Aside from its DL write speed, the TS-H552B offers satisfying speed ratings across the board. The recently announced follow-up to this drive, the WriteMaster TS-H552U, offers the 4X DL write speed that's becoming increasingly common among DL drives.

The TS-H552B's speed ratings suffer in a single area: it writes to double-layer DVDs at a disappointing 2.4X. The drive also includes a few more so-so software titles: pared-down versions of InterVideo's WinDVD Recorder and WinDVD Creator for playing, capturing, editing, and recording video to DVDs and InterVideo's DVD Copy for converting video streams to various formats. You'll likely have more luck with CNET's own how-to guide on installing drives.Īlong with the TS-H552B, Samsung bundles an Express version of Nero's useful 6.0 Ultra Edition, which we like for burning tasks. The TS-H552B's hard-copy quick-start guide provides little help in this area it's long, but that's only because it reprints the same limited information in no fewer than 10 different languages. The no-pain, no-gain installation process for an internal IDE drive such as the TS-H552B forces you to crack open your case and seat the drive before you can reap its speed benefits. The TS-H552B includes no connectors beyond its IDE interface, while other drives, such as the NEC ND-3500A, provide an S/PDIF digital audio-out port. The drive offers all of the standards seen in most internal drives-eject button, emergency-eject pinhole, minuscule LED status light-plus a boring beige faceplate that will conflict with darker computers.

Samsung stuck to the straight and narrow with the TS-H552B's design.

Unless your only interest lies in getting the fastest double-layer burning available, the TS-H552B provides a speedy overall experience. But the Samsung offset its middling DL write time with respectable scores in several other areas, including DL ripping and audio-CD burning. Newer drives, such as the Pioneer DVR-A08XL and the Asus DRW-1604P, offer 4X DL write speeds that resulted in far faster DL burn times in CNET Labs' tests. With its aging 2.4X double-layer (DL) write speed, the Samsung WriteMaster TS-H552B could hardly be considered the master DL burner on the market.

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