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Hardware Reviews November 2002 Toshiba SD-R5002 2X/1X/12X DVD-RW 16X/10X/40X CD-RW Toshiba launched its first desktop DVD-RW drive in late September, although the ATAPI SD-R5002 had to share the spotlight with the more intriguing, low-profile SD-R6012 1X/1X/8X DVD-RW for notebooks. Both drives are CD-RWs as well, which has come to be a feature you should expect in any recordable DVD drive you consider. We tested the SD-R5002 in an IBM system with a 1GHz P-III, 384MB of SDRAM, and WinXP Pro. The drive stretched its legs with a maximum read rate of 12,266KBps in DVD Tach and an average rate of 9,567KBps. It wrote a 4GB folder of mixed file types to DVD-R in 26:56, which is within a few minutes of recent 2.4X DVD+RW drives' DVD+R results. Unlike those drives' similar DVD+RW burn times, though, the Toshiba took 54:38 to burn the same folder to DVD-RW. In more everyday burning tasks, the SD-R5002 wrote 700MB to CD-R in 5:23 and 639MB to CD-RW in 7:57. DVD Tach reported a random access time of 128ms and a 244ms full-stroke access test result for the drive. In short, the SD-R5002 is a faster reader and a slightly faster writer than the external CenDyne 2X/1X/4X CDICD00153 DVD-RW I recently reviewed. I'm not enthusiastic about the 2MB buffers in both drives, but then again, DVD-RW drive prices aren't as high as they used to be, either. DVD+R and DVD+RW have several advantages over the DVD-R/RW formats, but they can't quite match DVD-R's compatibility edge in certain consumer players. The SD-R5002 comes with VOB InstantCD/DVD, CyberLink PowerDVD and PowerDirector, and a 1-year warranty. If you're not holding out for a 4X DVD-RW or a drive that crosses the DVD+RW line like Sony's DRU-500A, give it a look. by Marty Sems SD-R5002 2X/1X/12X DVD-RW 16X/10X/40X CD-RW $349 Toshiba (949) 457-0777 www.sdd.toshiba.com CPU Rating: 3 (out of possible 5)
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