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Samsung SM-308 8x4x32x8 DVD-CDRW Review
Combo drives have only
recently made their way onto the optical storage marketplace, and the wait
has really been too long. These unique drives bring together four optical technologies under one 5.25"
drive bay.
Not only do Combo drives read CD-ROMs, and Audio
CD's, they also write CD-R, rewrite CD/RW, and most importantly read DVD-ROMs.
With one drive you can do all the work of a standard
CD-ROM, burn disks like a good CD-RW, and watch movies on DVD. Other
than a savings in cost, the SM-308 Combo drive physically takes up less space then three
separate devices.
Additionally, for those of you who have two or three
hard drives, only one IDE position need be occupied. With CD burners
now having entered the arena of standard devices it is no wonder that advances are progressing
so quickly.
| Samsung SM-308 Combo Drive |
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Ships with the following:
- User's Guide
- Easy CD Creator 4
- Recording Media (CDR, CDRW)
- Power DVD software
- IDE CABLE
- CD Audio cable (4-pin connector)
- Philips mounting screws
Manufacturer: www.samsung.ca
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Optical Drive
Features:
I suppose one of the largest features any CD-RW capable
device should have these days is support for JustLink or BurnProof. These two
software based technologies prevent the dreaded buffer underrun error that
plagues many earlier burners during the burn process. Unfortunately, the SM-308
was released just on the cusp of the release of JustLink and so it is not
supported. This increases the chance of errors popping up despite the
small 2MB buffer.
Looking at the
physical ports on the SM-308, we can see that is has the standard jumpers for
master/slave/cable settings, IDE host connector, and 4-pin molex power terminal. Alongside those connections is a
4-pin analog audio connector and a 2-pin digital audio output terminal.
The packaging and layout are fairly straight forward.
The only gripe I have with this packaging is the omission of the 2-pin digital audio cable, which would have been a nice addition. Most manufacturers usually seem to forget to
include the 2-pin digital audio cable in their respective retail boxed units as
well. The user's guide that is included in the box, is easy to
read and has the basic information listed in terms of installation, product
features/specifications, a diagnostic troubleshooting section.
The general specs on
the drive are as follows:
- 8X Write, 4X ReWrite, 32X Read, 8X DVD
- Interface : EIDE/ATAPI
- Drive Type : Internal Type
- Buffer Memory : 2MB
- Burst Transfer Rate: PIO Mode 4 (16MB/s), DMA Mode 2 (16MB/s)
- Loading Type : Motorized Tray Type
- Average Access Time : 140ms DVD, 120 CDms
- Drive Mounting : Horizontal/Vertical
- Writing Method : DAO, TAO, SAO, Multisession, Packet Writing
- Supported Disc : DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-Video, CD-R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA, Video-CD, CD-I, Photo
CD, CD-EXTRA, CD-TEXT.
At first glance the 4X rewrite seems kind of slow, but
remember that your average blank CD-RW media is going to only be capable of 2X
or 4X unless you are accustomed to shelling out the big bucks. I'd be willing to
bet that most of us shop for recordable media by price first, colour second
(silver, blue, gold). Test System Specs: and Test Setup
| PCstats Test System
Specs: |
| Computer: |
AMD AthlonXP 1900+
256MB PC2100 Twinmos DDR-RAM
Aopen AK77
Plus Motherboard
Maxtor 60GB @ 7200RPM
Prolink
GF2Ti Video Card
Enermax 430Watt P/S |
| Software: |
Windows 2000 SP1 |
| Benchmarks: |
Nero CDspeed 99, DVD Speed 99, WinMark
99 |
We made
sure that the drive was set to DMA to garner the best possible results from it. If
you are unsure of how to set your drive to DMA a short explanation is included
in the instructions.In any case, the first benchmark we used to test the read
capabilities of the SM-308 was the venerable SiSoft Sandra. Using Sandra 2001
the SM-308 achieved a drive index of 2046, which is fairly
respectable.
Next up
was e-TestingLabs CD Winbench99. This is a more professional optical drive
benchmark that runs a series of scripted programs from an actual CD in the
drive, measures the time and data transfer capabilities as a result.
|
CDWinBench 99 Ver 1.1 |
| CDRW: |
Setting: |
WinMark99 |
| Samsung SM-308 |
DMA |
1550
KB/s |
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