A SATA burner - yes, really!
Following on from the ATAPI/IDE 20x internal DVD burners that Lite-On IT unveiled in November, the company is introducing two further versions of what's claimed as the world's fastest DVD writer. One is external and USB, the other internal and (three cheers!) serial ATA.
The LH-20A1S will likely be the world’s first 20x DVD burner with a SATA interface when it arrives mid-February at a recommended price of £32.
SATA 1 - sometimes called SATA 150 - but now formally known as SATA 1.5 Gbit/s, has a nominal data-transfer rate of 150MByte/sec and that's clearly much greater than the theoretical maximum for ATAPI/IDE parallel ATA models. Most of these typically run in Ultra DMA Mode 2, with its 33MByte/sec nominal maximum data rate.
However, we have our doubts about whether any performance difference will be noticeable in real-world conditions. No burner you can buy can write data to a disc (or read a disc) at anything like 150MByte/sec - though we'd love to be proven wrong.
Instead, the true benefit of a SATA burner is likely to be the ability to install it in a new-generation PC that has no parallel ATA connectors or fewer than is convenient.
Additionally, because SATA data cables are so much less bulky than parallel, using SATA can make for a tidier PC interior with better airflow and fewer worries about overheating.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the companion USB model, the LH-20A1PU - due at the end of February with a £45 RRP - is claimed to be the world’s first external 20x DVD burner.
Click for larger image
Like the previous-generation Lite-On full-size USB external writer, the newcomer has one-touch burning using one of two buttons on the top of the drive case.
A button marked DUB, lets you do a disc-to-disc copy without using a software interface on the PC. The other button - FILE - will burn to optical disc data that's stored in a folder sitting on Windows' desktop.
As well as a claimed 20x write speed - and for a considered take on high-speed burning, read our world-exclusive review of the 18x Samsung SE-S184 USB DVD writer - the two models have two other significant features in common.
They can write to all conventional DVD media (+/-; R/RW; double/dual layer; and DVD-RAM) - though, seemingly, not burn labels to LightScribe disc (LightScribe-compatible models will be along soon, we'd presume) - and use Lite-On's SmartWrite technology.
SmartWrite is reckoned to avoid bad burns when using dodgy or unknown media - detecting the best strategy for writing to each disc, testing that and then remembering the settings the next time the same type of media is used.
We know a lot of HEXUS regulars will welcome the arrival of Lite-On's 20x SATA model but we aren't sure if you're as sceptical as us about the move to ever-faster claimed burning speeds. Share your thoughts on both in the HEXUS.community.
Update - Jan 24, 2007; 20:30
Paragraphs three, four and five have been reworked to (hopefully) better explain the relative perfomance of SATA and PATA.
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community :: discussion thread about this articleHEXUS.lifestyle.headlines :: Lite-On's latest is slimline burn-it-all writer with LightScribe
HEXUS.lifestyle.headlines :: Lite-On to launch world's fastest DVD burner (20x). But why?
HEXUS.lifestyle :: CTS - 2006 :: Interview with Lite-On's Jelmer Veldman
HEXUS.lifestyle.reviews :: Samsung SE-S184 18x USB DVD burner
External.links
Lite-On IT Europe - home pageLite-On IT - world home page
