Sony DRU 820A DVD Writer review

I dunno why but my Hard Disk crashes with better alacrity than a Hollywood couple breaking up and thats the reason why i wanted a DVD Writer to back my data up. And they’re available pretty cheap these days too. So here’s a small brain storming session that took place,
Me : I want backup..(LimpBizkit’s Rollin playing in the background… Backup Backup, tell me what you wanna do now….)
Dad : SuperDad to the rescue!!
So me and my Dad sit down to discuss backup options
1) An iPod!!! (slurp…) or a flash based music player…Nah not feasible..
2) Some external HDD… But its still an HDD, sonny
3) A DVD Writer.. Now you are talking sense ma boy!!
So off we go to Lamington Road to pick up a Lite On drive which has been constantly acing Digit Magazine’s Test Drives since the last 2-3 years. Which certainly is no Taiwanese fluke..
This was my first time to Lamington Road and I was disappointed by how small the place was.
Anyways we hunted and hunted for a Lite On Super All Write but discovered it was out of stock everywhere. So we went to Rashi Peripherals and picked up a Sony DRU 820A. I wanted a LightScribe drive but sense prevailed and I brought some RAM for my comp. Ohboyohboyohboy.
And oh yes, if you are going to Lamington Road, do try Merwan bakery. Excellent stuff, but stupid ambience, so don’t take your girlfriend there. Or you’ll end up counting the days you were together..
Ok back to the DVD writer then.

1) Looks and physical interface

 

 

Sony doesn’t provide any optional bezels while Lite On does give 3(white, black and silver). So once brought, the bezel story ends right there.
One button and an LED are provided. No headphone jacks.

2) Tray
The tray doesn’t look fragile all right and the tray too has a neat mechanism. Fast almost till the end and slow towards the end. This should prevent the tray from maligning some years down the line. Now that’s smart, er… so what if I’m gonna throw this drive as soon as Blu Ray and/or a HD-DVD burners get cheap.

3) Software and other freebies

You get Nero 6.6 and that’s about it.. No DVD playback software, no nothing. Thank you very much..Moser Baer media has been used for all the below tests.
 

4)Read Speeds
Observed(Nero CD DVD Speed)(Average speeds)DVD+R (Single Layer) 10.62DVD+R (Double Layer) 9.01 

 

DVD+RW 8.97

5) Write Speeds
Observed(Nero CD DVD Speed)(Average speeds)

DVD+R(Single Layer) 11.98

DVD+R(Double Layer) 6.53

Conclusion
So this is a nice, fast and reliable writer and a true multi writer in every sense of the term. I know this review comes at a time when the next model is already out. And i’m pretty sure you’ll be pretty happy buying it. It supports writing at 18X, you see.

Pics from CDFreaks.com