detail information

In this part of our PlexWriter review we'll start testing the reading of normal/unprotected data discs. Let's see how fast the Plextor drive can read data and if it can really reach the claimed 40x. For the tests we used Nero CD Speed and repeated the tests several times to make sure the results were accurate. The data read tests are divided into four sections:

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

Introduction:

Let's start with a screenshot of the detected Plextor PX-W4012S read speeds with the PlexTools software. 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 the Plextor drive uses the Ultra-SCSI 2 interface and uses firmware version 1.01, which was actually newer than what the PlexTools software lists as the latest version. Now for the detected read speeds:

According to PlexTools, the PlexWriter 40/12/40S can read all media at full speed, except for CD-ReWriteable discs (which can be read at a maximum speed of 32x). We will of course check that on this page of our review. The audio tests will be done on the next page. Besides the read information you can also see that the disc are being read in the CAV mode and that lower read speeds are being done in CLV mode.

Reading Original/Pressed Discs:

For the transfer rate tests we used a pressed CD-ROM containing PlexTools v1.13 which was exactly 74 minutes (333.000 sectors) long. Below you can see the produced graph with Nero CD Speed:

And of course an overview of the speeds and seek times the Plextor PX-W4012S drive reached with Nero CD Speed:

In the left screenshot you see that the Plextor PX-W4012S (like all Plextor drives) has no problems reaching 40x and going faster than that (the top read speed was 41.57x). The average read speed was 31.46x. The seek times with original/pressed media are also pretty good and almost the same as the PX-W4012TA drive.

In the table below we compare the achieved times with other drives we've previously reviewed. The Plextor PX-W4012S just falls behind the PX-W4012TU drive with its read speeds:

Reading CD-Recordable Media:

For the transfer rate tests with CD-Recordable Media we used a back-up (CD-R) of a PlexTools v1.05 disc. The used disc was a 'That's Write' CD-R certified up to 16x writing and manufactured by Gigastorage. Here's the ATIP information from CDR Identifier:

• ATIP: 97m 28s 12f
• Disc Manufacturer: Gigastorage Corp.
• Reflective layer: Dye (Long strategy; e.g. Cyanine, Azo etc.)
• Media type: CD-Recordable
• Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
• Nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f / LBA: 359849)

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

The speeds and seek times the Plextor PX-W4012S drive reached with the CD-Recordable media:

In the left screenshot you see that the Plextor PX-W4012S again had no problems reaching its maximum write speed and reaching a top read speed of 41.69x. With an average read speed of 31.72x a very good result. The seek times with CD-Recordable media were again pretty good as you can see in the screenshot on the right.

In the table below we compare the achieved times with other drives we've previously reviewed. The Plextor PX-W4012S again just falls behind the PX-W4012TU drive with its read speeds, although its seek times are a little bit better:

Reading CD-ReWriteable Media:

To test the transfer rate with CD-RW discs we again used the "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 CDR Identifier:

• ATIP: 97m 27s 00f
• Disc Manufacturer: Disc ID not allowed
• Reflective layer: Phase change
• Media type: CD-ReWriteable
• Recording Speeds: min. 4X - max. 8X
• Nominal Capacity: 651.86MB (74m 12s 00f / LBA: 333750)

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

The speeds and seek times the Plextor PX-W4012S drive reached with the CD-ReWriteable media:

In our introduction at the beginning of this page we showed you a screenshot of the PlexTools software and it reported that the SCSI drive could read CD-RW media at 32x only. However, as you can see from the results, the drive had no problems reaching 40x and even faster speeds! A pleasant surprise. We're not completely sure if the PlexTools software simply gave the wrong information or if it was a result of the PX-W4012S drive using a newer firmware version (1.01).

In the table below we'll compare the achieved results to some of the reviews we've done previously. The SCSI PlexWriter's performance is again very close to the PX-W4012TU drive:

Features

Audio Read Tests