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There are lots of way that you can test computer components, but here at TrustedReviews we feel that the best way to test a product is to perform real world tasks. To this end we devised a set of tests that reflect what the drives will actually be used for. All the drives were tested using the supplied writing software.

Large File Test

We used a 4.3GB MPEG-2 file to test how quickly each drive could write a single large file. This test was performed using DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW media.

Mixed Files Test

To simulate a mass file copy or backup we used a 4.5GB batch of files. This is one of the most common tasks that these drives will be faced with. The 4.5GB mixed files test was performed using DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW media.

Formatting Tests

Using re-writable media involves formatting the discs occasionally to clear off old data. We performed a full disc erase on all supported re-writable media and timed the result. This test was performed using DVD-RW, DVD+RW and CD-RW media.

MP3 File Copy

To simulate the CD burning duties likely to be facing these drives we copied 600MB of MP3 data to both CD-R and CD-RW media.

All these tests were timed and the results are shown on the graphs on the following pages measured in minutes and seconds.

Unfortunately at the time of testing there was no four-speed DVD+RW media so the drives that supported four-speed writing could not be tested to their full ability. We will be testing with some four-speed media in future reviews.

Finally a thank you must be given to Verbatim who supplied us with all the media used for this test. When testing optical drives it’s vitally important that high-quality media is used to get the best out of the units.

For information on Verbatim media take a look [link:www.verbatim-europe.com here.]

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