3 - Basic Tests - Benchmark (continued)


DAE Quality


The "DAE Quality test" measures how well the drive can extract audio tracks. This test is done in two parts.




First some audio sectors are extracted to the HD at three different locations on the CD. The same sectors are read again and compared to the sectors written to HD. Depending on the number of differences, the DAE quality will be rated from 0 to 10, where 10 means perfect DAE (no differences).

Next CD-DVD Speed will try to determine whether the drive supports "Accurate Streaming". When accurate streaming is not supported the drive is unable to locate the requested audio location at any time.

If your drive does not get a perfect score with this test (10/10 and Accurate Stream checked) it is highly recommended to use a CD ripper with a verify function to extract audio tracks.

One of the best CD rippers is Exact Audio Copy.





Access/Seek time


This test measure access and seek times.




Three measuring are done:

Random: Optical pickup is moved in a random position on the disc.

1/3: Optical pickup is moved from the start of the disc to 1/3rd of the length of the disc.

Full: Optical pickup is moved from the start of the disc to the logical end of the disc, i.e where are located the last data of the disc. The term "logical end" is used because not always the end is in the most external part of a disc. For example, in a disc burned only for half of its capacity, the logical end is where the last data is located, and not in the most external part of the disc, that instead is empty.

Remember: Executed test must be selected in global options of CD-DVD Speed.




What are exactly seek and access times?

In Seek Time test is measured the amount of time necessary to move optical pickup to a specified position on the disc.

In Access Time test is measured the amount of time necessary to move optical pickup to a specific position on the disc plus the time necessary to read a single sector.

Then, access time is always higher than seek time (usually a few milliseconds).

Again, remember: in global options must be selected how many times to execute this test.






CPU Usage


This test measure CPU utilization at 1X, 2X, 4X and 8X.






Burst rate

The Burst Rate Test measures the transfer rate from the host adapter to the drive.

Usually an optical drive is connected by the proper cable to the IDE channel of mainboard. In this situation Burst Rate test measure speed transfer of IDE channels.

However, it's also possible to connect a drive with different interfaces. For example, it's possible to use an IDE to UDB or IDE to Firewire adapter. in this situation, the Burst Rate test will be useful to determine if the adapter is enough fast to support high speed burnings (this is true mostly for DVD burners).

Important: results are accurate only if the drive caches the data. Since many drives don't cache audio data it is recommended to run this test using data CDs.




Spin up/down


For high speed drives it is necessary to spin down the drive to lengthen the life of the optical parts.

The spin down test measures how long it takes to stop the drive.

The spin up test measures how long it takes before the drive can read data after it has stopped. Shorter times are better.

Faster drives will have higher spin up/down times.




Load/Eject


This test will measure the time it takes for a drive to eject, load and recognize a disc.

The time needed to recognize a disc depends on the type of disc. For example a drive needs much more time to recognize a multisession disc than a single session disc.

The eject and load times should always be about the same regardless of which disc is used, because the drive requires the same time to open and close the tray apart from the disc inserted in the drive.




Create data disc


This function will write predefined binary data in a selectable number of files on a blank media. Total file number written on the disc is variable, because data is added until the last sector which makes the disc very suitable to test the read performance, so a DVD will contain much more data than a CD media.

While the disc is created the write performance is shown in the same way as the Transfer Rate Test (TRT). In this case, obviously, the graph is not the reading speed, but the writing speed.

There is also a verify function available which checks the data just written on the test disc. This function must be activated in global settings of CD-DVD Speed.




In versions previous to 4.50, the writing tests were available only in "Benchmark" tab of the main window of CD-DVD Speed. Starting from the version 4.50, it's available a new dedicated tab ("Create Disc") to execute a writing test that allows to collect more informations than the "classic" test available in the Benchmark tab. Here will be described the "classic" writing test, and the new one will be described in the dedicated section of this guide.

When executed in the Benchmark tab, the writing test will show in a graph writing speed and disc rotation speed.




Disc rotation speed can be omitted by the graph unchecking the "Show RPM" setting in global options of CD-DVD Speed (See Options --> Transfer Rate).




The "classic" writing test can be executed in two ways, according the selected options (See Options --> Transfer Rate).




Create Data Disc: This function will write predefined binary data filling the disc up to its maximum capacity.

Burn Image File: This function will write the content of an image file (supported types are ISO and NRG) created by user.

To start the test it's sufficient to select the desired one from the menu "Run Test"




As already said, a verify function is available . If the user wants to use it, it's necessary to enable it from the global settings. Verification results will be shown in the little window under the graph.






Test Procedure


In the "Benchmark" tab, it's possible to execute all basic tests. These tests can be executed singularly, or in a row.


To execute a single test, it's sufficient to select that test from "Run Test" menu




To execute more than one test in sequence, the procedure is the following:


1) Select the drive




2) Open CD-DVD Speed global options



3) Select "Standard Test" panel





4) Select what tests must be executed and uncheck all undesired tests



5) Set properly all other relevant settings



6) Insert a disc in the drive. If also a writing test was selected, it's necessary to insert a blank media or there will be an error





7) Press the button "Start" or alternatively select "Selected" from "Run Test" menu



8) Wait until all tests are completed



9) Save results in HDD from menu "Save" or pressing the little floppy button (number 2 in the pic) to save a screenshot in PNG file



Note: saving only the screenshot will save only the graph, but results of all other tests will be lost. If more than one test is done, I suggest to save from the menu "Save".