Optical Drive Test

Tests the CD-ROM,  DVD and BluRay drives.

This test can be used with many different types of CD / DVD media, including the following types.

-Music CD

-Data CD-ROM

-Specialized test CD (see below for details)

-Data DVD-ROM

-Specialized test DVD (see below for details)

-Specialized test BluRay  (see below for details)

The type of disc being used must be suitable for the test mode set in the CD / DVD preferences window however. If multiple CD / DVD players are installed in your system, you can select all or some of them from the Preferences window (see section 0, Disk preferences). Up to twenty drives can be selected for simultaneous testing.

Test Modes

Music CD playback

For a music CD, the test verifies the operation of the CD ROM and the PC’s sound system by repeatedly playing a music CD. The number of cycles corresponds to the total number of times the entire CD has been played. The number of ‘ops’ corresponds to the number of bytes read from the CD in order to generate the sound. The duty cycle affects the time spent waiting between tracks. Choose a band you like and turn the volume up loud.

Data disk read and verify

For optical data disks, the disk is scanned with each file being read in turn. A 32bit checksum is created for each file as it is read from the disk. The disk is then re-read and the checksums verified to complete the cycle. The best data disks’s to use are those, which are full and contain a good variety of files. Some large ones and some small ones. If the CD has more than 10,000 files only the 1st 10,000 will be scanned.

PassMark Test CD / DVD

This test method is the most advanced CD-ROM test mode and provides a level of in depth testing not available with the other two methods. When possible this method should be selected in preference to the other two. It allows a complete read and verify of the data on the CD, and optionally random seek testing (see Additional seeking and Seek count below).

There is the possibility to create CDs and DVDs especially for use with BurnInTest. These specialized CDs and DVDs contain a set of files that have been specifically created to thoroughly check your drive. With these CDs and DVDs, BurnInTest is able to know the layout and exact content for each file on the CD/DVD. This allows BurnInTest to read back each file and test every bit for accuracy.

PassMark Software sells these specialized CDs and DVDs but you can also make your own file set using your own CD making tool.  You will still need 3rd party CD or DVD burner software to actually create the disc however.

No CD in Drive test option

This test method only attempts to detect the presence of a CD/DVD drive. No attempt is made to read from the drive. This can be a useful option when there are no discs available for testing but a basic check is still required to ensure that the drive was detected by the system.  This test option is not as thorough as the other options and, if possible, one of the other options should be used.

Additional seeking and Seek count

When Additional seeking is selected (for PassMark CD/DVD’s and Burn CD-RW only), seeking to different positions on the CD/DVD or CD-RW and verifying the data at this position will occur Seek Count number of times for each cycle of a file read and verify.

Display

Depending on the test the following information is displayed in the test window.

Progress bar

Displays the progress graphically for the longer CD burn phases.

Phase

Data CD and specialized CDs :

•Starting

•Checksum creation

•Searching for files

•Opening file

•Reading Test CD

•Verifying checksums

•Seeking

Files scanned

This is the number of files that have been scanned during the current cycle.

Current file

This is the name of the file that is currently being scanned. If this is in the seek phase, this will display the file and block within the file that the drive has seeked to.

Bytes read

This is the total number of bytes read from the CD.

Throughput (Current and Average)

This is read speed from the CD in Megabytes per second and a conversion to standard CD Drive speed (eg. 4x). It should be noted that this measurement includes the seek and rotational latency time, so that the speed reported will always be lower than the maximum drive speed. This is especially the case for a CD with many small files. Also most drive manufacturers quote the maximum speed for their drives, the actual transfer rate is usually significantly lower than the quoted maximum. E.g. It is not unusual for a 32x speed drive to only reach a speed of 2MB/Sec, 13x.

Errors

Data CD and specialized CDs :

The number of errors detected. See Common Errors (Appendix C) for a description of the errors that may be encountered.