LaCie 16x d2 DVD±RW review @ CDRLabs.com

December 29, 2004

The guys
of CDRLabs did it again and published another review. This time the LaCie 16x d2 DVD
recorder was their victim and had to run all their tests. The drive is actually
a NEC ND-3500 placed in an external case. It can connect to your PC using either
FireWire or USB 2.0. Being a NEC ND-3500 it features 16x DVD+R and DVD-R
writing.

Besides that it can write to CD-Rs at 48x, CD-RWs at 24x and
read CDs back at a maximum of 48x. DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs are written at 4x and
the drive reads DVDs at a maximum of 16x. Overall the drive didn't perform very
well in the tests but it features make up for a lot, according to the CDRLabs
review.

On the
positive side, the drive has some excellent built in support preventing
buffer under-runs, and also has a running optical power calibration for
all DVD±R and DVD±RW media. Some other highlights of the drive include a
very complete set of software for either Mac or PC platforms, as well as a
very intuitive guide (both printed and digital). Possibly the single best
feature of the drive is the support for both USB 2.0 and FireWire. This
feature allows the drive to be compatible with almost any computer system
and makes it very easy to install.