Review: CyberDrive CW099D 52X CDRW

Nero again is used to measure CDR writing performance and the test file is a 690MB DivX 5.0.2 rip of The Others starring Nicole Kidman. The single piece of supplied 52X 80min/700MB media is used and Nero used to time the burn at 52X. For comparison, the 48X TX Venus took 2mins 53 for a 702MB file.

52X writing at 7.8MB/sec in under 2.75 mins

A proper 52X burn of a 690MB data file in a shade under 2.75 mins, which includes drive spin up, lead in and out tracks and the data writing itself and you have a true 52X drive when fed compatible media. Quite simply the fastest way to burn a CD on the PC at the present time, 52X drives are the pinnacle and CyberDrive have themselves a contender.

There's not much else to say about the CDR speed besides saying that I coaxed a further two 52X full disc burns out of 48X media using a mixture of MP3's and program data from one of my coding projects and the drive didn't flinch. Sourcing 52X media will be your only difficulty in getting top performance out of the drive.

Conclusion

While I couldn't test the claimed 24X CDRW performance due to total inavailability of media, it's the CDR performance that sells drives like this and the 52X capability of the CyberDrive was well in evidence. 52X on the CD reading front is excellent too. Like all drives this quick, the only downside is the noise they make when they are running at full speed. The drive is undoubtedly noisy, something that can't be helped. It seemed especially noisy during spin up but that's because your brain reacts more to pitch changes and thankfully there's not much of that during a 3 minute burn.

Apart from the noise, your only downside to getting a CW099D is availability. I can't find them for sale in the UK with Dabs carrying the 48X version just now. Hopefully they will appear at your favourite retailer in due course for a touch under £50 inc VAT making them excellent value.

A fine drive, does exactly what it says on the box and with little fuss too.

Overall Score

Pro's

52X writing speed
52X data/audio reading speed
Good bundle to get you started
Cheap

Con's

Availability of compatible media (although not strictly CyberDrive's fault)
Noisy at full speed