detail information

In this part of our Plextor PX-S2410TU review we'll start testing the reading of normal/unprotected data discs. For the read tests we used Nero CD Speed v1.01.6 and repeated the tests several times to make sure the results were accurate. The data read tests are divided into the following sections:

• Introduction
• Original/Pressed Discs
• CD-Recordable Media
• CD-ReWriteable Media

Introduction:

Let's start with a screenshot of the detected Plextor PX-S2410TU read speeds with PlexTools. In the screenshots below you can also see some more information on the drive itself like firmware, interface and access time:

As you can see from the screenshot above this Plextor drive uses firmware version 1.00 and is attached to the USB 2.0 interface. The access times are listed as less than 125ms. Let's continue with the read speeds:

The screenshot reveals that this small Plextor drive can read mode 1 and 2 discs at 24X and that CD-RW discs can be read at 16X maximum. The audio read speed are detected as only 8X though. We'll check the audio read speeds on the next page. Let's continue with our read tests first:

Original/Pressed Discs:

For the transfer rate tests we used a pressed CD-ROM containing PlexTools v1.17 which was almost 80 minutes long. Below the produced graph with Nero CD Speed:

And of course an overview of the speeds and seek times the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive reached with Nero CD Speed:

In the left screenshot you see that the Plextor PX-S2410TU reaches a top reading speed of 24.12X and gets an average speed of 18.29X. In the right screenshot you can see that the seek times of the drive are pretty good and better than some of the internal writers we've reviewed.

In the table below we compare the achieved read times with another slim line Plextor drive, the PX-208TU. Note that the PX-208TU drive was reviewed with a slightly smaller disc (72 minutes) so the achieved results can be a little bit off:

CD-Recordable Media:

For the transfer rate tests with CD-Recordable Media we used a back-up of the PlexTools v1.17 disc. The disc used was a 'Plextor' CD-R certified up to 48X writing and manufactured by Taiyo Yuden. Here's the ATIP information from Nero CD Speed:

• Manufacturer: Taiyo Yuden
• Code: 97m24s01f
• Disc Type: CD-R
• Recording Layer: Dye Type 1: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
• Capacity: 79:59.72 (703 MB)

The back-up disc was of course also almost 80 minutes long. Below the produced graph with Nero CD Speed:

An overview of the speeds and seek times the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive reached with the CD-Recordable media using Nero CD Speed:

The Plextor drive achieves about the same read speeds with the CD-R media as with the pressed media. This time the average read speed was 18.26X and a top read speed was 24.10X. In the right screenshot you can see that the seek times with CD-Recordable media were not as good as with the pressed media, but still well within the specification of < 125ms (random stroke).

When we compare our results to another slim line Plextor recorder we can see that the PX-S2410TU drive is a little slower when reading the disc, but its seek times are a little better:

CD-ReWriteable Media:

To test the transfer rate with CD-RW discs we used a "PlexTools v1.05" disc only this time we read from a CD-ReWriteable disc. We created a back-up of the disc using a PleXCombo PX-320A. The disc used was a 'Plextor CD-RW' disc. Here's the ATIP information from Nero CD Speed:

• Manufacturer: unknown
• Code: 97m27s00f
• Disc Type: HighSpeed CD-RW
• Recording Layer: Phase Change
• Capacity: 74:12.00 (652 MB)

The CD-RW disc was 74 minutes (333.000 sectors) long. Below the produced graph with Nero CD Speed:

A final overview of the speeds and seek times the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive reached with the CD-ReWriteable media using Nero CD Speed:

As already reported by PlexTools the reading of CD-RW media is limited to 16X and the Nero CD Speed results verify this. The top read speed of the PX-S2410TU drive was 16.30X and the average speed was 12.34X. In the screenshot on the right you can see that the seek times with CD-ReWriteable media were a little higher than we saw with the pressed media and the CD-R media.

When we compare the achieved results to the PX-208TU Plextor recorder we can see that the PX-S2410TU drive performs a lot better with the CD-RW media. The seek times were also lower (and thus better):