I never thought that picking a CD-R/CD-RW drive can be so complicated. Confusion seems perfect with acronyms like High Speed, Ultra Speed, CD-RW, CD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, ATA, IDE, ATAPI and and many more things that either work together or they don't (even worse they may be the same thing with different names).

On top of that some media simply refuses to work consistently even though all specs indicate it should. I was used to Memorex CD-RW media not working properly with my HP 8200e drive, while Imation and Sony both did (at 2x burning speed). The Norcent RW521 seemed to confirm the same issues, now at 14x re-writing speed. I was almost ready to give up on Memorex at all (despite the good pricing)....

Note: For DVD burning capability check out the NEC ND-2500A CD/DVD Burner.


Feature summary

All features of the drive are listed here for a quick overview for those who only need technical information and can do without my two cents ...

- 48X CD-Recording, 24X CD-ReWriting, 48X CD-ROM Reading
- 16X DVD-ROM Reading.
- Buffer Under Run Error Prevention.
- EIDE/ATAPI Interface for easy installation.
- Advanced Optical Pick-Ups adopting Annular Mask Lens.
- 8MB Buffer Memory for smooth DVD replay.
- Supports variable packet CD-R,
- Variable and fixed packet CD-RW read and write.
- Soft MPEG decoder

Data Transfer Rate:
- Record: 48X (7,200 KB/sec)
- Rewrite: 24X (3,600 KB/sec)
- Read: 48X (7,200KB/sec)

Burst Transfer Rate:
- PIO Mode 4 (16.6 MB/sec)
- DMA Mode 2 (16.6 MB/sec)
- Ultra DMA (33.3 MB/sec)

Recording Capacity:
- CD-RW Disc 700/650MB (type 80/74)
- CD-R disc 800/700/650/550MB (Type 90/80/74/63)

Average Access Time:
- CD: 110ms / DVD: 130ms

Interface:
- EIDE/ATAPI

Buffer Memory:
- 8MB

Supported Discs:
- DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-Video
- CD-R, CD-RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM/XA ,CD-ROM
- Video-CD, CD-I, Photo CD, CD-Extra, CD-TEXT

Writing Method:
- DAO(Disc At Once)
- TAO(Track At Once)
- SAO(Session At Once)
- Packet Writing (Variable, Fixed Packet)

Physical :
Dimensions (WxHxD mm) : 148.2 x 42 x 184


Hardware / Installation

The SM348B has 2 major arguments going for it: 8MByte Buffer and included 16x DVD-ROM. That of course goes on top of other top-of-the-line features like 48x max. writing speed (equates to 7200kB/s) and even 24x re-writing speed (3600kB/s). Nevermind, in a year or two this will be so "last year". ;-)

Installation is a snap as form factor and all plugs are driven by standards and easily fit in any PC that has room for a 5 1/2" half-height drive. The Master/Slave jumper is factory-set to Slave which in my case required reconfiguration since I put it on the Master connector of my secondary controller. (The slave has been taken by previously named Norcent RW-521).

I used the ATA100/133 cable that was included with my motherboard (Gigabyte SINXP1394). I guess it was foremost due to the fact that I trusted Gigabyte more regarding which cable would be best with this motherboard. (Realistically it's the same, but the Gigabyte looked nicer. LOL)

Anyway, once plugged in and powered up, the BIOS flawlessly recognized both drives and the same held true for WindowsXP (HE). Since I already had Ahead's Nero installed, I tried that with the new Samsung drive and was pleasantly surprised ... or relieved to be exact.

CD-RW Media compatibility got a huge boost as the SM348B seemed to take anything I threw at it. Neither Memorex (4x, HighSpeed 14X, Ultraspeed 24x), nor Imation (4x, 14x), or Sony (4x) CD-RW media had even one issue. (Note: The formatting for InCD packet writing never hung up and went significantly faster than the Norcent ever did, despite it being an equivalent drive.)

I have not seen issues in normal writing mode with any of the drives I have owned so far. Hence, real compatibility seems to be determined by packet writing mode (DirectCD or InCD).

The 8MByte buffer (normal is 2MByte) does not seem to make a difference in normal operation but supposedly smoothes out DVD replay. Not having a comparison DVD drive with less memory, I cannot judge on that, but replay is without hickups on the SM348B.

The external noise level is good and not very obvious, though one will know when either drive switches into high gear. (Normally it accesses at 20x before switching into the faster mode after determining it's safe to do so. Some media can shatter at extreme speeds like 48x or 52x when cracked due to excessive use.)

The front panel sports the normal eject button and a plug for head phones with volume control. This may be useful for directly playing CDs, but in my case, I am using the Ahanix dbox ATX tower, not accessible. That's fine since I like the flip cover of that case more than having the CD drives in their diversity prominently displayed. However, the eject button fits mentioned case good. (For information on the case please see http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1767)


Software

Unlike the Norcent RW-521 it's replacing the Samsung SM-348B does include documentation - though on CD and a quick guide flyer that discusses basic setup. However, to call it 'detailed' may be an overstatement, since it only covers the obvious and is not suitable for advanced setup or troubleshooting.

For instance, it tells how to attach the audio cable to a sound card but then leaves you alone with it and refers to the card vendor for how to make it work. What if one has integrated audio as I do with the Gigabyte SINXP1394 motherboard? Besides, Samsung included the wrong cable where the analog audio connector is not compatible with this drive. In fact, the manual shows the right connector (2 pins) but the actual cable has a 4 pin version that's similar to the digital connector but flatter.

Other than that, drivers are not included and obviously not needed since it follows Windows conventions. I am using XP and it has been no problem at all to find and install the drive automatically.

The other discs include DirectCD / Easy Creator and PowerDVD, both in an OEM version. I used Roxio's CD burning software with my (old) HP drive and found it quite easy and reliable, but had already Nero Express installed on my Desktop, which turned out to have absolutely no issues with the Samsung. Which is the opposite of my experience with the Norcent drive that actually included Ahead's Nero.

While neither drive has issues in normal burning, it's a huge difference when using the packet writing software InCD which allows to use CD-RWs like floppies (add and remove files at will). This is at the expense of storage room, as the 700MB become 570MB due to necessary overhead. (650MB discs leave about 537MB usable capacity)

Once I have more time on my hands I might remove Nero and actually install Roxio's EasyCD Creator for comparison reasons (Maybe it fixes my issues I still have with the Norcent drive).

PowerDVD 4.0 is an easy to use and powerful DVD player which allows to replay in full screen mode and direct control over captioning and other features offered by a DVD. It even allows to make screen shots, but would not rip video scenes. Howver, it ran flawless on my Radeon 9700.

Unfortunately, there is no backup software included (as HP used to do). Since Windows XP does not include a CD-R capable backup program anymore, I guess I will have to find something else.


Speed test

The test software Nero CD Speed 1.02e was included with Nero Express but can also be downloaded for free at http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=download.html. The Samsung SM348B (Firmware T506) scored as follows, attached to an ATA133 controller.

Transfer Rate
- Start: 21.61x
- End: 48.15x
- Average: 36.47x
- Type: CAV

Seek Times
- Random: 97 ms
- 1/3: 111 ms
- Full: 184 ms

CPU Usage
- 1X: 1 %
- 2X: 1 %
- 4X: 2 %
- 8X: 5 %

Interface
- Burst Rate: 1628 KB/sec (???)
- Spin Up Time: 2.86 sec
- Spin Down Time: 2.10 sec
- Load Time: 1.23 sec
- Eject Time: 1.37 sec
- Recognition Time: 9.88 sec

For comparison return to the same website and review other tests. http://www.cdspeed2000.com However, keep in mind that some values don't seem to reflect reality and also are depending on the CD type and data structure. For comparison only use a CD created by this program (F9), but in my case the results were not much different.

Reviewing the test, most numbers are on target, but the burst rate is way too low with ~1600KB/s, which is only somewhere around 11x CD speed. In other words, the direct reading outpaces the claimed burst from the buffer. (Very unlikely, since it's RAM to RAM!) However, it could be that it's only a decimal place that one or the other is wrong. The rated speed is at 16MB/s or 33MB/s (UltraDMA).


Support

Even though Samsung mentions 2 separate websites for support, it is really just one. Check out http://www.samsung-odd.com/eng/ for details (note: the /eng/ bypasses the first screen that's incompatible with browsers other than Explorer). One mostly finds tech details and firmware updates, but no updates for the included value-added software like PowerDVD or EasyCD Creator.

The FAQs are basic and may help in most cases. I have not used any other Support yet and cannot comment on it for that reason.


In the end

... it's good and mainly for reasons that drove me to actually get a new drive. COMPATIBILITY! Since now worries are over and I can write any media (as it seems), I give it both thumbs up.

Reading and normal burning of 48x is great for MusicCDs and creating backups. (I did my fair share of waiting when backing up 10GB with 4x writing speed.)

Pricing is a little high, even after $30 rebate. However, added DVD-ROM capability and reasonable access speed with excellent overall performance make the SM-348B a winner. Having said that, of course I don't have unlimited resources and therefore can only directly compare with HP's (old) 8220e and Norcent's RW-521, where the latter on paper should have been better.

The Samsung looses in price and theoretically in max. reading speed. But wins in reality with real-live performance, features and compatibility.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 90
Operating System: Windows