detail information

In this part of our Plextor PX-W4824A 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 48X. For the tests we used Nero CD Speed and repeated the tests several times to make sure the results were accurate. The SpeedRead option (to enable the Plextor drive to reach 48X) was manually enabled before each test.

The data read tests are divided into five sections:

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

Introduction:

Let's start with a screenshot of the detected Plextor PX-W4824A 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 has the lowest (claimed) access times we've ever seen of less than 65ms (compare that for instance to the 120ms for the Plextor PX-W4012A drive).

As you can see from this screenshot the Plextor PX-W4824A can read all types of discs (Mode 1/2, Audio, CD-RW) at 40X speed. For this review we enabled the SpeedRead option with which it's possible to 'unlock' the drive to reach 48X with Mode 1 data discs.

Original/Pressed Discs:

For the transfer rate tests we used a pressed CD-ROM containing PlexTools v1.05 which was exactly 74 minutes (333.000 sectors) long. Below the produced graph with Nero CD Speed:

And of course the speeds and seek times of the Plextor PX-W4824A drive:

In the left screenshot you see that the Plextor PX-W4824A has a hard time reaching 48X and reaches a top read speed of only 45.48X. The average read speed was 34.47X. The seek times were however superb and the fastest we've ever seen on a drive 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-W4824A gets the last place when it comes to read speeds but it gets the first place when it comes to seek times:

CD-Recordable Media:

For the transfer rate tests with CD-Recordable Media we again used the PlexTools v1.05 disc only this time we read from a back-up disc. The disc used 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 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-W4824A drive reached with the CD-Recordable media:

In the left screenshot you see that the Plextor PX-W4824A again fails to reach 48X but it comes pretty close with a top read speed of 46.87X and an average speed of 35.68X. The seek times with CD-Recordable media were again simply amazing!

In the table below we compare the achieved times with other drives we've previously reviewed. The Plextor PX-W4824A again gets the last place when it comes to read speeds but when it comes to seek times the other drives can't even come close:

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-W4824A drive reached with the CD-ReWriteable media:

In the screenshots you can see that the Plextor PX-W4824A drive is limited to 40X reading even when the SpeedRead option is enabled. The top read speed was 41.53X. The seek times with CD-ReWriteable media are again the best we've seen.

In the table below we compare the achieved results to some of the reviews we've done previously. The Plextor PX-W4824A drive is not the only 48X reader which is limited to 40X reading when it comes to CD-ReWriteable media but it still gets the last place. Again, when it comes to seek times, there's no beating the Plextor drive:

Conclusion:

Overall we had quite a disappointing result since we couldn't reach the claimed 48X with any of the read tests. When reading original/pressed and CD-Recordable media the top read speed was about 46X and thus not enough to compete with the other 48X readers we've reviewed. We contacted Plextor Europe and asked why the drive couldn't reach the claimed 48X and we got a pretty simple explanation confirming what we already suspected. The Plextor PX-W4824A drive reaches 48X at the 80-minute mark and not at the 72 minute mark we use for our tests. We of course tested this with an 80-minute CD-R disc and this time the Plextor PX-W4824A drive could reach 48X without problems:

The speeds and seek times the Plextor PX-W4824A drive reached with the 80-minute CD-Recordable media:

In the screenshots you can see that the Plextor PX-W4824A drive now does reach 48X and gets a top read speed of 48.30X and an average speed of 36.50X. Note that this speeds were reached at the 78-minute mark of the CD-R disc. The seek times are (of course) again very good.

So the Plextor PX-W4824A drive can reach 48X but only when you use a 78 (or more) minute disc. We saw the same thing when we reviewed the Yamaha CRW-F1 drive. Note that other read speeds (40X and below) are reached at the 68-minute mark as normal.

When it comes to reading CD-ReWriteable media the Plextor PX-W4824A drive is limited to 40X reading. Finally, the seek times of the Plextor PX-W4824A drive were simply the best we've ever seen on a drive. Previous Plextor drives had some problems with high seek times but this has been improved drastically with this new model.

So far for the data reading part. Now let's check the audio reading (DAE) speeds on the next page...