Optical drives have largely homogenized, save for a
few neat features like dual-layer DVD burning or Lightscribe. Compared to the rest of the
computer industry, optical drives have evolved into a mature technology. For a good example of the features a modern optical
drive should have, look no further than the Lite-On
iHAS424 DL-DVD burner. It's
got everything you'd expect from a DVD-writer, including dual-layer DVD writing
and reading, compatibility with both + and - formats, as well as support for
lightscribe label burning if you have photosensitive media. Of course, it'll
also read and write CD-Rs and CD-RWs.
SATA has largely taken over for IDE when it comes to
optical storage, so it's no surpise to see that the iHAS424 has moved to the newer
Serial connection. While the iHAS424 is an internal drive and will likely be a
permanent resident inside your PC, thanks to its SATA connection it is
hot-swappable.
If you're in the market for a speedy new dual layer DVD burner the
iHAS424 is as good a choice as any. The SATA optical drive is one of the new
generation of 24x DVD writers, so it's easily fast enough to handle both movies
and data discs. The drive that PCSTATS will be testing today is a retail model,
which means it comes in a box along with a manual and some SATA cabling. Despite
the packaging the iHAS424 isn't expensive, you can find them in most stores for
just $30 CDN ($28 US, £17 GBP)!
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|
Lite-On iHAS424 Serial ATA DVD Writer |
|
|
 |
| Includes: |
|
User's Manual, SATA cable |
| | |
Lite-On's iHAS424 is designed for use
in standard-sized computer towers and HTPC cases, so it'll fit into any free
5.25" PC expansion bay. The drive's specific measurements are 17 x 14.5 x 4.1cm,
which make it a about average for an optical drive. As long as your case isn't
tiny you should be able to install this optical drive without any
problems.
This DVD-RW drive comes in a stylish,
slimming black... like pretty much ever computer peripheral these days. If you
own an old beige box you might have to put up with some clashing colours,
but then if you owned a beige box are you really all that concerned about how
your computer looks?
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Lite-on iHAS424
Supported Media |
|
|
Blu-Ray |
DVD-RW |
DVD+RW |
DVD-R |
DVD-RAM |
DVD-R DL |
CD-R |
CD-RW |
|
Read: |
no |
8x |
6x |
24x |
12x |
24x |
48x |
32x |
|
Write: |
no |
16x |
16x |
16x |
16x |
16x |
48x |
48x |
Writing modes for DVDs on the iHAS424
include DAO (Disc-at-Once) and Incremental Recording, as well as restricted
overwriting and sequential recording. CD writing can also support TAO
(Track-at-Once) and SAO (Session-at-Once) recording, in additional to
mutli-session recording. Lite-on's iHAS424
drive uses a SATA connection rather than the IDE interface. SATA provides a
lot of benefits over PATA, including greater bandwidth and lower latencies and
the ability to hot-swap optical drives. SATA has largely taken over on
motherboards in place of PATA connections, with many users building systems that
eschew the older data interface entirely.
Dual-layer DVD media can store 8.4GB of data,
which is approximately twice that of its single-layer counterparts capacity of
4.7GB. This is because Dual Layer DVD media has two dye layers for data
recording. Heat caused by the drive's laser beam modifies the physical and
chemical structure of each dye layer to form patterns which can be read by the
same laser (at a lower intensity) as digital data. 
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