detail information

Positive Points:

• External high speed drive!
• Very complete software package (includes five 40x CD-R's)
• Cool design (personal opinion)
• Two year full-warranty (only valid in Europe, Middle-East and Africa)
• On-site Collect and Return Service (only for EU-Countries + Norway and Switzerland)
• Supports 40x Z-CLV writing
• Supports 12x CLV re-writing
• Supports 40x CAV reading
• 4MB buffer plus BURN-Proof
• Good features:
  • PoweRec II
  • VariRec Recording
• Good software package:
  • Ahead's Nero Burning Rom
  • Plextor's PlexTools
• Excellent DAE speeds (almost 43x)
• Good DAE quality
• Excellent read speeds with certain copy-protected discs
• Supports USB 2.0 and 1.1
• Supports DAO-RAW writing
• Supports overburning (up to 94 minutes)
• Supports writing of 8cm discs
• Supports reading and writing of CD-Text
• Supports reading and writing of full SubChannel Data
• Supports CloneCD's 'Amplify Weak Sectors' option
• Could back-up SafeDisc 2 (before version 2.51.021)
• Could partially back-up SafeDisc v2.51.021
• Could read Key2Audio (audio protection) just fine

Negative Points:

• 'Correct EFM Encoding' not fully supported
• Cannot fully overburn (up to 99 minutes)
• Cannot read 99 minute discs (will fail at about 94 minutes)
• Digital audio playback via RCA jacks didn't work?
• Mount Rainier format not supported

The Plextor PX-W4012TU drive is the first external drive I've reviewed and it didn't disappoint me one bit. The drive has a great design and performed just as well as the internal PX-W4012A drive. We had some problems with DAE (slow performance) but our test computer is not the fastest around anymore and using an internal USB 2.0 controller card is not optimal for transferring data. Nonetheless the Plextor PX-W4012TU performed very well in all of our tests.

The drive fully supports the reading of SubChannel Data, DAO-RAW writing, CD-Text, overburning (up to 94 minutes) and showed some excellent read performance with the popular SafeDisc protection. When reading the LaserLock protection the drive was slow but not as slow as the PleXCombo PX-320A. All other protections could be read in an acceptable time.

When it came to reading normal data discs the drive performed as expected. It was fast and had no problems reading the discs at maximum speed. The drive was the fastest 40x drive we've reviewed when it came to reading CD-ReWriteable media. The DAE speeds we got with Nero CD Speed were very high and again the fastest we've seen for a 40x recorder. When reading audio protections such as Sony's Key2Audio protection the drive showed some great results. The discs could be read just fine with both CloneCD and EAC. It was however strange to see that the drive failed with the free CCD-Lock protection...

When it came to writing, the drive performed as expected. Most media we used could be written at a higher speed than they were certified for. The Plextor drive uses the Z-CLV method to write discs and as we've seen during the review, this is not as fast as the P-CAV method some drives are using. When writing copy-protection we got the 'classic' Plextor result: the drive had no problems writing the SafeDisc 2 protection but couldn't create a perfect back-up with the SafeDisc v2.51.021 protection. Although the back-up did work in a lot of recorders, it failed in very picky drives such as the Toshiba SD-M1502. When we enabled CloneCD's 'Amplify Weak Sectors' option the drive created perfect back-ups.

The price of the Plextor PX-W4012TU is listed as $209,- (EUR 209,-) on the Plextor America website but on PriceWatch.com you can find it for about $190,- (EUR 190,-). Of course this might seem as a steep price but with the Plextor PX-W4012TU as an external drive you will always have a great drive within reach.