| | Review: Toshiba SD-R5372 |
Toshiba USA was kind enough to provide their SD-R5372 16X DVD Writer for a review. Toshiba is a technology giant and holds a very well known brand-name in the Consumer Electronics arena. This Toshiba drive is a unique unit and was the first DVD Writer on the market to achieve DVD+R DL writing speeds faster than 4X. The SD-R5372 can write to DVD+R DL media at a speedy rate of 5X. It also supports 16X writing on both DVD+R and DVD-R media. How does the SD-R5372 shape up against the competition? We'll find out by taking an in-depth look at this drive's performance and features in this review.
Company information:
We found the following information on the Toshiba USA website.
Principal Business - Toshiba America, Inc. (TAI) is the holding company for one of the nation's leading group of high technology companies. TAI is the parent of six operating companies that together span a diversified range of modern electronics, each conducting research and development, manufacturing, sales and service in its field of expertise.
TAI is a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, a world leader in high technology products, with 364 consolidated subsidiaries worldwide.
Headquarters
Toshiba America, Inc.
1251 Avenue of the Americas
Suite 4110
New York, NY 10020
Product Overview - The Toshiba America Group specializes in advanced electronics and is a recognized leader in products that enhance the home, office, industry and health care environments. Toshiba markets and manufactures information and communication systems, electronic components, heavy electrical apparatus, consumer products and medical diagnostic imaging equipment.
ANNUAL SALES: 6.0BILLION (FY 2002)
Markets - Customer markets comprise retailers, consumers, hospitals and medical facilities, municipalities, universities, businesses and other high technology manufacturers. 
Toshiba Operating Companies & Businesses & Principal Products
| Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS) | Toshiba America |
| Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. (TAMS) | Toshiba America |
| Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) | Toshiba International |
Finance Company - Toshiba America Capital Corporation (TACC)
Research Company
Toshiba America Research, Inc. (TARI)
Piscataway, New Jersey
Mobile and Wireless Technology
Facilities
Manufacturing Facilities
Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc. (TABS) has a production facility in Mitchell, South Dakota, where they manufacture toner for photocopiers.
Toshiba America Consumer Products, Inc. (TACP) has two production facilities in North America. At their plant in Lebanon, Tennessee, TACP manufactures color television sets, and TACP manufactures the television chassis at their facility just across the border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
In Houston, Texas, Toshiba International Corporation (TIC) has a facility where they produce motors and other industrial equipment.
R & D Facilities
Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS), located in Irvine, California, has an R&D center for personal computers, digital documentation, telecommunications, and network systems.
Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. (TAMS) has an R&D center for Medical Equipment Systems at its facility in South San Francisco, California.
In the Silicon Valley area, Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC)'s researchers are working on LSIs at their facility in San Jose, California.
History - Toshiba Corporation, the Tokyo-based parent company, established American operations in 1965. By 1989, Toshiba America had achieved its current structure of separate operating companies marketing a variety of diversified electronics and high technology products.
Corporate Citizenship
Toshiba America Foundation
The Toshiba America Foundation is a private, endowed, not-for-profit grantmaking organization. Created in 1990, the Foundation is dedicated to supporting science and mathematics education programs, projects and activities in the US. The giving program focuses on elementary through high school programs.
Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Awards
Toshiba America works with the National Science Teachers Association to co-sponsor one of the world's largest science competition for K-12 students. The company invests more than $1 million annually in the program.
Drive specifications:
Found on the Toshiba USA website:
A leading developer in optical storage, Toshiba continues to leverage its expertise with the dual format optical disk drive. Compatible with the multitude of current formats, this latest drive enables users to read, record and rewrite content to DVD-R/RW and +R/RW media and CDs. Available as an upgrade kit, the SD-R5372 desktop drive comes packed with the Nero editing suite, instructions and all the cables necessary for installation, ensuring simple and quick upgrades. With Toshibas DVD recordable drive, transferring home videos, photos and other digital files from the computer to the living room DVD player becomes virtually effortless.
With the desire to preserve higher capacity information continually on the rise, storage manufacturers are constantly exploring ways to save more information on a smaller space. The continued development of DVD technology brings these opportunities closer to reality. In the current state of multiple formats, users can find optimal performance in a unit that reads and records all of the major standards, ensuring that data recorded today will be accessible tomorrow.
- 5X DVD+R DL Write
- 16X DVD+R Write
- 6X DVD-RW Write *
- 8X DVD+RW Write*
- 16X DVD-R Write Capable*
- 16X DVD-ROM Read
- 12X DVD+/-R Read
- 8X DVD+R DL Read
- 6X DVD+/-RW Read
- 2X DVD-RAM Read
- 48X CD-R Write
- 10X CD-RW Write HS
- 24X CD-RW Write US
- 48X CD-ROM/R Read
- 24X CD-RW Read
- Horizontal or Vertical Mount
- External Dimensions (W x H x D):
- 146mm x 41.5mm x 189.5mm
- MTBF 100,000 hours
- Weight: 1.0 kg
- Click for Warranty Information
- Click for SD-R5372 Kit Information
| Average Random Access Time: | |
| DVD-ROM (16X) | 120ms |
| CD-ROM (40X) | 100ms |
| DVD-RAM (2X) | 200ms |
| Average Random Seek Time | |
| DVD-ROM (12X) | 115ms |
| CD-ROM (40X) | 100ms |
| DVD-RAM (2X) | 160ms |
| Sustained Data Transfer Rate: | |
| DVD-ROM | 21,632KByte/s |
| DVDR | 16,224KByte/s |
| DVD+R DL | 10,816KByte/s |
| CD-ROM/-R | 7,200 KByte/s |
| DVD-RAM | 2,704 KByte/s |
| Burst: | |
| Multi Word DMA Mode 2 (ATAPI) | 16.7MB/sec |
| PIO Mode 4 (ATAPI) | 16.7MB/sec |
| Ultra DMA | 33.3MB/sec |
| Physical Characteristics: | |
| Dimensions | 1.63" x 5.75" x 7.46" (41.5mm x 146mm x 189.5mm) |
| Weight | 2.20 lbs. (1.0kg) |
| Supported Disc Formats: | |
| Write | DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, CD-R, |
| Read | DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, |
| Environmental: | |
| Operation Temperature | 41F - 122F (5C to 50C) |
| Other: | |
| Buffer Size | 2MB |
| Power Requirements | DC 5V/12V |
| MTBF | 100,000 POH |
What's inside the box?
Here we take a look at the Toshiba SD-R5372 retail package and the contents included in the bundle.
Backside of the retail box.
Left side of the retail box.
Right side of the retail box.
Top of the retail box.
Front of the retail box.
The front of the retail box has an interesting design. You can see that Toshiba is drawing attention to the 16X DVD WRITER and DOUBLE LAYER capabilities of the drive. Notice that the specifications of the drive are actually even better than what the box has printed on it. This is due to Toshiba's recent firmware updates that have added additional capabilities such as 16X DVD-R writing and 6X DVD-RW writing.
Retail box contents.
Let us look over the contents of the retail package.
The box contains:
- The Toshiba SD-R5372 drive
- One 40 wire IDE cable
- Audio cable
- Mounting screws
- Nero OEM Suite CD-ROM
- Quick Start Instructions
- Safety Instruction Manual
- Installation Instructions
The bundle contains everything that you would need to get the drive installed and burning discs in no time. We would also like to point out that the included Nero burning suite is one of our preferred CD/DVD writing suites and we give Toshiba two thumbs up for including this software. It is good to see that Toshiba included an IDE cable in the kit, but we would prefer an 80 wire version. We miss having a blank DVD±R disc and preferably also one DVD rewriteable disc included in the bundle.
Drive face. A simple design that looks like many other optical drives we have seen. On the drive tray from left to right, we have a Compact Disc Ultra Speed ReWriteable logo, a DVD Forum (DVD-R/RW) logo and a DVD Alliance (DVD+R/RW) logo. Underneath we have the single color (green) LED, the eject button, an eject symbol, and the emergency eject hole.
The bottom of the drive holds two stickers. We can see that this drive was made in the Philippines during November 2004.
Caution sticker and jumper diagram, which is found on the top of the drive.
Here is the rear of the drive. Starting on the left we have a digital audio connector, analog audio connector, jumper pins to set the drive to master, slave or cable select, IDE connector, and finally the power connector.
On the next page we will take a look at the test machine testing software, drive features and the included software…
