CDROM drives are getting to be as dependable as GeForce video cards in terms of performance predictability. We knew when we tested the Samsung SW232 that its performance would be faster than that of the SW224. Now that the SW240 has arrived we can say with some certainty that its performance will be better than the SW232.

There really is only one direction to go for CDRW's, and that is faster. Amazingly, each time Samsung has released a newer and faster CDRW the price point manges to remains pretty much fixed at the $75USD level. The case holds true with this unit, which also happens to come bundled with a set of blank CD-R and CD-RW media, and a nice fresh copy of Ahead Nero Burning ROM 5.0.

So today we have another burner in the SW series; capable of writing CD-R media at 40X, rewriting CD-RW media at 12X, and reading standard CD-ROM's at 40X. The SW240 packs 8MB of buffer memory to prevent the occurences of buffer underrun errors along with Justlink/BurnProof.

h'mmm, ejecting discs at anytime, formatting in the background and physical fault management sound kind of appealing don't they! The SW240 writes using a Z-CLV write type and features a quiet geared tray mechanism. The CD-RW can be mounted horizontally or vertically and will accept both full-size 120mm diameter CD's and smaller half-size 80mm diameter CD's. The front bezel follows along with previous Samsung drives - setting itself apart with a rounded tray cover. Button and controls on the front of the SW240 include; eject button, indication LED, headphone jack and volume wheel.

Samsung SW-240 CDRW
	Ships with the following: User's Guide Nero Creator 5 Software Audio jumper cable (4-pin connector) Philips mounting screws 40-pin IDE CABLE Manufacturer: www.samsung.ca

The rear of the drive features the standard assortment of connectors; IDE/Molex Power/Analog Audio and two-pin digital audio output terminal. The drive comes with an IDE cable, some screws, the bundled software, instructions and a four-pin analog audio cable.

The Samsung SW240 CD-RW is bundled with a proprietory version of Ahead Nero 5 - which is good for more advanced users as it frees up controls. BurnProof/Justlink/Superlink, or whatever it happens to be called right now is a technology which stops buffer underrun errors from making coasters out of optical storage media. I wouldn't even consider buying a drive these days that did not support this technology, or variant thereof. 8MB of on board memory is also included to prevent the buffer underrun errors from occuring in the first place, but if your system is dodgy, you'll be glad JustLink is there to back up the physical memory.