Yamaha CRW4416S Internal SCSI 4X CDR/RW

Installation & Bundle

If you're going to be installing the 4416S on your own it is definitely recommended that you be at least somewhat familiar with the setup and configuration (including termination) of SCSI devices. The somewhat complex installation process is a downside to the low CPU utilization of the SCSI drive, however if you're familiar with the setup of a SCSI device, and the configuration of the (if any) SCSI devices in your system prior to the installation, you should be home free with the Yamaha.

The installation manual included with the drive AnandTech received covered the basics, including the manipulation of the standard 3 jumpers which control the selectable SCSI ID. The only other jumpers present on the rear of the drive are those that control parity and termination of the drive. In addition to the 50-pin SCSI-2 connector on the 4416S, the standard analog audio output is left alone without a digital counterpart, a definite downside to those users that are interested in using the Yamaha drive as the only CD-ROM drive in their system.

Yamaha chose to bundle the standard set of software packages with the Windows 9x, NT, and Macintosh compatible drive, basically consisting of the 9x/NT versions of Adaptec Easy-CD Creator, DirectCD, Adobe Photo Deluxe BE, and Adobe Page Mill 3.0. While the latter two titles are primarily "filler" titles and serve no relative purpose to the operation of the drive, the Adaptec Easy-CD Creator and DirectCD software allow for the easy production and reproduction of CDs at the click of a mouse. When going with any burner, if it doesn't come packaged with Easy-CD Creator, you're better off skipping it. Unfortunately, Yamaha failed to include the more expensive Easy-CD Creator Deluxe version which includes a session selector that allows you to switch/select CDR sessions in order to continue to fill up a partially filled CDR disc even after it has been written to until the disc itself is full.

As briefly mentioned before, the drive itself is compatible with Windows 9x/NT and Macintosh systems, meaning the cross-platform support for the incredibly popular drive is definitely present, obtaining updated drivers and firmware for the drive wasn't a problem at all as AnandTech paid a quick visit to Yahoo's fairly easy-to-navigate website.

The normal operation and usage of the Yamaha drive was quite impressive, a total of 10 sample burn tests were run on the drive (4 audio and 4 multi session data) and not a single one failed. During each of the burn tests, AnandTech managed to run a minimum of one more application in the background at full speed without jeopardizing the quality of the disc being produced at the time. This was completed on a Pentium II 333 system outfitted with 64MB of SDRAM running on an AOpen AX6BC motherboard using an Adaptec 2940UW PCI SCSI controller card for the drive.