A few weeks ago we already presented you with our review of the Plextor PX-W4012A drive and now it's time for a follow-up. Plextor Europe was kind enough to send us a sample of their latest external recorder, the PX-W4012TU (40/12/40). As the letter 'U' already suggests this drive uses the USB interface, or to be exact, the USB 2.0 interface. USB 2.0 is a new technology that extends the speed of the peripheral-to-PC connection up to 40 times over existing capabilities. USB 2.0 can reach speeds up to 480 Mb/sec, 40 times faster than USB 1.1.

In this review we will take a thorough look at this latest external Plextor drive and see if it can live up to the 'Plextor standards'. The Plextor PX-W4012TU supports both the USB 1.1 and 2.0 interface. We'll test its performance mainly using the USB 2.0 interface but we'll (of course) also do some tests when using the drive under USB 1.1. Besides that we will also be looking at the features this drive offers such as the PoweRec II and VariRec technologies. Read on to find out what we have to say about this drive...