High Speed Burning via USB2.0 — Waitec FrisbyII — THG.RU

The article first appeared in Tom’s Hard News Email Newsletter

Fast, Mobile Burning — the FrisbyII from Waitec

Waitec is selling a compact 40/12/40 burner with USB2.0 interface that goes by the name of FrisbyII. (Note: This model is the same build as the Liteon LXR-40122 A/B.)

The retail package we tested came with a proprietary USB cable and power supply, a software CD containing the OEM version of Nero Burning ROM, the Nero toolkit, InCD packet writing software and the Nero media player. A manual was provided on a second CD.

The package contains virtually everything — all you need is the media

Nice touch — skip button on the front panel

Neat but not very practical — headphone socket and volume control on the right

A bit wobbly — the FrisbyII’s flap

From the back — proprietary USB port and no power switch

Features and Write Modes

Rating: 40x Write

The drive supports the usual writing modes such as track-at-once, disc-at-once, session-at-once, multisession, packet writing and Mount Rainier.

The screenshot shows the wide choice of CD writing speeds available.

Spoilt for choice with CD-R

Standard CD-RW speeds

Of course, the FrisbyII also has effective buffer underrun protection (Safelink).

Liteon’s Smart Burn system automatically adjusts the writing strategy to suit the media.

Test Setup and Benchmarks

Our test setup used a PC configured as follows:

A USB2.0 adapter (PCI expansion card) was used to connect the CD writer.

Read Performance Part I: Data

Pressed CD Read Speeds

We used a commercially pressed data CD nearly 74 minutes in length (73:21.05 to be exact).

As the Nero CD Speed screenshot shows, the drive operates in Full CAV mode. This means that the CD spins at a constant speed and the data transfer rate increases steadily as the writer moves toward the outside of the media. The maximum transfer rate of 40.78 we measured narrowly exceeds the specified 40x. In direct comparison with competing USB2.0 models (Liteon LXR-24101A, Yamaha CRW-F1UX) the Frisby’s very fast random access time of 88 ms is a pleasant surprise.

This will save a lot of time when installing software.

CD-R Read Speeds

For this test we used a 1:1 copy of the original CD mentioned earlier. The TDK CD-R80 Metallic media provided us with the following ATIP information:

• ATIP: 97m 15s 17f
• Disc Manufacturer: Ritek Co.
• Reflective layer: Dye (Short strategy; e.g., phthalocyanine)
• Media type: CD-Recordable
• Recording Speeds: min. unknown — max. unknown
• Nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 73f / LBA: 359848)

This drive is also very fast when using CD-Rs, although seek times are slightly slower than with a pressed CD.

CD-RW Read Speeds

This test used a backup copy of the original CD on a Liteon HS-RW disc (4x-12x):

• ATIP: 97m 15s 35f
• Disc Manufacturer: NAN-YA Plastics Corp.
• Reflective layer: Phase change
• Media type: CD-ReWritable
• Recording Speeds: min. unknown — max. unknown
• Nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f / LBA: 359849)

This is where the unit really showed what it was made of. Measuring very close to 41x, with seek times better than 100ms, this is definitely one of the top current performers in this particular discipline.

Read Performance Part II: Audio

To test the digital audio extraction rate, or DAE, we used the DAE tool EAC 0.9b4 together with Nero CD Speed 1.0. Our test CD was a copy of «TOPP99 CD1» which contains 20 tracks and has a total playing time of 78 minutes, 24 seconds.

DAE with EAC

The drive can retrieve C2 error information and delivers a low-jitter datastream. The fact that Waitec’s newest product caches the audio data is more of a hindrance than a help to accurate reading with EAC.

Features in brief

*Accurate Stream The drive delivers a clean datastream low in jitter, making time-consuming active jitter correction unnecessary.
• Caching EAC always reads each audio sector twice and than compares the results to make sure that the data has been read correctly. If a drive caches the data, EAC will always believe its has the correct data, as the second read attempt takes the data from the cache.
• C2 Error Info A drive with this feature will notify EAC whenever there is a read error. This provides a very real benefit, because EAC doesn’t need to read each individual sector twice; it simply relies on the drive to provide an error message at the appropriate time. This speeds up the copying of data considerably.

For our test we transferred all 20 tracks as non-compressed wav files from CD to the hard disk. We copied the data onto the hard disk using two different modes.

• Burst Mode

  In this mode, the audio data is copied sector by sector without any error checking. This is EAC’s fastest mode.

• Secure Mode

  The data being copied is checked for errors. If a read error occurs, EAC tries to correct it.

The EAC screenshots below show how both extraction methods fared:

EAC Burst Mode: Waitec FrisbyII

EAC Secure Mode: Waitec FrisbyII

In burst mode, the drive reaches a very good 41.8x — not quite as fast as the CRW-F1UX, but that particular drive is supposed to be a 44x model anyway.

DAE with Nero CD Speed

Nero CD Speed also confirms the very good extraction performance of this drive.

Seek times, at exactly 82 milliseconds, are average. Maximum extraction rate is a very good 42.04x. The drive delivers an accurate datastream and DAE quality achieves a top rating of 10.

The final, advanced DAE quality test with Nero CD Speed shows that the drive is able to read CD text, sub-channel data, even lead-in and lead-out. There really isn’t much else you could ask a writer/rewriter to do.

In comparison with the competition, the following picture emerges :

Read Performance Part III: Scratched CDs

For this test we created a V-shaped scratch on a commercial CD pressing.

Quite a few drives will simply throw up their hands in horror at a scratch like this.

We tested the surface of the disk for damaged or unreadable sectors using Nero CD Speed’s scan function.

The drive was able to read all sectors. Only 8.56% were reported as damaged.

The FrisbyII turns in a creditable performance in this discipline when compared with its direct competition.

Not only that, but our final CD quality check diagram shows that the drive takes the «problem area» calmly in its stride.

The vertical, yellow lines indicate areas with damaged sectors. Other test candidates tended to slow right down here. But not the FrisbyII. It carries on reading right through the faulty portion with barely a murmur.

Data, Audio and Error Read Performance — Summary of Results

Waitec’s FrisbyII returns very good figures in every area — fast data transfer rates (even faster than the actual 40x spec) and low seek times. Unusually, the FrisbyII turns in a very good performance with rewriteable media. Even seriously scratched CDs do not slow down the reading performance of this unit. It will be difficult to improve on these results.

Writing Performance Part I: Data CD and CD-DA.

The FrisbyII writes CD-Rs at up to 40x speed. The data transfer rate increases smoothly as the writer moves closer to the outside of the disk, reaching a plateau at 70 minutes. This writing strategy is known as partial CAV (constant angular velocity). Disc rotation speed is held steady up to the 70th minute, and then reduced slightly.

Link between rotation speed (yellow line) and writing speed (green line).

The average transfer rate is 31.41x. By way of comparison, the Yamaha’s CRW-F1XU 44x writer at 32.87x is only marginally faster.

Data CD, Audio CD and Data RW

For our data CD test, we created a 702 MB (718384 Kilobyte) image. We burned it onto a 700 MB blank disc at maximum speed in DAO mode.

As the screenshot shows, burning took 3:10 from start to finish. That makes this writer faster than the Yamaha. Waitec’s Smartburn Technology’ is clearly slightly more compatible with this particular media (ATIP: 97m 32s 19f, disc manufacturer: Prodisc Technology Inc.) .

Data-RW

For this test, our standard procedure is to use Nero Burning ROM 5.5.9.9 and the high speed RW media supplied by the manufacturer. File size is exactly 660152 Kbytes (645MB). Writing method is TAO.

As Waitec does not bundle any media with the writer, we tried our luck first with Yamaha’s ultra-fast RW media. Even though we had deactivated the smartburning function, we were unable to write at 12x speed. However, we were successful using Liteon’s high-speed RW media.

The FrisbyII is a good minute faster than a 10x rewriter. Hardly surprising, though, since the CRW-F1ux is a 24x writer.

CD-DA — the Classic Audio CD

Our audio CD image contains 20 tracks with a total playing time of 79 minutes, 4 seconds. The CD-DA is burned in DAO mode with CD-Text content.

In this discipline, too, this compact writer has the edge

Not a problem — CD Text playback

Summary of Writing Performance, Part I

Waitec’s FrisbyII turned out to be a fast writer, turning in the kind of writing performance that is comparable to 44x writers. On the negative side, we should mention the background noise, which reminded us of a dustbuster.

Writing Performance, Part II — Packet Writing to CD-RW.

We carried out a number of tests to check the writing performance in packet writing mode. First, we timed how long it takes to completely format a disc. Then we copied (using drag and drop) a 447 MB folder from the hard disk to the CD and back again. We clocked both times using a stopwatch. The size of the files within the folder varies from one kilobyte to several megabytes. Which makes this exercise something of a real-world test. We then quickly erased the media with CloneCD and then copied the same folder in TAO mode using Nero. Finally, we erased the disk completely with CloneCD.

Each test is repeated at least twice to check the accuracy of the measured results. These are summarized in the table below.

Formatting operation aside, the FrisbyII, like all 12x rewriters, has a measurable (rather than noticeable) speed advantage over a 10x rewriter.

Writing Quality and Media Compatibility

Getting data onto a CD fast is one thing. No less important, however, is making sure that the data is written accurately. After all, you want to be sure you can play your CDs in any drive. Writing quality is therefore an extremely important factor.

We used six different writeable and three different rewriteable media to evaluate the writing quality across different brands.

The data was 717758 Kbytes for a 700 MB CDR and 660152 Kbytes for a 650 MB CD-RW. Writing method was DAO or TAO. Safelink was active during all write operations.

For the first test run we activated the Smartburn function to allow the writer to set the maximum speed. In theory, this should produce the best possible results. We examined the surface of the CD for defects (damaged or unreadable sectors) with the aid of the ScanDisk function included with Nero CD Speed.

The results shown in the above table indicate that Smartburn does not work reliably in every situation. The writing results were not ideal with the Octron and the Traxdata 48x rated discs. Still, the errors were not critical and all the data was readable, albeit not at maximum speed.

Writing Quality and Media Compatibility, Continued

We deactivated Smartburn for the next set of measurements. All media is rated at 40x.

The results show that Smartburn is certainly worth having. The figures for the Verbatim CD make its benefits particularly clear. Although you can shave 10 seconds off the overall writing time by switching Smartburn off, you will greatly increase the chances of producing coasters if you do so. The diagram shows why.

Data corruption. The yellow, vertical lines indicate defective sectors; red lines show unreadable areas.

As you can see, the drive has a real problem reading the data. Nearly 7% of the sectors are so badly corrupted that they are completely unreadable.

Here is a summary of our tests using three different RW media.

FrisbyII Writing Quality: TAO mode

It looks like burning RWs isn’t really the FrisbyII’s favorite job, because we were unable to burn data that was entirely free of errors. When using CD-RWs, we would therefore recommend that you limit the writing speed strictly to the maximum speed specified for your media. Otherwise you run the risk of creating a RW disc with an unacceptable number of errors. The drive shows the interesting effect (and it is not alone here) that the last sectors of the TAO data CD-RW are unreadable. We found the same thing with data CD-Rs in TAO mode.

Using DAO mode, we got the following results:

FrisbyII Write Quality: DAO mode

In DAO mode, too, it is advisable not to exceed the writing speed specified for the media, since doing so will increase the error rate and make it difficult for other drives to read the burned disc.

Summary: Writing Quality with CD-R and CD-RW Media

The writer achieved good results with five of the six discs we used for our tests. Nevertheless, we recommend that you always activate the Smartburn function. Otherwise writing quality quickly goes downhill.

The writer is rather choosy about CD-RWs. We recommend that, whenever possible, you write in DAO mode at the speed recommended for the media.

Virtually Impossible — Backup Copies of Protected Audio CDs

Consumers are increasingly discovering that they are unable to make backup copies of their newly purchased audio CDs. Not only that, they can’t even play them on their computer. The reason lies in the copy protection systems such as Key2Audio or Cactus-Datashield, designed to prevent duplication. We wanted to see if the Waitec FrisbyII was able to create backup audio CDs.

We used the following copy-protected titles:

For ripping we used the Exact Audio Copy program.

Typical structure of a copy protected CD-DA — a data track follows the audio tracks.

The only CD we were only able to rip was «Let Go». The transfer rate reached a pretty disappointing average speed of 7.1x.

EAC burst mode. Ripping, yes. But slowly.

The picture was nearly the same with all the other CD titles we tested. They were usually recognized, inasmuch as the contents of the CD were displayed correctly, but it was not possible to copy or even read the tracks with EAC.

Backup Copies of Games — No Problem, But Slow

The problems we are now seeing with audio CDs have plagued games CDs for a long time now. Most game titles come with some form of copy protection and burning a backup copy can be something of a lottery. We tested the performance of the CD writer in this discipline using two games: Comanche 4 and Serious Sam2.

The CloneCD 4.01.10 screenshot shows the drive’s main capabilities.

Backup Copies of Protected Audio CDs, Continued

Since the writer clearly supports CloneCD’s RAW-DAO mode, it should be possible to make backup copies.

We used ClonyXXL 2.0.0.6 to determine what kind of protection was being used.

Serious Sam2 is protected against piracy with Safedisk 2.51, and Comanche4 with Safedisk2.

To make a copy, we first created an image of the original CD with CloneCD. We then wrote the image to a CD-R. Finally, we checked to see whether we were able to install the copy and start the game.

The FrisbyII is definitely not the fastest when it comes to copying games. Other writers were able to read the original CD in half the time. But the copies work — and that’s the main thing.

Conclusion

Waitec’s FrisbyII takes the honors as the current top performer for high-speed CD writing/rewriting using USB2.0. It even managed to outpace a competing 44x model. Special tasks such as backing up copy-protected games are no problem for this unit. Backing up copy-protected audio CDs was not possible, however.

The writing quality to CD-R media is good, but the FrisbyII’s rewriting performance is not its strong point. Its reading performance with CD-RWs certainly is. Overall the writer/rewriter is a very capable performer, which gains extra brownie points for its highly capable error correction.

Measuring 15.8 x 3.9 x 21.5 cm (W x H x D) and weighing in at 1.1 kg (including power supply and cable), this drive is recommended for mobile computing. At 215 euros (street price) the unit is hardly a bargain. But, unfortunately, that’s the price we have to pay for mobility.