![\"100_7987\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/100_7987.jpg\")
<\/a>Fast forward six years. ABT is still putting out quality reviews, and although the Blu-ray write-once speeds have increased from 4X disc write speeds to 16X, the media is mostly stuck at 6X. However, burning capacity has significantly increased. Last year, Blu-ray media progressed from the then super-expensive dual-layer 50GB discs to the currently super-expensive triple-layer 100GB write once disks; and quad-layer 128GB BDXL compatible discs may now be played. Best of all, the price for OWC’s latest flagship Mercury Pro external burner is now priced at only $167.99<\/a>!<\/p>\nWe borrowed an evaluation unit from OWC and kept it for nearly two months as we delved into optical storage, something we haven’t done for a decade, and there was a lot of information to digest. We also received 6X 25GB and 50GB Blu-ray disks from DIGISTOR along with their archiving software, REWIND, which we shall evaluate for you, along with PowerDirector 14<\/em> Ultra which we received from Cyberlink.<\/p>\n About the same time that we received the evaluation OWC Mercury Pro external Blu-ray, our Philips DVD burner failed and we replaced it with an on sale, slightly older ASUS 12x Blu-Ray<\/a> burner that is limited to last year’s fastest 12x write speeds and 50GB disks. So we had two burners that we compared to each other. The main difference is that our ASUS Blu-ray burner is an internal SATA drive, and the OWC Mercury Pro is an external combination-interface drive that we used with USB 3.0.<\/p>\n Why buy an external Blu-ray drive?<\/strong><\/p>\n For just one desktop PC, there is absolutely no need for an external burner, and it will save the user a significant amount of money to buy internal. However, for two or more PCs, an external burner makes sense, especially when using notebook PCs, and particularly for Mac. External Blu-ray drives are popular since they can be plugged into a notebook PC, tablet, or netbook using a variety of connectors, usually USB 3.0.<\/p>\n Watching high definition Blu-ray video and movies on a PC is easily possible with an Blu-ray external drive with the appropriate software. Just make sure that your PC is powerful enough to support the software that you choose. And many of these devices have the ability to not only read Blu-ray technology, but to quickly write information to a disk also. This allows the user to record high definition images to a high capacity disk that is far more durable and of much higher capacity than CD or DVD.<\/p>\n Why use Blu-ray at all? For a long time, progress with optical storage appeared to stagnate. Storing information had progressed from CD to dual-layer 8.5GB DVDs, much the same way as the CD had replaced the floppy; yet Blu-ray adoption was not happening. The burners were expensive, and Blu-Ray disks were limited to 4X burning speeds and 25GB capacity.<\/p>\n For example, Max Payne<\/em> released in 2001 on 1 CD. The sequel appeared in 2003 on two CDs, but when the long awaited reboot of the series appeared in 2012 as Max Payne 3<\/em>, it took 35GB of HDD space and was released on 4 Dual-layer DVDs – something that could easily fit on a single 50GB BluRay disk. With the advent of 4K and the next generation games for the latest consoles, one can only wonder how many DVDs will be required for Max Payne IV<\/em> before the PC gaming industry considers Blu-ray.<\/p>\n Originally, it appeared that Blu-ray would only become popular for playing back high definition Blu-ray movies, and even that was predicted to become niche as connected services such as Netflix can stream content over the Internet without physical media.<\/p>\n Unfortunately for the content streamers, Internet-based streaming services have not achieved the reliability and the performance available from Blu-ray discs. Blu-ray provides the same consistently excellent image quality while streaming video is generally limited by bandwidth that does not usually allow for the same high standard.<\/p>\n The creation of high definition video for home and casual users required a device that could handle higher capacity storage disks for playback of various formats, and even a dual-layer DVD can only store up to 8.5GB. Casual HD movie makers love Blu-ray, and a home HD movie on an inexpensive 25GB or 50GB Blu-ray disk is often a perfect holiday gift to share with friends and relatives who can view it on their own Blu-ray movie players and big screen HDTVs at their native resolutions. And Blu-ray storage is progressing, as we can play 128GB BDXL disks now and record on 100GB disks. Eventually, recording to 1TB disks will be possible as Blu-ray storage technology advances.<\/p>\n Facebook recently announced that it was developing an archiving system that will use thousands of Blu-ray discs for their massive storage needs. Amazon may also be doing the same largely because of the built-in longevity of Blu-ray discs. Hard drive, tape and DVD storage may routinely need to be replaced about once every five years, whereas a Blu-ray disc designed for archiving may last for fifty years or longer!<\/p>\n The Golf Channel recently announced that it would adopt an automated optical disc-based archival system. As 4K high-definition video becomes the standard, storage needs are going to grow significantly.\u00a0 Sports broadcasters mostly save all old telecasts of events for many years.<\/p>\n Because Blu-ray has recently emerged as a very cost-effective method for permanent archiving, new Blu-ray archiving formats have been recently developed that can store from 300GB to 1TB on a single dual-sided,triple-layer optical disc!<\/p>\n No only can big business benefit from Blu-ray archiving, but the smaller businesses and individuals may also benefit from simple archiving software like REWIND by DIGISTOR which we use for our own permanent archiving purposes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What to look for in an external Blu-ray drive<\/strong><\/p>\n For a PC user, feature set, size, speed and technical support, including the warranty, are the most important to a Blu-ray user. The feature set includes the type of connectors used and the number of ports available. Included necessary cables and supported configurations make the drive easy or difficult to use. The OWC Mercury Pro scores high marks with its extensive feature set and quad connecters.<\/p>\n The Quad-Interface<\/strong><\/p>\n FireWire 400 supports speeds up to 400Mbps (50MB\/s) while FireWire 800 supports speeds up to 800Mbps (100MB\/s). As a comparison, USB 2.0 operates at 480Mbps (60MB\/s) and USB 3.0 transfers data at 3.0Gbps (300MB\/s). If anyone still uses USB 1.1, it can transfer data at 12Mbps (1.5MB\/s). Apple has since moved on to Thunderbolt and support for further faster versions of FireWire are unlikely.<\/p>\n Size<\/strong><\/p>\n The size of an external Blu-ray burner will be important depending on need. Some would prefer a small device with a built-in AC adapter. Others will prefer the “built like a tank” heavy design of the OWC Mercury Pro and the external power brick which means less internal heat build-up compared to using a smaller unit with an internal power adapter. OWC uses their own external case with a quad-interface to house a very fast and high-quality internal LG 16X Blu-ray burner.<\/p>\n Read and write speeds are important to achieve a fast data transfer rate and the Mercury Pro excels for an external drive. Technical support and warranty are important, and OWC provides both. The Mercury Pro is strictly plug and play, so there are no issues; and there is a 1-year warranty on the product.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Software<\/strong><\/p>\n Blu-ray drives work out of the box as plug and play Windows hardware. You are able to drag and drop files to be burned to disk. However, Blu-ray burners can only be used for archiving or playing back DVDs (using a media player). To playback or record Blu-ray, you will need licensed software. We use two very important and popular software programs. One is PowerDVD 14<\/em> which is the latest Blu-ray media playback\/record\/editing software which we received from CyberLink for evaluation. <\/p>\n Specifications<\/strong><\/p>\n In addition to single and double layer BD-R discs, the Mercury Pro external Blu-ray drive offers expanded support for up to 100GB of data on triple layer BDXL-R\/BDXL RE discs and up to 128GB on quad layer BDXL-R discs. For comparison, 128GBs of data on a single quad layer BDXL disc is the equivalent of 27 standard DVDs or five single layer Blu-ray disks. Our last generation ASUS drive is limited to 12X burning speeds (not important) and 50GB dual layer BluRay disks. The lack may prove to be far more important next year as prices drop on the 100GB disks. Generally it is not yet cost effective to use 100GB disks for storage as they are very expensive – well above fifty dollars for a single write once disk! However, 50GB disks which used to occupy extreme pricing slots last year are now much more reasonably priced, generally below $2 each when purchased at ten or more in bulk.<\/p>\n From OWC’s site:<\/strong><\/p>\n The USB 3.0, FireWire\u00ae 800, and eSATA multi-interface data connection options provide the throughput to support fast 16X write speeds. From 640MB CD-Rs to 128GB BDXL media, the Mercury Pro External Blu-ray optical drive provides the right speed and data capacities for every size project.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Key Features Include:<\/b><\/p>\n \u2022 Includes everything needed to get up and burning with ease.<\/p>\n \u2022 High-quality, double shielded FireWire 800 (1394b) connecting cable (9-9 pin cable)<\/p>\n \u2022 High-quality, double Shielded USB 3.0 Standard-B to Standard-A cable<\/p>\n \u2022 Large Buffer Memory: 4MB<\/p>\n \u2022 RoHS Compliant<\/p>\n \u2022 1 Year OWC Limited Warranty<\/p>\n \u2022 Software:<\/p>\n \u2022 Prosoft Engineering\u00ae Data Backup 3<\/p>\n \u2022 Smile\u00ae DiscLabel\u2122 software for labels and jewel case inserts<\/p>\n \u2022 Roxio Toast\u00ae 11 Titanium media toolkit with Blu-ray support (optional)<\/p>\n Pricing and Availability:<\/b><\/p>\n The OWC Mercury Pr External Blu-ray optical drive is available now from OWC and from select retailers for just $167.99.<\/p>\n The OWC Mercury Pro External Blu-ray optical drive is also available with Roxio Toast 11 Titanium<\/a> media toolkit software for only $219.99.<\/p>\n Here are the product specifications from OWC’s own site. The OWC Mercury Pro uses a LG 16X Blu-ray internal drive into which they factory install into their own Quad-interface clear acrylic case.The specifications of the internal 16x LG Blu-ray drive look exceptional and we will want to see how this translates practically to using the drive. After we check out our test bed, let’s unbox the Mercury Pro Blu-ray external drive.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let\u2019s first look at our hardware and software testbed before we unbox the Mercury Pro, and then head to the benchmarks and images.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unboxing – External versus Internal Here is the box for the 12x ASUS internal drive that we got on sale from Newegg.com.<\/p>\n To play Blu-ray disks using our ASUS or OWC drive, we chose PowerDirector 14<\/em> which includes a fully-featured playback suite for disks including for Blu-Ray. CyberLink kindly supplied us with a reviewer’s copy of their ultra edition and included their entire movie-making software suite. Currently, it is on sale at CyberLink’s site for $84.95<\/a>.<\/p>\n Older editions of PowerDirector<\/em>, such as 12, can often be found on sale for under fifty dollars and they work great with Blu-ray playback and movie creation for most users. PowerDirector 14<\/em> is the very latest version and it will easily handle 3D movie playback, upscaling and conversion as well as support for 4K and the latest codecs.<\/p>\n Here is the box in which the Mercury Pro arrives.<\/p>\n It’s packed very well for shipping.<\/p>\n The Mercury Pro Optical drive comes with two 25GB 4x Blu-ray write-once disks and what is shown below: Mercury Pro Blu-ray burner, user guide, bundle notice, necessary cables for the quad interface (USB 2.0\/3.0\/Firewire 400\/800), and power adapter (not shown).<\/p>\n The Mercury Pro is a good-looking unit that uses an aluminum case to match the Mac Books.<\/p>\n Here is the unit from the bottom. It has rubber feet to keep from scratching the surface it is placed on.<\/p>\n We have the unit out of the box and we have decided to use USB 3.0 for all of our benching and burning needs. Now we need to install it.<\/p>\n INSTALLATION<\/p>\n Installation requires no extra drivers to use your Blu-ray drive for storage. Just Plug and Play. Here are the properties of a 25GB 4x disk Here are the properties of a 50GB 6x disk Archiving using Windows 7<\/strong> Using Windows to record means dropping and dragging the files you want copied onto the drive.<\/p>\n Most of the Blu-ray disks that we use are 6X 25GB or 50GB capacity.\u00a0 25GB 4X disks have dropped to nearly DVD DL pricing, yet some of them can record at 6X.\u00a0 Quality 6X 25GB disks can be found for a small premium while 6X 50GB record once disks can be bought on sale for about two dollars each.\u00a0 50GB rewritable disks can be purchased for about ten to fifteen dollars each, but their limitation is that recording speeds are limited to slow 2X burning, which means about 90 minutes: Well, we have our internal ASUS 12X and our 16X OWC external Blu-ray drives installed and we are ready to archive, and perhaps later on we will want to watch or create a movie on Blu-ray. Naturally, first we want to know about performance and we will compare between our two drives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n PERFORMANCE<\/strong><\/p>\n The speed of a quality drive should be similar from one brand to another. Recording speeds are largely limited by the media to 6X. Playback speeds should always be sufficient for stutter free movie playback, which is also dependent on the PC hardware. In the case of the Mercury Pro’s LG drive, it will mostly be limited by its fastest interface, USB 3.0. Loading time, how long it takes to load a movie or programs after the disk is accessed, is important. Read and write speeds are important; the Blu-ray burner needs to be able to read accurately at a fast speed and it also needs to write at at least 6X for write once disks.<\/p>\n Literally hundreds of separate benchmarks have been developed for optical drives, but there are several really important ones that are easily accessible.<\/p>\n SYNTHETIC BENCHMARKS<\/strong><\/p>\n It is not easy to easily tell differences between quality Blu-ray drives.\u00a0 Synthetic optical drive benchmarks are easy to find, but many are outdated and others are quite expensive. We used both Nero Disk Speed and Opti Drive to benchmark both of our drives as well as using Passmark to score them.<\/p>\n Opti Drive<\/strong><\/p>\n Opti Drive<\/a> is a relatively recently updated shareware program than can give every detail of an optical drive.<\/p>\n Here is the ASUS compared with the LG Mercury Pro using Opti Drive. Spinup time on the ASUS is 2.98 seconds while the Mercury Pro is seven hundredths of a second slower. Spindown is within .01 second at 3.55 seconds. Recognition time is instantaneous for the Pro and only .07 second with the ASUS.<\/p>\n There are many tests that Opti Drive can run, here is just one screen showing the fast transfer rate screen of the Mercury Pro\/LG drive using DIGISTOR’s 50GB 6X disk:<\/p>\n The drives are very close in performance which is impressive considering that the LG drive is an external drive over the USB 3.0 interface. The Mercury Pro drive’s average Read speed is slightly faster at 2.99X, while Start and End are identical. Access times for the ASUS are: Random 219 ms, 1\/3 stroke 257 ms, and Full stroke is 724 ms. Burst rate is 27.8 MB\/sec and CPU usage is also 0 %.<\/p>\n Nero Disk Speed Nero Disk Speed<\/a>, formerly known as Nero CD\/DVD Speed, is freeware and is found on under “Free Tools”. It is benchmarking software designed to test any CD-ROM, DVD, or Blu-ray drive. Besides testing the basics such as CPU usage read speed and transfer rate, more advanced tests can be performed including testing: access times, burst rate, DAE quality, spinup and spindown time, load and eject times.<\/p>\n It is very simple to use, it displays the results in real time as they are being tested, and the information it provides is very reliable.\u00a0 This information was obtained using the Mercury Pro and the 4x media supplied by OWC with the drive.<\/p>\n Nero Disk Speed can also be used to test the media. <\/p>\n The first image shows the results of testing a 25 4X Philips Blu-ray disk as supplied by OWC with the burner. We can also use DIGISTOR’s identical 6X 50GB to test any differences between the Mercury Pro and the ASUS 12X burner.<\/p>\n We create a disk using the 6X 50GB media using the Mercury Pro and then test it: Everything about the OWC Mercury Pro 16X LG drive is quality, and it outperforms the ASUS drive in many cases, besides being able to read 128GB disks and write 50GB disks at a higher speed than the 12X drive internal drive.<\/p>\n PassMark<\/strong><\/p>\n Passmark scores everything in a PC, including testing the optical drive. ASUS doesn’t achieve a very high CD Mark at<\/strong> 137.4<\/strong>, while CD Read scores 1.12<\/strong>. Here is the overall score with the ASUS internal drive including the disk score: The Mercury Pro achieves a higher CD Mark at<\/strong> 282.5 versus 137.4 with the ASUS<\/strong>, while CD Read scores 1.49 versus 1.12 with the ASUS drive <\/strong>. Here is the overall score with the OWC Mercury Pro External drive – 3549.9 versus 3545.5 for the ASUS. Disk Mark for the Mercury Pro is 1150.3 versus 1151.7 for the ASUS. Generally, the Mercury Pro is scored higher by PassMark. Let’s look at one practical benchmarks, copying.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Copy and Recording Speeds<\/strong><\/p>\n Here is the Mercury Pro copying 17.1GB of raw video that was taken at Nvidia’s GTX 2014 to a 6X 25GB Blu-ray disk for permanent archival.\u00a0 And this is just part of Day one of the event! There is no difference in the copy times between the internal and the external drives. Both drives took about 28 minutes and 40 seconds to copy 17.1GB of data.<\/p>\n Let’s check out Blu-ray software.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n SOFTWARE<\/strong><\/p>\n Software for Blu-Ray falls into two major categories – software for movies and software for recording and archiving.\u00a0 Archiving large amounts of data to Blu-ray has become very inexpensive on either 25GB or 50GB disks.\u00a0 And it is far more reliable than either cloud, flash, or hard disk storage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n REWIND<\/strong><\/p>\n REWIND is by DIGISTOR who sent us 6X 25 and 50GB Blu-ray disks.\u00a0 Stand out features include ease of use and that it offers automatic file and folder tracking. It also has the ability to update existing archives, span multiple discs and pause an archive in the middle of a burn or restoration.\u00a0 REWIND features an embedded restore application to restore archived files to any PC or Mac without having to install software.<\/p>\n The Start tab is for creating a new archive or continuing an existing one. To create a new archive, enter a name and then click the Next button. The Select Files tab allows you to choose what you want archived. You can drag and drop them into the file browser or use the shortcuts to go to documents or where your music and video files are stored. Check a box to include files or folders. One of its best features is that REWIND automatically keeps track of all files and folders selected for archive. When updating an archive, it will scan to see if any new files or folders have been modified or added to the archived files.\u00a0 It’s a very good easy to use Blu-ray based archival program for $49.99<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n BLURAY MOVIES<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the very best is the latest version of PowerDirector 14 Ultra<\/em> which we received for evaluation from Cyberlink.\u00a0 It is on sale for $84.95<\/a> on Cyberlink’s site bundled with Media Espresso 7<\/a>, and PowerDVD Remote<\/a>, and is considered the standard.<\/p>\n We will have a future article that is devoted to movie making and playing software, but our suggestion is to use the 30-day time-limited demos available from each of the vendors before you decide on a program for you.<\/p>\n For the budget minded, and for those who do not require the very latest movie-making features, often older versions of the same software is available for purchase at substantial discounts and often they qualify for upgrade discounts.<\/p>\n Ripping Blu-ray<\/strong><\/p>\n Ripping Blu-ray for movies that you own is useful as many netbooks and lower performance notebooks cannot play Blu-ray due to hardware requirements.\u00a0 There is no licensed movie playing software for OSX, or perhaps the user wishes to view the movie on an Android device.\u00a0 A 50GB Blu-ray movie disk often contains a 25GB movie, and many parents are unwilling to give their young children a Blu-ray movie to play in their own players.\u00a0 Blu-ray disks are very durable compared to DVD, but they are not indestructible.<\/p>\n There are many programs available for copying Blu-ray and it is always recommended to try the program for 30 days before making a purchase.\u00a0 Some programs are easier to use than others, some are more fully-featured, and they may be updated often to support the latest decryption.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/MP1-2-3-DISCs.jpg?resize=288%2C197\")
High-capacity flash drives filled the PC storage gap between DVD and HDD, and tiny mSATA external drives with capacity to 1TB are available. PC games are never released on Blu-ray, and players have to put up with 4, 5, or even more, DVDs.<\/p>\n![\"100_7992\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/100_7992.jpg?resize=300%2C129\")
<\/a>USB is by far the most popular interface and USB 3.0 is also the fastest of the four connection choices and the one that we are using for this evaluation. There are two FireWire 800 and one FW 400 connections which are alternately known as IEEE 1394, a standard backed primarily by Apple until recently. FireWire devices can be daisy-chained while retaining its full duplex capabilities, something USB 1.1 and 2.0 lacked.<\/p>\n![\"PD14-1\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/PD14-1.jpg?resize=500%2C345\")
<\/p>\n![\"entire](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/entire-PC2.jpg?resize=500%2C352\")
<\/a>The other is REWIND which we received from DIGISTOR for evaluation. It is a very simple to use archiving tool especially made for archiving on Blu-ray disks that we use for permanently archiving our own data, especially tax information.<\/p>\n\n
Includes<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
![\"OWC](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/OWC-PROD-SPECS.png?resize=600%2C530\")
![\"OWC](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/OWC-PROD-SPECS-11.png?resize=600%2C528\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"OWC](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/OWC-PROD-SPECS-21.png?resize=600%2C458\")
<\/a><\/p>\nTest Configuration \u2013 Hardware<\/h2>\n
\n
Test Configuration \u2013 Software<\/h2>\n
\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"box-1\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/box-1.jpg?resize=500%2C478\")
<\/a>It does not come with any Blu-ray disk playback software but is suitable for archiving purposes using a light version of Cyberlink’s Power2Go<\/em><\/a> Essential<\/em>. It’s basically disc burning and copying software for CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray Discs that will even work with BDXL.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"bundle\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/bundle.jpg?resize=500%2C429\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"100_7976\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/100_7976.jpg?resize=720%2C628\")
<\/a>The back of the box lists the specifications, system requirements, and what’s included.<\/p>\n![\"100_7979\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/100_7979.jpg?resize=720%2C670\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"100_7983\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/100_7983.jpg?resize=720%2C494\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"100_7984\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/100_7984.jpg?resize=720%2C939\")
<\/a>Here is the power adapter.<\/p>\n![\"100_7999\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/100_7999.jpg?resize=300%2C152\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"100_7990\"](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/100_7990.jpg?resize=720%2C532\")
<\/a>It is built like a tank. Here are the connectors.<\/p>\n![\"100_7992\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/100_7992.jpg?resize=720%2C309\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"100_7996\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/100_7996.jpg?resize=720%2C456\")
<\/a>Here it is from another angle:<\/p>\n![\"100_7987\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/100_7987.jpg?resize=720%2C559\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Install](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Install-OwC-BR.jpg?resize=500%2C188\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"blank](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/blank-25-4x-disks.jpg?resize=500%2C330\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"blank](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/blank-50gb-6x-disks.jpg?resize=500%2C329\")
<\/a>Just like with hard drives, the usable amount of storage is less than stated.<\/p>\n![\"burn](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/burn-a-disk.jpg?resize=392%2C343\")
<\/p>\n![\"22GB](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/22GB-burn-12x-OWC-25GB-6x.jpg?resize=545%2C445\")
<\/a>Don’t make the mistake of recording at a higher speed than the disk is rated for, usually 2X, 4X or 6X. If not, you will get this error message and will have made a coaster.<\/p>\n![\"12x](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/12x-fail-25gb-6x-owc.jpg?resize=549%2C442\")
<\/a>We never had issues using DIGISTOR’s excellent 6X Blu-ray media at 6X burning speeds.<\/p>\n![\"22GB](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/22GB-burn-6x-OWC-25GB-6x.jpg?resize=500%2C548\")
<\/a>Here is the success message.<\/p>\n![\"22GB](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/22GB-burn-OWC-50GB-2x.jpg?resize=500%2C407\")
<\/a>You have the option to burn these same files to another disk.<\/p>\n![\"22gb-burn-1\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/22gb-burn-1.jpg?resize=655%2C603\")
<\/a>To burn that same 50GB of data to a 6X write-once disk would be about three times faster, or take about 30 minutes.\u00a0 Erasing 50GB of data from the rewritable or write once disk is fast, about 20 seconds on either drive.<\/p>\n![\"Transfer_rate_OWC\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Transfer_rate_OWC.jpg?resize=480%2C360\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Nero-owc-4x](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Nero-owc-4x-25gb-disc-info.jpg?resize=500%2C416\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Bench](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Bench-test-disk-6x50gb-owc-test-disk.jpg?resize=500%2C446\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Bench](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Bench-test-disk-4x25gb-owc1.jpg?resize=500%2C245\")
Here is the same test using 6X 25GB media as supplied by DIGISTOR:![\"Bench](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Bench-test-disk-6x25gb-owc1.jpg?resize=500%2C250\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Bench](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Bench-test-disk-6x50gb-owc.jpg?resize=500%2C287\")
<\/a>Next we create a disk using the 6X 50GB media using the ASUS drive and then test it:<\/p>\n![\"Bench](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Bench-test-disk-6x50gb-asus.jpg?resize=500%2C372\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"passmark](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/passmark-w-asus-1.jpg?resize=500%2C375\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"passmark](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/passmark-w-asus.jpg?resize=500%2C459\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"passmark](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/passmark-w-owc-1.jpg?resize=500%2C379\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"passmark](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/passmark-w-owc.jpg?resize=500%2C450\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Copy](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Copy-17.1GB-to-25GB-OWC-28.40sec.jpg?resize=500%2C329\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"files](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/files-PC-2.jpg?resize=500%2C350\")
The Preview Files tab displays the files selected for archival so y0u can review your choices.\u00a0 You can back up all the folders and files on the entire C drive if you wish.![\"files](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/files-PC-nexy.jpg?resize=500%2C352\")
Finally there is the Create Archive which is mostly automatic.![\"files](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/files-PC-archive-it.jpg?resize=500%2C351\")
You can verify the data which takes a little longer, but it is safer.\u00a0 And if you have more data to be burned, you can use multiple disks.\u00a0 Clicking Finish Later allows you to pause your archive at any point and continue with the process at a later time. ![\"finished\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/finished1.jpg?resize=500%2C350\")
<\/a> To restore the archive, just insert the last disk and the restore application will start automatically.\u00a0 Restored files will by default be restored to desktop.<\/p>\n![\"pd14u\"](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/pd14u.jpg?resize=300%2C205\")
<\/a>One of the most important uses of the Blu-ray drive is for watching and creating Blu-ray movies.\u00a0 To do so, you must have licensed software.\u00a0 There are many programs available including Nero and Roxio Toast 11 Titanium<\/a>.<\/p>\n
![\"MKV-1\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/MKV-1.jpg?resize=500%2C567\")
First you choose the main movie file which is well under 25GB after being converted to MKV.\u00a0 The rest of the Blu-ray movie has commentary, extra scenes and even alternate viewing angles.<\/p>\n![\"MKV-PRIMARY](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/MKV-PRIMARY-TITLE.jpg?resize=500%2C453\")
The the ripping of the Blu-ray disk and the encoding is mostly automatic although it takes awhile.![\"MKV-2\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/MKV-2.jpg?resize=500%2C456\")
When it is done, the MKV files are saved to hard disk and they may be watched as a movie with a MKV player. ![\"MKV-asus](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/MKV-asus-rip-3M-15m55s.jpg?resize=500%2C454\")
<\/p>\n![\"Image\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i621.photobucket.com\/albums\/tt294\/alienbabeltech\/Recommended.png?resize=150%2C251\")
We are giving the OWC Mercury Pro 16X external Blu-ray burner our ABT “Recommended” Award as it is well-designed, solid and durable, while being perfectly functional and easy to use for archiving out of the box.\u00a0 And if you are a multiple PC user with a need to archive, and especially a Mac user, it is a perfect match.\u00a0 Of course, with the appropriate software, it is excellent for watching commercial high-definition Blu-ray movies or creating them.<\/p>\n