Pioneer’s BDR-101A Blu-ray drive enables PC users to store up to 25GB of files on a single disk the size of a CD. The drive will appeal to users who need to distribute a lot of files, and could also serve as a backup device. However, the drive faces competition from low-cost magnetic storage products such as USB hard drives.

The BDR-101A, shipping since May, can read dual-layer BD-ROM disks with up to 50GB of pre-recorded content. It also supports write-once BD-R and rewritable BD-RE media, but the current model only supports single-layer writing.

Pioneer’s drive is backward-compatible with almost all formats of DVD, including DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW, but does not support DVD-RAM. A more serious shortcoming is that the BDR-101A does not support CD media. As most applications are still installed from CD, this means many users will need a separate CD or DVD drive installed in their system. Pioneer said the next version of the product will add CD support.

In tests, we found the BDR-101A easy to install and configure, and the authoring software (Roxio DigitalMedia LE version 7) supplied with our review unit made the process of creating disks as simple as it is ever likely to get.

After fitting into the chassis of our test PC, the drive was recognised as a DVD drive by Windows, after which we installed DigitalMedia LE using the BDR-101A itself.

The DigitalMedia LE application provides a simple task-driven interface to copy an existing disk or create a data disk from scratch. Selecting the latter option allows users to browse for files to add to a particular file set. A “save” button allows the list of files to be recalled later if extra copies of a disk are necessary. Once all files have been selected, a big red record button at the bottom of the window starts the burn process.

We tested the BDR-101A by writing to BD-RE disk a set of files of about 14.5GB making up a VMware virtual machine. This took just a few seconds short of 28 minutes to record, giving a write speed of about 8.6MB/s. This is close to Pioneer’s claimed performance figure of 8.99MB/s for dual-speed writing.

At over £500, the BDR-101A appears pricey compared to devices such as USB external hard drives that offer comparable storage volumes for under £100. However, the Blu-ray drive can author any number of Blu-ray disks holding close to 25GB, making it suitable for distributing applications or large data sets. The media costs £11 for a BD-R and £13 to £15 for each BD-RE disk.

Blu-ray also faces competition from HD-DVD, a rival next-generation DVD standard. But HD-DVD media stores 15GB per layer compared with Blu-ray’s 25GB. Both standards are likely to increase capacity by gradually adding extra layers. Pioneer said it expects to support eight-layer Blu-ray media holding up to 200GB in a few years.

The BDR-101A will be available through online channels only, according to Pioneer. A list is available from Pioneer’s web site.

Most resellers are likely to bundle the Roxio authoring tool supplied with our review unit.