Optima's Diskovery CDWriter 4X/2X/6X CD-RW drive

Emedia Professional, August, 1998 by Stephen F. Nathans

The disc that fell the farthest short (675MB) was written in several finalized sessions, which makes sense; the first time an incrementally written disc directory is finalized, the process uses 25MB of memory; subsequent finalizations use 14MB (a dialog that pops up after each write invites users to "Finalize Directory" so the disc can be read but still written, or "Finalize Disc," after which no more data can be written to the disc). After the CD-RW disc was used once, erased, and reinitialized (roughly a 40-minute process, just as on the PC), the ready-to-reuse disc offered slightly less than IGB of databoosted maximum capacity.

All CD-R discs played back flawlessly on both the Optima's 6X CD reader and the test-bed Mac's internal 8X Matsushita CD-ROM drive, with both drives mounted using the CD-R Access software. The CD-RW disc played back effectively on the Optima reader after multiple distinct finalized writes.

Data-boosted writing also demonstrated truth in advertising on the speed side, showing significant acceleration in completing 800MB writing sessions in roughly 12 minutes, about three-quarters of the time required to write a typical 650MB disc at 4X. CD-RW writing performance under CD-R Access Pro didn't exceed the 2X standard.

The CD-R Access recording process also proved effective as a background function, sustaining 4X-plus recording (to CD-R) with other Mac applications like Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop operating in the foreground.

Another nice feature of CD-R Access Pro is its ability to turn a Macintosh into an extendedplay CD-Audio player. Under the AppleCD Audio Player, users simply choose Startup CD Drive from the Options menu and select the CD-R Access-mounted drive, and the player will treat the disc as it would any ordinary CD-Audio disc. While the full 1.3GB capacity proved elusive on all attempts, I did manage to squeeze the full 830MB of the Beatles' doubledisc White Album on a single CD, and getting from "Back in the U.S.S.R." to "Cry Baby Cry" without switching discs-or flipping records, for that matter--did seem a minor triumph, somewhat on the order of one of the early joys of the CD era: being able to by-pass the atonal digression "Revolution #9" with a push of the "Skip" button.

TESTED ON TOAST: PREMASTERING MAKES PERFECT

The Optima CDWriter was also tested on Adaptec's Toast 3.5.3 premastering software for Macintosh systems. 650MB data and audio discs were written at 4X to Maxell and Verbatim CD-R media in disc-at-once mode. Data was drawn from the same internal 1.4GB hard drive on the test-bed Mac used for CD-R Access Pro testing. The discs played effectively at 6X on the Optima drive and at 8X on the Mac's internal Matsushita 8X reader.

Users who work with both CD-R Access Pro and Toast will note that Toast presents a warning that a non-Toast reader is being used to access the recorder, indicating that the CD-R Access control panel is in use. Using the CD-R Access driver with Toast may or may not cause problems in the recording process. In testing, discs were recorded successfully under both scenarios; to be on the safe side, however, users should make sure the Toast driver is active when recording with Toast by dragging the CD-R Access Pro icon from the "Control Panels" folder in their System folder to the "Control Panels (Disabled)" folder, moving the "Toast CD Reader" icon from the disabled to the active folder, and restarting. To switch back to CD-R Access Pro, you'll need to reverse the process and restart again.