ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD-Burner Review

All DVD-burners are the same, right? So what makes one better than the next. It's rare these days to hear about an optical drive, with all the other components that are getting faster, greener, and cheaper. Today, Benchmark Reviews is taking a look at ASUS's most recent addition to the optical drive market, the ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24x DVD+/-RW. Many of us may have recently been contemplating an upgrade to our old drives. After a few years of wear and tear, optical drives can give out. Also, with recent upgrades in motherboards, you might find yourself without an IDE channel, necessitating the purchase of a newer SATA model drive. Benchmark Reviews will test the ASUS DRW-24B1ST against other optical drives with USB, IDE, and SATA connectors to find out just exactly what ASUS has in store with it's newest DVD-Burner.

ASUS introduced the DRW-24B1ST with another drive, the DRW-24B1LT. The two drives are nearly identical, the only difference being the lightscribe feature on the DRW-24B1LT version. I've never really experimented with lightscribe, which allows you to turn your disc over after you have written the information to it and write a label to the top. It sounds like an interesting feature, but it doesn't really make a difference as far as actual drive performance is concerned.

The ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24x DVD burner makes its debut as a "greener" drive. This is a point that much of the computer hardware industry is moving toward these days. Energy saving is a top priority, and anything that will help keep the technology in your home from adversely affecting the environment is a good thing as well. To give you an idea of how much energy the new drive is saving, as well its affect on carbon emissions, ASUS has included a small program called E-Green. In addition, the DRW-241ST comes bundled with NERO 8 and a program by ASUS called E-Hammer, which will effectively destroy a DVD for you. We will get into this in more detail further on down the line.

About ASUS

ASUS, a technology-oriented company with a global staff of more than ten thousand and blessed with one of the world's top R&D teams, is renowned for high-quality products and cutting-edge innovation. As a leading company in the new digital era, ASUS offers a complete product portfolio to compete in the new millennium.

ASUS has an unyielding commitment to innovation and quality, a fact borne out by its corporate slogan-"Inspiring Innovation - Persistent Perfection"-and the numerous media, industry and governmental accolades it receives every year. In 2008, ASUS won 3,056 awards-receiving over 8 awards on average every day. The company's revenue for the same year was 8.1 billion U.S. dollars, and it topped the IT Hardware Category of the annual league table of Taiwan's Top 10 Global Brands with a brand value of 1.324 billion U.S. dollars. ASUS also ranks among the top 10 IT companies in Business Week's "InfoTech 100", and has been on the listing for 11 consecutive years.

Inspired by the diverse needs of consumers in all areas and phases of life, ASUS' foremost mission is to deliver truly innovative solutions that in turn inspire consumers to reach for greater heights of productivity and fun. By leveraging its intimate understanding of the requirements of today's digital home, digital office and digital person, ASUS has the honor of claiming many world's firsts-such as the introduction of the groundbreaking Eee PCTM, the ingenious use of renewable materials like leather and bamboo in notebooks and the incorporation of its proprietary power-saving Super Hybrid Engine technology into its notebooks and motherboards. By pioneering many new innovations, trends and technologies that have had a genuine impact on its customers' lives and the Earth at large, ASUS hopes to garner mindshare as well as market share.

To succeed in the ultra-competitive IT industry, ASUS focuses on speed-to-market, cost and service. That is why every ASUS employee strives to master the "ASUS Way of Total Quality Management" in order to fulfill the "Persistent Perfection" promise of the brand. Guided by these precepts, ASUS has developed a strong advantage in product design, technology, quality and value/cost. These advantages in turn constitute ASUS' formula for success-allowing marketing to communicate these strengths to win our consumers' hearts.

ASUS Super-Multi Features

E-Green (Energy Green Engine)

The innovative drive E-Green Engine technology features an E-Green Mode that automatically closes drive applications when not in use to help conserve energy - helping the environment by decreasing CO2 emissions and reducing the depletion of trees.

With OTS, the drive will perform a test before really burning which generate the optimal burning strategy automatically for the best burning quality.

E-Hammer

E-Hammer allows you to permanently delete the data on writable disc (CD-R and DVD-R) formats. Once the data is deleted, it cannot be recovered or restored, and the optical drive will not be able to read the disc. This ensures data security, eliminates the hassle of scratching your old discs, and conforms with our commitment to environmental protection.

AVRS (Auto Vibration Reducing System)

The AVRS technology is designed to minimize the vibration caused by the spindle motor and resonance between components as well as the drive and PC cases. AVRS is designed to reduce vibration and noise induced by unbalanced mass of rotating machinery. With AVRS, ASUS DRW-24B1 provides high readability and playability.

DRW-24B1ST Specifications

Closer Look: ASUS DVD-Burner

A very nice feature of the ASUS DRW-24B1ST is that it is a retail drive, rather than an OEM. It's becoming increasingly more difficult now-a-days to find retail drives without going to your local retail store. If you, like me, buy a lot of your computer hardware online, many of the drives will arrive to your home in a only plastic bag, packed into a shipping box, and surrounded with packing peanuts. The accessories that accompany the drive, if any, are simply thrown in the plastic bag along with the drive. The DRW-24B1ST arrived packed in a shipping box as well. But when I opened the box, I was a little surprised to see another box for the drive itself! This really gives the DRW-24B1ST a better chance of surviving the shipping experience, and you don't have to fear for the loss of any screws, manuals, or CDs that may be hidden amongst the peanuts.

The box clearly portrays the DRW-24B1ST without being overly flashy. The contents of the box include the drive, a small bag of four screws, a disc for nero8 essentials (which also contains the E-Green and E-Hammer programs and the drivers), and the manual. The manual is just a quick installation guide with hardly any instructions at all. However, if you speak one of 32 other languages besides English, you are in luck. The installation guide is provided in all of those other languages as well, which is what transforms it from a one sheet guide to a full spread layout. The DRW-24B1ST does it all, as far as DVD burners are concerned. It will read any type of CD or DVD and will write to everything except a DVD-RAM. This is pretty normal, as it is really not that common to find a DVD-ROM writer. In fact, none of the other DVD burners that I have on hand and tested the DRW-24B1ST against were DVD-RAM writers either.

Along with all the different CD and DVD types that the DRW-24B1ST will read from and write to, it also comes with an expansive set of options for the actual writing of information to a disc. For burning CDs, the DRW-24B1ST offers the option of disc-at-once, track-at-once, session-at-once, and packet recording. The only differences between the "at-once" styles is when the laser stops writing. For disc and session-at-once, the laser doesn't stop until all the data has been written to the disc. The session is not closed using session-at-once, meaning you can use the disc again later without erasing the data. Track-at-once causes the laser to stop at the end of every track, leaving a space on the disc before the beginning of a new track. Sometimes this style can cause a click between audio CD tracks. Packet recording, or packet writing, is an extremely useful tool. This allows you to use a CD or DVD as you would a drive, making it somewhat like a floppy drive used to be. Packet writing is what allows you to drag and drop files to and from your CD/DVD drive as though it were a regular hard drive.

As for the DVD writing functions of the DRW-24B1ST, they are quite similar the CD writing functions. Besides disc-at-once, the DVD functions also include random, incremental, and sequential recording, as well as restricted overwriting. Random recording is just what it sounds like. It allows each individual 32kb block on the disc to be written to without compromising the readability of the entire disc. The data is then written in a non-linear fashion and pulled from the disc in the same way. Sequential recording use a phase-change technology that allows the data being written to the disc to be in a linear order in cases when it will have to be sequentially accessed, such as video files. It also allows this to happen over the course of multiple sessions. Incremental recording, in essence, allows you to close the disc multiple times, creating separate borders around the information written during each recording. It is very similar to sequential recording. It should be noted, however, that using incremental and sequential recording might cause problems if you are trying to view the discs on use a UDF version older than 1.5. This affects a lot of standard DVD players, which use version 1.02. If you use an incremental or sequentially recorded disc in these, you will likely only be able to view one "session" of recording.

So far, the ASUS DRW-24B1ST looks like a pretty normal DVD Burner. One plus that the drive brings to the table is the fact that it comes in its own box, wrapped nice and snugly against any unwanted damage. Of course, a downside to the DRW-24B1ST is that, even in it's own box, it doesn't include a cable. Most motherboards come with or two SATA cables, but if they are both in use, you'll have to pick up another one on the side. I discovered soon after the DRW-24B1ST arrived that Radio Shack has SATA cables for $2.99. Now that we have taken a closer look at the ASUS DRW-24B1ST, let's dive into some of the more detailed features that really make this drive stand out from the pack.

ASUS DRW-24B1ST Detailed Features

The DRW-24B1ST drive itself looks much like any other DVD burner you might find. The ASUS logo is displayed along the drive tray, as well as advertisement of some of the several functions that the drive performs. The ASUS DRW-24B1ST uses the E-Green (Energy Green) Engine. This nifty little feature puts the drive into an energy saving mode that closes drive applications automatically if they are not in use. This helps the drive to draw at only 1W of power at idle. That's about half of what a normal DVD burner runs at. The DRW-24B1ST is a relatively short drive as well, at only 17cm long. It's about 3cm shorter than the IDE MAD DOG drive I tested it against.

The E-Green program that comes with the DRW-24B1ST on the installer disc with nero8 Essentials. The program is designed to tell you just how much energy the DRW-24B1ST is saving you. It also shows the reduced CO2 emissions due to the saved energy. The program isn't much, just a small window that pops up. The top of the small window tells you how much power you have saved during the current session, and its comparative CO2 savings. The bottom half tells you the overall power savings that you have experienced throughout the life of the drive. There isn't much detail about the program that I could find from ASUS. I'm not really sure if the drive communicates somehow with the program, or if it is just an estimate.

Another program that comes bundled with the DRW-24B1ST on the nero8 disc is E-Hammer. This is actually quite a useful little tool. The idea behind E-Hammer is to give you a way to destroy a disc and make it completely unreadable with all the information being unrecoverable. There is a really easy way to take care of this without the program; you just smash up the disc. But in an effort to clean up office space all over the world, ASUS has created a simple program that will do this for you. Another method a lot people used to get rid of the old data was scratching the discs. With the E-Hammer program, ASUS essentially takes care of any data on the disc that you might want to keep out of the hands of, well, anyone. It destroys the disc completely, leaving each and every sector unreadable by any drive. Other programs that have a similar function fall short by allowing the data to still be recoverable by some extraordinary and extremely expensive means. Supposedly, the E-Hammer program makes all the data unrecoverable. I wasn't able to test that part, but I did use E-Hammer to destroy a couple of discs, and it certainly made then unreadable on any DVD device I could get my hands on.

Most of the recent ASUS drives, including the DRW-24B1ST use what ASUS refers to as Optimal Tuning Strategy (OTS) when burning a disc. OTS runs through a test burning prior to completing the actual burning. During the test it checks the disc variables and the drive variables and even the operating temperature. Using all of this information, the drive then selects the optimal strategy for burning the disc. This ensures that you almost never end up with a bad burn and a ruined disc. In fact, while using the ASUS DRW-24B1ST, I have burned 15 DVDs (home videos) and not a single one has ended up ruined. Well, one did, because I used the E-Hammer program to destroy it! Another nice feature of OTS is that it will remember the exact profile of the media that was used in the burn and use the same strategy the next time that same media is used.

Have you ever noticed that when you have an optical drive mounted vertically, it seems to make a lot more noise? Well ASUS has an answer for you. The DRW-24B1ST comes fully equipped with another amazing feature as well. It's called AVRS, the Auto Vibration Reducing System. AVRS takes a look at the drive's balance, whether it's mounted horizontally or vertically. It then takes steps to balance the disc and the spindle while the drive is in operation. This should help reduce the vibration caused by the spindle, as well as the vibration between the drive and the other components, such as your case. It sounds complicated, but I have to admit, the drive is much, much quieter than my MAD DOG drive that it is mounted underneath. After using the ASUS drive for a while, I went back to the MAD DOG to get test results. I felt like the entire room was shaking! Well, ok, not that much, but I was surprised by the difference.

So our question from the beginning was, a DVD Burner is a DVD Burner right? I think we have conclusively proven that all DVD Burners were not created equal. Its true that a 24x DVD Burner is nothing new. We have had those speeds for quite a while now. ASUS has been able to take what we know about a conventional DVD Burner, though, and take it to an all new level. Technological advancements like OTS and AVRS are making DVD Burners ruin media less often and make less noise. The days of listening to the vibrations of your case as your favorite music CD plays have come to an end. The E-Green function of the DRW-24B1ST makes us feel better, even if only minutely, about our effects on the environment. And the E-Hammer program puts our minds at ease concerning our private data. All these things combined with the undoubtable quality of the ASUS brand make the DRW-24B1ST an excellent choice for your next DVD Burner. But just for fun, lets take a look at the results of some testing.

Testing & Results

Testing Methodology

The nero8 Essentials program that comes bundled with the ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24x DVD Burner has a benchmarking tool built into it called Nero Disc Speed 4. This nifty little tool will help you to take a comparative look at your optical drive by measuring quite a few of the functions of the drive. We will be using Nero Disc Speed 4 exclusively in this section to test the DRW-24B1ST against three other drives, another SATA drive, an IDE drive, and an external USB 2.0 drive. This will give us an idea of speed benefit that the ASUS DRW-24B1ST has over it's competitors.

Test System

• Motherboard: MSI P965 NEO LGA775
• System Memory: 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 (PC6400)
• Processor: Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo E6300 1.8Ghz
• Audio: Creative Labs SB Audigy
• Video: MSI NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX+
• Disk Drive 1: Western Digital 7200RPM 3.0Gb/s 160Gb SATA
• Disk Drive 2: Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 3.0Gb/s 1.5Tb SATA
• Enclosure: NZXT Gamma Black
• PSU: 550W ATX
• Monitor: Acer X233Hbid 23" HDMI
• Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64bit
• Optical Drive 1: ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24x DVD+-RW SATA
• Optical Drive 2: MAD DOG 16X3DVD9 16X DVD+-RW IDE
• Optical Drive 3: Panasonic UJ-875A 8X DVD+-RW SlimDrive SATA
• Optical Drive 4: LiteOn eSAU208 8X DVD+-RW External USB 2.0

Results

This first screenshot is from the Nero Disc Speed 4 software. It shows the results of all the benchmarking that the program ran. As you see, the ASUS DRW-24B1ST started the testing at over 6X and made it up to 16X during the course of testing. We will go into more detail about the speeds later on.

First off, we'll compare the access times of the different test drives against the DRW-24B1ST. The access time measures how long it takes the optical head to find a specific point on disc and be able to recognize information on that area of the disc. It encompasses the seek time (finding the location) and the time it takes to read the information off that location. As you can see below, the seek times are all pretty fast, but the ASUS DRW-24B1ST beats out the pack by accessing a random location on the disc in under 1 second. Of course, the difference between 99 milliseconds and the slowest 118 milliseconds from the external drive is really immeasurable.

Next we take a look at the CPU usage of each of the drives we tested. The CPU usage test measures what percentage of the CPU is used by the drive at 1X, 2X, 4X at 8X. I've omitted 1X on the chart below because the results at that speed are really negligible. It is not a surprise that the LiteOn drive uses the highest percentage of the CPU. Being an external USB 2.0 drive, I was expecting that. I was a little surprised that it used almost all of the CPU at 8X. Don't expect to be using your system much while this LiteOn External drive is burning at full speed. All of the other drives are very similar in terms of CPU usage, and you probably won't notice a difference between any of them.

Testing & Results Continued

The spin up and spin down tests measure the time it takes for the drive to stop, then start again. The spin down time measures from the time the stop command is given until the drive has completely stopped. Then the spin up time measures the amount of time from that stop until the drive can effectively read information again. Obviously, shorter spin up and down times are better for a drive, but they can also effect the noise level. The spin up time for the ASUS DRW-24B1ST was pretty impressive, only 1.25 seconds, but it did take a backseat to the Panasonic drive, which spun up in just over half a second. The Panasonic drive also outperformed the DRW-24B1ST in the spin down test by about three quarters of a second. In defense of the ASUS drive, however, the noise level was noticeably quieter during spin up and down that it was with the Panasonic drive, or even the MAD DOG drive for that matter, which was quite a bit slower than the ASUS DRW-24B1ST.

The transfer rate test measures the transfer rate of the data from the disc, in other words, the read speed. The test runs throughout the entire disc to give a good idea of read speeds over different densities of information. Since the DVD that we used to test was writing using CAV (constant angular velocity), the information closest to the center of the disc is more dense than the information closer to the outside edge. The test was run reading at CAV also, and that is why the yellow line (RPMs) stays constant throughout the test. As you can see below, the read speed averages are pretty constant for the different speeds of the drives themselves. It's really no surprise that the average read speed for the ASUS DRW-24B1ST outpaces the pack, since it is the fastest drive.

The burst rate test measures the maximum possible transmission rate from the optical drive to the hard drive. Though this test is somewhat dependent on the read speed of the drive, it is really testing the transfer speed of the channel being used. In this case, it is clear to see that the ASUS DRW-24B1ST takes excellent advantage of the SATA channel and has a burst rate of 64 MB/s. The slower Panasonic SATA drive is nearly on par with the IDE MAD DOG drive. Again, I am not surprised by the slower speed of the USB drive, especially since this test is dependent on the channel. It is important to note at this point that when using the burst rate test on Nero Disc Speed 4, you will get better results if the disc is cached. Nero recommends this before running the test. If you use an audio CD for your testing, it is unlikely that your computer will cache it, and you will get much slower burst rate speeds.

Nero Disc Speed 4 has given us the tools necessary to compare the actual raw speeds of the ASUS DRW-24B1ST against some of the competition. As we have seen, the DRW-24B1ST holds its ground against every other drive we have tested it against, and even pulls ahead in most of the areas we have tested. With an optical drive these days, pure read and write speed is not going to be the deciding factor. Nearly all drives perform at rates so close to each other that it hard to tell a difference without benchmark programs to tell us that it's there. Still, it is nice to see results that show the drive coming out ahead.

Super-Multi Final Thoughts

During this review of the ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24x DVD Burner, we have endeavored to find out if there really is enough difference between optical drives to make one stand out. We have been able to see that, in terms of pure speed, most drives are created closely enough to equal that it would be hard for us to determine a difference. This makes it absolutely vital that optical drive manufacturers come up with newer and better functions to make their drive better than the competition. ASUS has been able to do just that with the DRW-24B1ST. With the addition of a couple of new programs and features, the DRW-24B1ST really does stand out. The E-Green program helps ease our conscience, and the demand on our wallet. Even though the program doesn't make the drive function any differently, it shows us that ASUS has put in the effort to make their drive work just as well as any other, and better in most cases, while using less power. The E-Hammer program is another way ASUS has set the bar. With it, the DRW-24B1ST can effectively destroy a disc, making it unreadable and unrecoverable. This is very important in a time when identity theft is such a bane on our society. Every little chance that we have to protect ourselves and our personal information takes us one step further from becoming a victim to these crimes.

Besides the programs, ASUS has imbedded the new technology of OTS and AVRS into the DRW-24B1ST. These programs help ensure that we are not wasting time and money on media that won't be burned correctly. I can't count the amount of times I have become extremely frustrated because of a buffer underwrite failure. I probably have more than a full spindle of coasters laying around from errors in the burning process. With OTS, ASUS has worked to alleviate those problems. Also, while most drives may perform within a reasonable margin of one another, a constant annoyance is the amount of noise produced by the normal optical drive. The DRW-24B1ST, equipped with AVRS, works non-stop to make tiny adjustments in the balance of the drive, assuring that decibel level produced by your optical drive won't frustrate you any longer.

I submit to you that, while advances in the burning speed of optical writers has not increased much over the last little while, the technology has not stopped improving. ASUS has clearly taken note of what consumers want and what improvements need to be made. Though ASUS is a well known name throughout the computer hardware industry, they have taken time to make a solid, reliable product in the DRW-24B1ST 24x DVD Burner. While the spin up and down times were almost three quarters of a second slower than one of the competing drives, I think I will be more than happy to wait out that time in the relative silence provided by the DRW-24B1ST. If it only shipped with a SATA cable, the product would almost be a masterpiece.

ASUS DRW-24B1ST Conclusion

The results of the testing are in, and the ASUS DRW-24B1ST has not disappointed. It performed as well as any drive of comparable speed and type out there. We can't be too surprised that the DRW-24B1ST solidly outperformed an external USB 2.0 burner, but we can be impressed that it performed better than similar IDE and SATA drives. The stuff that really makes the DRW-24B1ST perform above and beyond is the extra technology of OTS and AVRS and the additional programs like E-Green and E-Hammer. And although many drives come bundled with burning software, the addition of nero8 Essentials is an excellent compliment to an already stunning optical drive.

While the actual body of the DRW-24B1ST looks just as you would expect from an optical drive, the box it comes in is what really makes the difference. As I mentioned earlier, I don't even recall the last time I got an internal optical drive online that arrived in it's own box. The box clearly announces the features of the DRW-241BST without coming off as too flashy or hard to look at. It also provides that extra security and peace of mind. You can rest assured that when you order the ASUS DRW-24B1ST it will get to you intact. You won't have to send it back for a replacement due to damages incurred during shipping.

The DRW-24B1ST is exactly what it is supposed to be. There are no surprises lurking around the corner. Sometimes, manufactures try to spice up a product by making it a little more sleek, a little more sexy. The curve the edges more, or change the design to make it more appealing. This inevitably leads to disaster as pieces wear out or the new design fails in some fatal way. The DRW-24B1ST sticks to the proven standard in its construction. The feed tray is sturdy and strong, but I wouldn't put my coffee mug in it. It does make more noise than the slot-loading Panasonic drive when I put a disc in to, but during the actual reading of the disc, it puts the Panasonic to shame.

If the construction of the DRW-24B1ST is standard and expected, the functionality of the drive is anything but. I must admit that I wasn't anticipating all the fun I would have while testing the DRW-24B1ST. I can't get enough of the E-Green program. It seems like it does nothing, but I love to pop it up and comment to my wife on how much energy we have saved and how much CO2 we have kept out of the air! The E-Hammer program really intrigued me and has proven to be quite the asset. I am still impressed by the quietness of the DRW-241BST. Oh, I can hear it if I listen for it. But I can also ignore it completely if I don't specifically pay attention to it. That is the nicest part of all.

The retail DRW-241BST DVD-burner will cost you $27.99 at NewEgg and includes registration and tech support, or you can save a few dollars and buy the bulk 'OEM' version for $24.99 without the box. With some searching, our price comparison tool found additional deals online. This is a pretty average price-point for a DVD Burner these days. Almost any burner you look at will offer you comparable speeds at nearly the same price. What you get with the DRW-24B1ST that makes it more of a value for the money is the extra programs we have talked about, ASUS's newest optical drive and burner technologies, and the unquestionable quality that the ASUS name brings with it.

With all the pressure to upgrade to a newer, faster, higher performing system, we often forget about the seemingly unnoticed components like optical drives that may need an upgrade as well. At the very least, the new technology available will help save on media and you can stop adding to your coaster collection. With all the other advances we have talked about today, it is a good a idea to take a look at your optical and see if an upgrade to the ASUS DRW-24B1ST is right for you.

Pros:

+ Consumes 1W Less Power than Average
+ E-Green Software Shows Energy Saved
+ E-Hammer Software Makes Data Unrecoverable
+ OTS Produces Optimal Burning Strategies
+ AVRS Makes for a Really Quiet Drive
+ Bundled with Nero-8 Essentials
+ 24x DVD-burning Capability

Cons:

- No SATA Cable Included

Ratings:

• Performance: 8.50
• Appearance: 8.00
• Construction: 8.50
• Functionality: 9.50
• Value: 8.00

Final Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Recommended: Benchmark Reviews Seal of Approval.

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