Review of the LG GSA-2166D CD/DVD Writer
LG 16x External Super Multi DVD/CD Writer Dual Layer Model: GSA-2166D
Price: £121 inc VAT @ time of writing, £65inc VAT Jan 06
Site: www.lge.co.uk
Date: November 2005
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LightScribe
You haven't heard of this before? Well that's ok a lot of people are only just hearing about LightScribe technology. Instead of needing to find a marker or label for your disk. LightScribe can use the same laser to etch text or graphics to the disk surface.
Simply eject and flip the disk and insert it back into the drive. Then using the software you can create a laser etched label by using the same laser that burns the data to disk.
You are not limited to just text either, you can burn graphics, logos, and parts of photos to the disk surface which allows you to make custom disks for every occasion.
For more information about Light Scribe visit the official site http://www.lightscribe.com
Testing the drive:
The test system we used was an AMD 2400XP 512MB of RAM, running Windows XP with USB 2.0. So a system which would be classed as mid range specification in my opinion.
1 st DVD+R Media Rated at 8x 4.2GB of mixed files took 9.45 mins to burn to disk.
2 nd DVD+R Media Rated at 16x 4.2GB of mixed files took 4.55mins
3 rd Read test a 154mb CD of files took 1minute 55 seconds
I wasnt able to test the dual layer as finding media rated at 8x for dual layer proved harder than I imagined. I intend on testing this ASAP.
This drive is the quietest writer I have ever used. During operation I couldn't hear the drive working or even spinning up. The rubber feet insure that no vibrations or noises were noticed and I was honestly amazed that through out the whole process the drive worked without a sound and you cant help be impressed being able to burn a full DVD worth of files in just under 5 minutes.
Price wise at under £70 at the time of writing this drive is excellent value for money, it is external and is portable. so long as you remember the power and data cable. It looks good and worked very well, perfect for the range of CD and DVD options available for both home and office users.
The downside for me wasnt the unit itself, but was the lack of media supplied with the drive. This drive came with one Lightscribe CDR, ideally at least one or two DVD disks would of been nice, and of course it allows the buyer to start using the device straight away if media is supplied.
