CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0 andDLA 5.20:

For this test I randomly generated 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.

The GH22LP20 has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Taiyo Yuden's 52x media, the drive started writing at about 21.41x and reached a maximum speed of 48.23x at the end of the session. This gave LG's new DVD±RW an average writing speed of about 36.55x.

To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yudenmedia rated at 52x. The results are below.

Size in MB Size in Time LG
GH22LP20
Samsung
SH-S203N
Lite-On
DH-20A3H
LG
GSA-H55L
701MB 79:44:21 2:41 2:55 2:46 2:44

LG's new drive did fairly well in our CD writing tests. Thanks to its 48x CD writing speed, the GH22LP20 was able to write an entire 701MB CD in 2:41.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52246S (firmware 6S0F) and read the discs at 32x.


Imation 52x (MBI)


Taiyo Yuden 52x


Verbatim 52x

The GH22LP20's writing quality was very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors and there were no C2 errors at all.

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 32x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

While the GH22LP20 uses CAV when writing to CD-R discs, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 32x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it uses a total of three "zones" to reach its maximum speed. The drive starts writing at 16x and jumps to 24x at about the 15 minute mark.The GH22LP20 writes at this speed until about the 40 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 32x and stays there until the end of the session.

Software LG
GH22LP20
Samsung
SH-S203N
Lite-On
DH-20A3H
LG
GSA-H55L
Nero 2:42 2:22 2:57 2:40
DLA Write 2:34 3:26 2:50 2:33
DLA Read 1:37 1:16 1:28 2:20

LG's new DVD writer didn't do as well as some of the other drives in our rewriting tests. Due to its Z-CLV writing method, the GH22LP20 took 2:42 to write 400MB with Nero and 2:34 to do the same with DLA.

   LG
GH22LP20
Samsung
SH-S203N
Lite-On
DH-20A3H
LG
GSA-H55L
Quick Erase 16 seconds 18 seconds 22 seconds 14 seconds
Full Erase 5:07 3:14 3:50 5:01

While the GH22LP20's Z-CLV writing method didn't have much of an effect on its quick erase time, it took more than 5 minutes to do a full erase.