec)
10X CDRW.......167 mb (4 mpg files).......2 min 30 seconds (~1100kb/sec)
I've occasionally have noticed that UDF writing speeds with Mt Rainier are a little inconsistent (as can be seen by this data), and it seems to speed up and slow down somewhat as you are saving to the CDRW. Usually write speeds using Mt Rainier packet writing are similar to those you get when using Nero to write data to a cdrw. Unlike writing to CDR's, writing data to the slower CDRW's should occur at a constant rate over the complete cd, being limited by the capabilities of the media, and not the velocity at which the cd writer can rotate, so whether you are writing data to the beginning or the end of the CDRW, the writing speed is about the same. Deleting files is very quick, and only takes a second. Unfortunately, InCD only works with CDRW's, not CDR's. When you eject a UDF CDRW from your cd writer, it will take a few seconds for the writer to prepare the cd prior to opening the door.
Writing to CDRW's with Nero
Using 10X rated generic (Smartbuy) cdrw's, I used Nero to burn 610 mb of data to the cd. Nero recognized the cdrw's 10X rating, and did not give an option to burn at higher than 10X speeds. (I have not tested 12X CDRW's yet, but I would expect the writer to burn at 12X speeds) Write speeds to CDRW's using Nero are about the same as saving files to a UDF formatted CDRW using InCD.
Smartbuy 10X CDRW (Using Nero)
Data CD.....610mb.....7 min 51 seconds
Read Performance
The Lightning IV provides excellent read performance, on par with the fastest cd writers available. As with cd writing, the Mach 48 rotates the CDROM at a fixed speed, which results in increasing read speeds as you move from the inside to the outside of the CD. CD Speed, a CDROM evaluation program which is now included with Nero, reported the average read speed for several 74 minute cdroms to be ~36X, with reading speeds typically starting at 20X at the inside edge of a cd, and reaching 48X at the outer edge. I grabbed a couple of music cd's, and using the CDSpeed evaluation program, generated the following data:
CD 1 (Best of Kansas)
Size 487mb
Starting read speed 22X
Max speed: 40.3X
Ave 31X
As you can see, the drive never reached 48X, as there was no data to be read on the outside of the cd, where read speeds are fasted.
CD2 (Best of The Outlaws)
Size 716 mb
Starting read speed: 22X
Max read speed: 48X
Average 35X
This cd was full of data, meaning data was read from the outside edge of the cd, were read speeds reach 48X. I did notice that the Lightning IV slowed down to about 35X just as it reached the end of the cd. The Lightning IV firmware adjusts (slows) drive speeds as needed to minimize errors, using technology called "SmartX".
Digital Audio Extraction is also fast and accurate. To test audio extraction performance, I used CDDAE, a cd ripping program that optionally verifies ripped files and provides a lot of performance data. The first cd, was a Kansas cd (Best of) containing 487 mb of data in 10 tracks. CDDAE required to extract 1 minute and 45 seconds to extract 10 wav files. The second cd, Best of The Outlaws contained 716 mb of data in 16 tracks. CDDAE required only 2 minutes and 24 seconds to extract 16 wav files. As in the read tests with this cd, I did notice that the Lightning IV did slow down about halfway through the 16th track. In both cases, CDDAE reported all of the wav files were extracted with no errors. You won't find a cdwriter that beats these digital audio extraction speeds by more than a few seconds.
CDDAE and CDSPEED are free downloads from these link:
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=cdspeed.html
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=cddae.html
The Lightning IV is fairly noisy when burning at high speed, making a noticeble whirring sound (rotation speeds can reach 10,000 rpm). In normal use as a cdrom drive, playing games or music cd's for example, it doesn't usually spin this fast, and it runs reasonably quiet. Nero does include a utility, called Drivespeed to slow the drive down to reduce noise if needed for some applications.
Support
The installation and troubleshooting guide included with the Lighting IV is a generic manual included with all Cendyne cdwriters, and is good enough to allow anyone comfortable with opening their computer case to install this drive easily. A hard copy manual for Nero is not included, but pdf versions of the excellent 34 page quickstart guide and terrific 120 page Nero user manual are included on the cd. Each provides clear pictures and detailed information to allow users to take full advantage of this highly regarded program. Support on the Cendyne website is pretty good, offering firmware downloads, FAQ's, online manuals, and a fairly active message board.
WOULD I BUY IT AGAIN?
Yes. If you are upgrading from a 24X or faster CD writer, this cd writer will provide only incremental improvements in cd authoring speed. But, surprisingly, even installed on a "slow" 500mhz pentium III system this burner performs very well and has produced no coasters in the first month of use.
If you use packet writing software, this drive provides a dramatic improvement in the time required to format and use CDRW's. If you are buying a new cd writer, models with Mt. Rainier should be at the top of your list. This drive is manufactured by LiteOn, one of the most respeced cd writer manufactures, and this is a high quality cd writer. LiteOn has already provided firmware upgrades to this model to support additional types of blank cd's, and in the past LiteOn has provided firmware updates to other drives as needed to optimize their performance. LiteOn drives have had a good reputation, offering an excellent combination of performance, reliability, and features. A complete version of Nero and InCD are included with this cd writer. Nero is supported by Ahead, who provides frequent updates to their software, and incremental updates (I updated the version 5.5.8 included to 5.5.9.14) are free. In my judgement, Nero is the best cd authoring program available. Even considering the mediocre hard copy documentation, this drive/software combination is a great value.
Manufacturer websites:
Cendyne
www.cendyne.com
Nero/InCD
www.ahead.de
LiteOn
www.liteonit.com
Mt. Rainier
www.mt-rainier.org
Related reviews
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http://www.epinions.com/content_60692991620
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