AOpen CRW2040

Specification of the AOpen CRW2040:
Firmware version	1.01
Recording modes	Disc-At-Once, Track-At-Once, Session-At-Once, MultiSession, Packet Writing
Recording formats	CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, Photo CD, CD-Text, CD-I, CD-Extra,Video CD
Read/write support in Raw-mode	RAW-DAO — supported RAW-DAO Write Simulation — supported CD+G RAW-DAO — supported RAW-SAO — supported RAW-SAO Write Simulation — supported
Average access time	120 ms
CD-R recording	4x, 8X, 12X (CLV) 16x, 20x (Zone-CLV)
CD-RW recording	2X, 4x, 10X
Buffer underrun error prevention technology	JustLink
Interface	UltraDMA 33
Reading	40x max (6000 KBytes/s)
Buffer size	2048 KBytes
Production date	September 2001
Manufacturer	Taiwan
Price as tested	n/a

The drive ships in a Retail package.

The box contains:

User Manual
Installation Manual
CD with Nero Burning Rom 5.5.4.0 and InCD 2.26 from Ahead Software
CD with GAMUT 2000 1.2.0 for audio files playback
CD-R and CD-RW discs
4 screws and an Eject Stick
Analog cable for connecting the drive to a sound card
IDE cable




ATIP: 97m 27s 10f Disc Manufacturer: Plasmon Data Systems, Ltd. Reflective layer: Phase change Media type: CD-ReWritable Recording Speeds: min. 4X - max. 8X nominal Capacity: 656.10 MBytes (74m 41s 00f / LBA: 335925)	ATIP: 97m 31s 01f Disc Manufacturer: Ritek Co. Reflective layer: Dye (Long strategy; e.g. Cyanine, Azo etc.) Media type: CD-Recordable Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown nominal Capacity: 656.69 MBytes (74m 45s 00f / LBA: 336225)

Character and technique of recording:

This is a usual drive based on the Ricoh MP7200. It supports JustLink, JustSpeed and Zone-CLV technologies used for high-speed recording. The software allows starting to record CDs right after its installation.

Here is what the Nero says about this drive:

Earlier I mentioned that Ricoh clones and OEM versions do not like low-quality media. This time the AOpen recorder refused to record CD-R Mirex at the speed over 8X, though usually Mirex discs do not have any problems while being recorded at the speeds up to 24x.

Moreover, the drive doesn't get on with 24x CD-R discs from TDK Reflex Ultra. When we enabled the JustSpeed the CRW2040 refused to record at 20x coming down just to 16x.

The drive doesn't make much noise, though you can clearly hear air flows driven through it all the time. Discs ejected after intensive reading are quite warm. The spindown time is a bit too high.

The appearance of the drive is similar to the 16x model that we tested some time ago.

AOpen made the tray solid, without an opening door like in the Ricoh. In all other respects there's everything the same: a headphones jack, a mechanical volume control, an emergency ejection hole and one LED. The drive can be installed both in vertical and horizontal positions.

The rear panel features a special bridge for enabling the UltraDMA 33 mode; the PIO Mode 4 is set at default.

To make the drive work with this protocol you should just take out the bridge. We tested the device with the default settings, i.e. in the PIO Mode 4.