If your laptop doesn't have a DVD burner option and you feel you really must have one, then the SDW-431SX from Lite-On could be the answer. You may not know it, but Taiwanese company Lite-On is one of the world's biggest names when it comes to optical storage, and it shows with the SDW-431SX; a slimline, external, dual-format drive that is small enough to fit into a large pocket.

The diminutive SDW-431SX weighs a mere 600g including the tiny power supply and uses a fast USB 2.0 interface with a 2MB buffer. It reads DVD-ROMs at 8x with an access time of a claimed 128ms, while its CD performance is rated at 24x read, 24x write and 10x rewrite.

The DVD performance of the SDW-431SX is a bit of a mixed bag. Burning DVD-R and DVD+R discs can be done at 4x, while the speed drops to an unimpressive 2x when it comes to rewriteable DVD-RW and DVD+RW media.

In the real world this means that you can burn 4.6GB of data to a DVD-R/+R disc in around 30 minutes. Strangely, in the drive we tested, only the DVD+RW burn time seemed to be affected by the slow speed, taking 57 minutes (including formatting time) to burn, while the DVD-RW performance was only slightly slower than the DVD-R time at 40 minutes.

Built into the SDW-431SX is Lite-On's own SMART-Burn technology to prevent buffer under-runs. SMART-Burn (Smart Monitoring and Adapting Recording Technology for Burning) runs several checks before and during the burn process to ensure the best quality at the best speed. These checks include media condition (checking the brand and type of disc being used) and vari-speed (enabling the drive to speed up or slow down according the media quality during the burn process).

Also built into the drive is Smart-X (Smart Monitoring and Adjusting Read-speed Technology for Extraction). If you are ripping Audio CD, DAE, VCD or DVD, the drive is clever enough to determine the required speed to ensure the fastest possible extraction rate. On the other hand, when it comes to the playback of VCD and DVD, the drive spins at a lower rate, helping to prolong the life of the drive and reduce noise.

Bundled with the drive is a copy of Sonic's My DVD Suite, which makes a pleasant change from the usual Nero bundle, and Cyberlink's PowerDVD. Lite-on supplies one piece each of 4x DVD+R and DVD-R media.

Verdict
Apart from the disappointing DVD+RW performance, this dual-format drive is a winner; perfect size to be portable, fast enough DVD-R/+R performance and good burning protection.

Company: Lite-On

Contact: 0870 444 4456

Tags: dvd dvd+rw compact disc dvd+r universal serial bus video cd hardware storage