Samsung SE-W164
Apr 15th, 2006 | By Archive
Samsung SE-W164
Date
: 04/15/06 – 02:05:07 AM
Author
:
Category
: Optical Devices
Page 1 : Introduction
Manufacturer
: Samsung
Price
: N/A
Samsung is a big name in electronics, be it memory chips, LCD panels, televisions and much more. What we hold here is the
Samsung SE-W164
, an external DVD Writer that can burn media at a speed faster than what you can easily acquire at your local brick and mortar store.
An external burner allows you to record DVDs off any computer that has a USB 2.0 connection. Think this is something you could use? Read on to get more details and to find out how well it performs.
Page 2 : Package
Samsung packages the
SE-W164
in a very simple box. Printed slightly off-center is a very large image of the unit. This immediately gives you an idea of what it looks like. The two tone color makes it look very sleek and simple; it shouldn't have any problem blending into today's modern desktop systems.
To the bottom are the specifications of the unit. I've taken a close up shot for you but we'll be going into the features and specifications of this unit later in the review.
One of the first things I noticed about this model is how Samsung states that is
lead free
. This is a great thing to point out as lead is toxic and after the useful life of this product is past, it'll probably end up in the landfill. For any product that has lead, usually in the solder joints, the lead will leech back into the earth causing severe environmental impact. With the SE-W164, the lead free device means you can landfill this product without worry about the after effects it may have.
Rotating the package onto its side, we see that Samsung has made use of the sides of the box by displaying a few features.
A close up of the listed features:
The other sides of the box show the general specifications and the features, including the read and write speeds of the various media formats this unit supports.
A complete list of information will be made available in the specifications page of this review.
Turn our attention to the back of the package we get even more specifications, the only difference is that they are printed in several languages.
Here's a close up of the software that is included in the package.
Here is a blown up copy of the printed features that were printed in English.
The top cover of the package is not wasted. Samsung uses this space to give another quick overview of the product and the physical ways you can sit the product down and use it.
Samsung has printed some interesting information about the SE-W164 at the bottom of the package. It makes it seem like they are hiding the fact that this model is actually made by Toshiba.
Before we open up the package, let's head over to Samsung's webpage and check out the features and specifications.
Page 3 : Specifications
Samsung has always made it easy to find information about their product. However, sometimes you need to visit both Samsung Canada and USA to get all the information.
While Samsung Canada provides to you all the facts, Samsung USA has some pictures to illustrate what they are trying to say and is slightly more complete.
Right from the get-go we see that this writer will have more than enough power for all your DVD and CD writing needs. While high speed media is very easy to find in high quantities, it's the DVD's that are near impossible to locate. Singled sided 16X media isn't too bad, but there is a very short supply of affordable dual layer and re-writables. You can easily spend well over a hundred dollars just collecting samples of different formats with different rated speeds just to test out a product. Yes I know because I've looked into it.
From a specifications stand point, this is going to be a great burner. It'll last you until the war between Blu-Ray and HD is over.
Page 4 : Package Content and Installation
Upon opening the box we are greeted with a variety of of accessories and the writer itself. The first things I pulled out were the power cables, USB cable and stand.
Next to come out of the box were the setup guide and the utility CD. Included in this CD are several useful applications, my favorite being the Nero 6 suite.
If you already have your preferred media burning software, there's absolutely no need for you to use the provided CD.
I would have liked to see a few extra freebies tossed into the package, mainly a tool to manually eject stuck media or even some free pieces of blank media. Alas, there is nothing left in the box except for the unit itself.
As I mentioned before and as you can see from the packaging, the primary color is black with a silver stripe running along the side.
The front of the drive is pretty bland.
At the bottom left we have a round eject button that has a slight bulge on it so you can easily push it. A little left of the button is a green LED to show activity. In between the LED and power button located at the top of the silver strip is the emergency eject button. Often an untwisted paper-clip would fit nicely into the pin sized hole.
To the back of the drive we have a few very important features.
On the far left we have the USB A port, in the middle is the multi-pin power connector and at the far right is the power switch.
Turning the drive over so we can look at the bottom, we see the product label and four rubber feet:
The rubber feet will help absorb any vibrations and ensure a quiet operation. A similar padding can be found on the vertical stand.
Here's a quick picture of the unit standing vertically:
For the installation, all you need to do is connect the USB and power cord to the SE-W164 and then connect the respected ends to your computer and electrical outlet.
It's important that you connect the USB directly to your motherboard, and not through a hub or front panel. The reason why you should connect directly to your motherboard's USB port is because at the higher speeds the data transfer rates can't keep up. I've tested this and the max you'll reach is about 8X. We'll see this later on in the DVD media testing pages coming up.
Page 5 : Performance Analysis
The best ways to test an optical drive are to read and write to as many pieces of media you can get your hands on. Of course, that would be ridiculously expensive for you or anyone to do. I have taken the SE-W164 and subjected it to as many pieces of blank media as I could get my hands on at BlankMedia.ca. Head over to their site if you're in need of blank media, because that's all they sell and they do a fine job at it.
I'll be using my work station and going about my usual tasks while I burn the media for these tests. Here are the components:
AMD Opteron 146 0546 GPAW @ 225*9
OCZ EL DDR PC-4000 Gold GX XTC 2GB
Thermaltake Golden Orb II
SilverStone SG01
Antec NeoHE 430Watt
Plextor PX=740A
Samsung 40GB SATAII 7200RPM 8MB Cache Hard Drive
Seagate 400GB SATAII 7200RPM 8MB Cache Hard Drive
External Writer
Samsung SE-W164
Software
Windows XP Pro + SP2 + Latest Drivers and Updates
Nero 7 Premium CD-DVD Speed[/quote]
Upon connecting the USB cord, Windows automatically detected the drive. Within a few seconds, I was ready to read and write with it.
The unit reveals itself as a TSS Tcorp unit under ‘device properties’.
Using Nero 7 Premium's InfoTools, a detailed run down of the supported formats is displayed.
I'll also be using a number of blanks and seeing what their outcome is. The test is very subjective and will only show whether or not the unit achieves the rated specifications.
Maxell CD-R 700MB 48X
Verbatim CD-RW 650MB 24X
Maxell DVD-R 4.7GB 8X
RiData DVD-R 4.7GB 16X Provided by BM
Verbatim DVD-R 8.5GB 4X
RiData DVD-RW 4.7GB 4X Provided by BM
Verbatim DVD+R 4.7GB 16X
Verbatim DVD+R 8.5GB 6X
RiData DVD+RW 4.7GB 8X
Special thanks to BlankMedia for supplying the media.
Each piece of media will be subjected to the Nero CD-DVD Speed application. The full test includes creating a data disc, verifying the data integrity, determining the transfer rate, CPU Usage, Burst Speed, Spin Up/Down times and Load/Eject times. Each test has been saved, however not all images came out perfectly, blame Nero's automatic image capturing feature.
Let's start things off with the CDs.
Page 6 : CD-R(W) Performance
While many people still use it, CDs are a method of transporting only small quantities of data around. However, this wonderful piece of technology has been the building a block for DVD, HD and BluRay technology. As I mentioned earlier, I will be testing the burning capabilities with a Maxell CD-R and a Verbatim CD-RW.
Maxell CD-R 700MB 48X
From the specifications above, you can see that the Maxell is just a rebranded Ritek. It has a total capacity of 703MB and can be written at speeds between 8 and 48X.
The burn processed started at just under 22X and finished at 48.21. Slightly higher than rated but it certainly won't greatly affect the total time required for burning.
The following results were obtained from the Nero CD Speed Test result file, you can view the entire document here
A quick summary of the results:
Write Transfer Rate
Write Mode DAO
Start 21.79x
End 48.21x
Average 37.02x
Type CAV
Transfer Rate
Start 13.79x
End 41.53x
Average 31.30x
Type CAV
Seek Times
Random 91 ms
1/3 95 ms
Full 174 ms
CPU Usage
1X 3 %
2X 7 %
4X 5 %
8X 12 %
Interface
Burst Rate 12698 KB/sec
Spin Up/Down Times
Spin Up Time 2.36 sec
Spin Down Time 2.96 sec
Load/Eject Times
Load Time 1.24 sec
Eject Time 1.96 sec
Recognition Time 9.79 sec
The data integrity was perfect and we really couldn't ask for a better burn.
Turning our attention to CD-RWs, we have a similar story to tell.
Verbatim CD-RW 650MB 24X
CD-RW's are still relatively popular, they're great pieces if you only need to move a few files around and can't put it on a flash drive. In this day and age, it is quite difficult to find 32X CD-RWs. The best I could do was pull out an old 24X Verbatim I had from a few years ago.
I've used this CD a number of times and it still works perfectly with a burn process starting at 16X, but jumping to 24X less than ten minutes into the CD.
The full test report can be found on this page. I've summarized the key results below.
Write Transfer Rate
Write Mode DAO
Start 15.99x
End 23.99x
Average 23.10x
Type CLV
Transfer Rate
Start 11.27x
End 41.60x
Average 28.59x
Type CAV
Seek Times
Random 88 ms
1/3 95 ms
Full 167 ms
CPU Usage
1X 4 %
2X 7 %
4X 6 %
8X 11 %
Interface
Burst Rate 14845 KB/sec
Spin Up/Down Times
Spin Up Time 2.49 sec
Spin Down Time 3.00 sec
Load/Eject Times
Load Time 1.25 sec
Eject Time 1.97 sec
Recognition Time 9.08 sec
Things look very good for the SE-W164 when it comes to CDs. Since most of us don't really buy an external DVD burner to make CDs, lets get onto the DVD performance.
Page 7 : DVD-R
The DVD-R format is the preferred choice for me. They're compatible nearly everywhere and most importantly, with my standalone DVD player. I went through a fair number of blanks to ensure my results were accurate and consistent. First up is an 8X piece of media.
Maxell DVD-R 4.7GB 8X
These Maxell discs are from my spindle of 100 and what I normally use when burning DVDs.
Another rebranded Ritek disc with a capacity of 4.38GB and a top speed of 8X. The DVD started recording at 5X, but by the 1.5GB mark it reached 8X and finished the rest of the writing at that pace.
The entire test report can be viewed here.
Moving on to the Verbatim 16X discs…
Verbatim DVD+R 4.7GB 16X
Test #1
When I moved over to the 16X discs, I first encountered the severely hindered write performance. The media would start off at 6.5X and increase to 10X and then suddenly fall down to 8X by the 1.4GB mark only to remain at that speed.
You can view the rest of the burn process here.
The source of this problem was that I connected the SE-W164 to the front of my SG01. It also occurred when I connected it to the USB port via a USB extension cable. As soon as I went directly into the motherboard's rear IO USB port, there were no more problems.
Verbatim DVD+R 4.7GB 16X
Test #2
Both pieces of media are manufactured and branded under the Verbatim name and can write at speeds up to 16X. That is what we want and after our quick reconfiguration, that is exactly where we ended up.
The burn process is a little erratic but during the data integrity test, no problems were listed.
The following results were obtained from the Nero CD Speed Test result file. You can view the entire document here.
Write Transfer Rate
s
Write Mode DAO
Start 6.71x
End 10.74x
Average 11.53x
Type P-CAV
Transfer Rate
Start 5.01x
End 12.15x
Average 9.09x
Type CAV
Seek Times
Random 105 ms
1/3 110 ms
Full 213 ms
CPU Usage
1X 12 %
2X 15 %
4X 32 %
8X 62 %
Interface
Burst Rate 20691 KB/sec
Spin Up/Down Times
Spin Up Time 2.69 sec
Spin Down Time 2.97 sec
Load/Eject Times
Load Time 1.24 sec
Eject Time 1.96 sec
Recognition Time 12.91 sec
We'll next focus our attention on DVD-RW and DVD-R DL's on the next page.
Page 8 : DVD-RW & DVD-RDL
The DVD-RW rated speed is 6X, but Blank Media was out of stock so I will be testing out the performance at 4X with a RiData disc.
RiData DVD-RW 4.7GB 4X Provided by BM
The results of the reading and writing tests were not very interesting. With a maximum speed of 4X, this was a walk in the park for Samsung.
The following results were obtained from the Nero CD Speed Test result file, you can view the entire document here. Here is quick summary.
Write Transfer Rate
Write Mode DAO
Start 4.00x
End 4.00x
Average 4.00x
Type CLV
Transfer Rate
Start 3.39x
End 8.29x
Average 6.18x
Type CAV
Seek Times
Random 126 ms
1/3 121 ms
Full 215 ms
CPU Usage
1X 13 %
2X 23 %
4X 45 %
8X 81 %
Interface
Burst Rate 14779 KB/sec
Spin Up/Down Times
Spin Up Time 2.56 sec
Spin Down Time 2.21 sec
Load/Eject Times
Load Time 1.24 sec
Eject Time 2.16 sec
Recognition Time 14.17 sec
The performance is exactly where it should be with the read speed topping off at 8X.
Blank Media has graciously provided me with a Verbatim DVD-R DL so we'll move onto that next.
The top speed of 4X for DVD-R DL's is somewhat disappointing as some companies have released higher speed models. Regardless, the number of people actually burning at 6X isn't very high and the costs required going up to that speed aren't worth it. Even DVD-R DL's rated for 4X do not come cheap. The Verbatim discs provided by Blank Media have these specifications:
During the burn process, Outlook decided to open up a window asking me for my network login and password and Nero only captured a screen shot of my desktop which included the password request window. In brief, I don't have an image for you for this test! You can view the entire test results on this page. Here are the key results:
Write Transfer Rate
Write Mode DAO
Start 4.00x
End 4.02x
Average 4.00x
Type CLV
Transfer Rate
Start 3.14x
End 7.54x
Average 5.65x
Type CAV
Seek Times
Random 110 ms
1/3 106 ms
Full 182 ms
CPU Usage
1X 14 %
2X 21 %
4X n/a
8X n/a
Interface
Burst Rate 15208 KB/sec
Spin Up/Down Times
Spin Up Time 2.67 sec
Spin Down Time 2.28 sec
Load/Eject Times
Load Time 1.23 sec
Eject Time 1.97 sec
Recognition Time 21.09 sec
Another burn that meets all the specifications set out by Samsung. This concludes the DVD-R file format and on the next page we'll take a brief look at the DVD+R file format.
Page 9 : DVD+RW & DVD+RDL
In the previous tests, the SE-W164 achieved all of the performance specifications with ease. The only time it failed to reach that criterion was when the DVD burner was plugged into some USB extension header. The same problems arise when you burn DVD+R media. For that reason, I essentially wasted my only 2 DVD+R blank DVDs rated for 16X that Blank Media gave me. If you're curious to see what the 8X performance is like, you can click on this link. The Verbatim discs I tried are rated for 16X..
Following the same order, I'll proceed with DVD+RW tests. For this, I had an 8X RiData DVD.
You don't find these everywhere and you definitely don't find them for cheap. Here's a screen shot of the disc info:
The SE=W164 didn't have much trouble going from the starting 4X speed to the final 8X speed. Within 1GB worth of data, it had already achieved the max speed.
The rest of the performance was also very good, you can read the entire report here, but I will provide to you a summary below.
Write Transfer Rate
Write Mode DAO
Start 4.00x
End 8.00x
Average 7.48x
Type Z-CLV
Transfer Rate
Start 3.40x
End 8.29x
Average 6.19x
Type CAV
Seek Times
Random 100 ms
1/3 111 ms
Full 186 ms
CPU Usage
1X 12 %
2X 25 %
4X 49 %
8X 93 %
Interface
Burst Rate 12801 KB/sec
Spin Up/Down Times
Spin Up Time 2.37 sec
Spin Down Time 1.98 sec
Load/Eject Times
Load Time 1.24 sec
Eject Time 1.97 sec
Recognition Time 12.58 sec
Everything looks great here. As with many of the other pieces of media we tested, the CPU usage does approach full load conditions when reading at the higher speeds.
For our last test, we're going to pull out the Verbatim DVD+R DL's capable of 6X.
It's quite difficult finding high speed DVD+R DLs as only a few companies make them, Verbatim being one of the more trusted options. As stated, these discs are capable of write speeds up to 6X on
high speed
compatible drives, which the SE-W164 is. Here's the usual disc info:
The DL write results are pretty different compared to the other discs we tested. It starts off at 4X, jumps to 6X and then goes back down to 4X as it approaches the end of one layer and gets itself ready to start the next.
While this type of performance doesn't exactly surprise me, the time difference between writing with this combination and writing only at 4X probably isn't too much. Just one factor you may need to weigh when buying high speed DVD+R DL media. The rest of the results are pretty generic and much like the other pieces of media I used. You can see all the results here or just read below.
Write Transfer Rate
Write Mode DAO
Start 4.00x
End 6.03x
Average 5.17x
Type Z-CLV
Transfer Rate
Start 3.46x
End 8.30x
Average 6.22x
Type CAV
Seek Times
Random 110 ms
1/3 108 ms
Full 183 ms
CPU Usage
1X 13 %
2X 19 %
4X n/a
8X n/a
Interface
Burst Rate 17086 KB/sec
Spin Up/Down Times
Spin Up Time 2.15 sec
Spin Down Time 2.15 sec
Load/Eject Times
Load Time 1.24 sec
Eject Time 2.16 sec
Recognition Time 22.07 sec
Again, things look good. The CPU usage is kept relatively low at these speeds, and the drive peaks at the max this media was capable of. We will draw up conclusions on the next page.
Page 10 : Conclusions
The SE-W164 has turned out to be an excellent writer. When used without a cable extender, it worked perfectly. Along with the ECS board in my workstation, I tested out the drive on my Albatron K8SLI test bed and my Acer Travelmate laptop; none gave me any problems when I connected the usb cable directly to the USB port and not through a cable extender.
Convenience is priceless and with the SE-W164, I am able to write files off any of my PCs and even install software from CDs and DVDs even if they don't have an internal optical drive. Perfect for laptop users who don't have burning capabilities. While the SE-W164 is by no means small, it's not cumbersome and the vertical stand allows you to minimize the desk space used.
The variety of supported formats and the high speed capabilities makes this an excellent unit. For those who don't intend on backing up too many files or have a number of PCS that may require burning capabilities, investing in one of these over a half dozen internal units is a great idea!
Advantages
⢠Convenient
⢠High speed external solution
⢠Lead free solution is environmentally friendly
Disadvantages
⢠Bulky
⢠Doesn't burn at full speed when using USB extension cables
Overclockers Online would like to thank Samsung Canada for providing the evaluation unit and BlankMedia.ca for supplying the media.
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