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In this part of our review we'll test the reading and writing of copy-protected data discs. Copy-protections are used on almost every game nowadays so it's important a writer can handle the various protections out there. For the tests we used the latest CloneCD version 4.2.0.2 from Elaborate Bytes. As you might know CloneCD uses Profiles for each type of disc. In this review we used a separate Profile for each protection with the common settings used in the old CloneCD versions (e.g. for SafeDisc we only selected the 'Fast Error Skip' setting).

As an extra 'service' or help you can download the Profiles we have used in this review. Click on the Profile images to download the used Profile. Store these files in your CloneCD/Profiles folder on your hard disk. Alternatively you can view and download all used Profiles from our CloneCD forum, by clicking here.

Let's start by giving you a screenshot of the supported drive capabilities of the Plextor drive with CloneCD v4.2.0.2:

As you can see in the picture above, the Plextor PX-S2410TU is fully supported by CloneCD (DAO-RAW96, which means the drive can write uncorrected data and SubChannel Data). In the table below we've summed up all of our results and after the table we will clarify our results:

LaserLock:

For the LaserLock test we use a game called 'Desperados' protected with LaserLock. As a comparison we read from both the original disc and from a back-up (CD-Recordable) disc. The original disc was read slightly faster than the back-up disc but both discs were read in an acceptable time. 22 and 24 minutes is not bad at all for the LaserLock protection.

SafeDisc:

To test the SafeDisc protection we used a game called 'Beavis and Butthead: BungHole in One'. The SafeDisc protection is quite old but it uses a lot of errors on the first 5% of the disc which can make reading the disc take a really long time. Although the Plextor drives are normally very fast when it comes to reading the error sectors, this PX-S2410TU drive certainly isn't. The drive needs more than 53 minutes to read the disc (while other Plextor drives need less than 3 minutes).

SafeDisc 2:

For our next tests we used a game called 'The Sims: House Party' protected with SafeDisc version 2.10.030. As expected the disc was again read very slowly in 35 minutes and 31 seconds. To test the Plextor PX-S2410TU's ability to write this protection we wrote the image with 'weak sectors' (formerly known as AWS) set to ignore. The created back-up disc was then tested in the following drives:

As you can see from the results the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive failed in creating a fully working back-up. Let's see what happens when we re-write the same image file only this time with 'weak sectors' set to amplify:

This time the Plextor drive did create a perfect back-up. Now let's see how it performs with an improved version of the SafeDisc copy-protection:

SafeDisc 2.51:

Besides our SafeDisc and SafeDisc 2 tests we need to take a look at the newer SafeDisc 2 versions. For these tests we used two games: 'Serious Sam 2: The Second Encounter' protected with SafeDisc v2.51.021 and 'Mafia: The City Of Lost Heaven' protected with SafeDisc v2.70.030.

We read the image with the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive using the same 'SafeDisc (2) [no AWS]' Profile as for our normal SafeDisc and SafeDisc 2 tests. The 'Hide CDR Media' option was enabled in the CloneCD tray to test playing from the CD-RW drives. The results when playing from the following drives:

As you can see from the list above the created back-up didn't play from all drives. As expected the back-up failed in the picky Toshiba DVD-ROM. Next we re-wrote the same image file but now with the 'weak sectors' set to amplify using the 'SafeDisc 2(.51) [AWS]' Profile. The 'Hide CDR Media' option was again enabled in the CloneCD tray to test playing from the CD-RW drives. The results when playing from the following drives:

When the 'weak sectors' were amplified the Plextor PX-S2410TU created a perfect back-up which played in all drive we tested, even from the picky Toshiba DVD-ROM.

SafeDisc 2.80:

More SafeDisc tests? Yes we also need to take a look at the latest SafeDisc 2 version, 2.80. This is another improved version of this copy-protection and is the hardest one to beat. For the SafeDisc 2.80 test we used a game called 'Grand Prix 4' protected with SafeDisc v2.80.010 (after applying the official patch, version 9.6).

The image above is Macrovision's (developer of the SafeDisc copy-protection) pretty splash screen we see when the Grand Prix 4 game is launched For our SafeDisc 2.80 tests we used the same copy method as for our other SafeDisc 2 tests. In the table below you can see the achieved results:

Altough the SafeDisc v2.80 protection is the hardest version to beat, the Plextor PX-S2410TU had no problems creating a fully working back-up when the weak sectors were amplified. The same result as we saw with the other SafeDisc 2 versions.

SecuRom *NEW*:

The next protected data tests we did was with a game called 'Neverwinter Nights' protected with a newer version of SecuRom (v4.76.00.0051). Note that we didn't apply the official game patch for this title since with this patch no back-up works. We read the third disc of the game (play disc) and the Plextor PX-S2410TU could read the disc at full speed (17X average). We then tested the created back-up disc in several drives and the game started every time. Note that when playing from a CD-RW drive you have to enable CloneCD's 'Hide CDR Media' option.

PlayStation/LibCrypt:

When reading the black PlayStation disc the Plextor drive was slower than with the SecuRom protected disc. With an average read speed of about 9X the drive needed 7 minutes and 45 seconds to extract the disc to our hard disk. Not a totally bad result since a lot of Plextor drives (the PX-W4012TA for example) are limited to 8X reading when it comes to reading the SubChannel Data.