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Toshiba SD-M1912
Review
CONCLUSION
Pros
- Can read
DVD-RAM disks out of their
caddy
- Fast at reading pressed CD-ROMs
- Very fast at reading 99min CDs
- Fast CD-R reading
- Fast at reading laserlok disks
- Good pressed DVD-ROM read performance
- Can now read DVD +R/-R, -RW/+RW at 6 speed.
Cons
- Can only rip
CSS DVDs at 8x max.
- Error correction
is not as fast as the older Toshiba
drives
- Disk recognition
is slower than previous models
- Only reads Dual-Layer
DVD+R disks at 6x speed.
- Very poor Safedisk
2 read performance
- Slow CD-Audio
reading maximum 32x.
- Only
32 speed CDRW reading which
is slower than the 3 year old
Toshiba's DVD-ROMs.
- Reads DVD-Video
CSS only 8 speed maximum
Toshiba DVD-ROMs that were made
in Japan were often regarded as the
best for reading scratched, protected
and often difficult to read poor
quality media, consequently they
were the drive of choice for CloneCD
and other backup software.
This drive is not made by the Toshiba
that many people are familiar
with, but in fact Samsung and it
shows in its performance. It's Safedisk
2 read performance has dropped dramatically
from the famous 3 min mark to just
over 30 minutes now, its disk recognition
time is also longer and it
now has difficulty in reading media
that older Toshibas had no problems
with.
We found its CDRW reading to be
slower than previous generations
and CD-Audio reading to be capped
at 32x speed. Its DVD-Video / CSS
content was capped at 8 speed as
well. It is also worse and slower
at reading scratched DVDs, something
which the older Toshibas excelled
at.
It wasn't all bad because its reading
of pressed CDs and DVD-ROMs was very
good and it gave an acceptable performance
when it came to reading DVD recordable
media (but was limited to 6 speed).
Overall the drive left us under
whelmed and disappointed,
we were expecting a Toshiba but
what we got was something else.
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5 - Last Updated: 6 January 2005
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