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Review: Plextor PX-S2410TU Reviewer: G@M3FR3@K Provided by: Plextor Europe Firmware: version 1.00 Production date: November 2002 TLA#: 0000 |
A few weeks ago Plextor announced their latest
external CD-recorder, the Plextor PX-S2410TU (in which the 'S' indicates that the drive is a slim line CD-recorder).
The shiny silver and black Plextor drive uses the USB 2.0 interface and weighs less than 410 grams. This of course makes
the drive very portable and possibly a perfect notebook CD-recorder.
When using the USB 2.0 interface the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive can reach a maximum read and write speed of 24X. As the
model number suggest, re-writing is done at a maximum speed of 10X. Will these speeds also be fast enough for desktop
computer users or is the drive only suitable to be used as a portable notebook recorder? What about the drive's performance
and features? Can the drive live up to the 'Plextor standards'?
In this review we will take a thorough look at this latest external, slim line Plextor drive and answer the questions
above. Read on to find out what we have to say about this Plextor drive!
Test Machine:
For our review we'll be using the following configuration:
Hardware:
- Motherboard: GigaByte GA-7VAXP
- Processor: AMD AthlonXP 2100+
- RAM: 256MB (PC2700)
- GFX: ASUS V8200 (GeForce 3 Ti200)
- Hard Disk: DiamondMax 40GB (7200rpm)
System set-up:
As you can see the Plextor PX-S2410TU was hooked up to the (onboard) USB 2.0 controller and identifies itself as
"PLEXTOR CD-R PX-S2410T". The listed unknown adapter is CloneCD's virtual CloneDrive (disabled).
Used Software:
The Windows XP Professional operating system is installed on our test machine. We'll be using the following software
to perform the various tests:
- Ahead InCD v3.51.91
- Ahead Nero Burning Rom v5.5.9.17
- Ahead Nero CD Speed v1.01.6
- Ahead Nero InfoTool v1.03.2
- Elaborate Bytes CloneCD v4.2.0.2
- Plextor PlexTools v1.17
On the next page we'll take a look at the European retail package of the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive...
First things first as we check out the contents of the European Plextor PX-S2410TU retail package. In the box
Plextor Europe send to us we can find the following things:
- The Plextor PX-S2410TU drive itself
- Quick installation guide
- Warranty RMA procedure manual
- USB 2.0 connection cable
- External 9V power adapter
- Emergency eject pin
- Nero Burning Rom 5.5 disc containing;
- Ahead's Nero Burning Rom
- Ahead's NeroMediaPlayer
- Ahead's InCD
- PlexTools v1.17 disc including 16-language
manual and USB 2.0 driver for Windows 98SE - One blank 48X 700MB Plextor CD-R
(manufactured by Taiyo Yuden*) - One blank 10X 650MB Plextor CD-RW
(manufactured by Ricoh*)
As always the Plextor package includes everything you need to get started burning right away. The package of course does
not include any screws or flatcables since the drive is an external model with its own case, which by the way, is simply
beautiful to look at. Because of the silver and black colours this drive certainly won't look bad attached to your home
computer or laptop.
The manual of the Plextor drive can be found on the PlexTools disc and is very complete and in many different languages.
Plextor has included a printed quick installation guide and a printed manual on how you should proceed when you have
problems with your drive. For Europe, The Middle-East and Africa, Plextor Europe offers a two year warranty on the
drive as they do for all their new writer models.
Installation:
The Plextor PX-S2410TU drive uses the USB 2.0 standard so your computer has to have support for this. Most new
motherboards have USB 2.0 ports but many older motherboard do not have this support. Since our motherboard is brand new
it has these onboard USB 2.0 ports but if you have an older computer you'll have to install a PCI USB 2.0 card. Luckily
these cards aren't very expensive.
The external Plextor drive was attached via the USB cable that was delivered with it. Its power supply comes from the 9V
power adapter. When Windows XP is running and the drive is turned on via the switch on the side, it's automatically
recognized and ready for use. You don't need additional software to use the drive (well at least not under Windows XP since
this operating system already supports USB 2.0). There's no need to set the drive to DMA mode or anything. Just hit the
switch and you're good to go.
The Drive:
read and write speeds (24/10/24). On the front of the drive we find the 'High Speed CD ReWriteable' logo, a busy/write LED
and of course an eject-button. On the side of the drive we can find the on/off switch, a headphone jack and a volume
control. On the back of drive we find the power and USB connections.
The Software:
As briefly mentioned when we listed the package contents, this European Plextor drive includes Nero Burning Rom v5.5 which doesn't need an introduction anymore. Nero Burning Rom, by many people, is
considered to be one of the best software packages around when it comes to your CD and DVD burning needs.
Of course Ahead's InCD is also located on the Nero 5.5 CD-ROM. InCD is Ahead's packet writing software to use with your
CD and DVD ReWriteable discs. With this software you can format a CD-RW or DVD±RW disc and use it as a large floppy disc.
InCD also supports the 'Mount Rainier' (CD-MRW) format which we'll get back to later in our review.
Plextor PlexTools is another well
known program and is delivered with European Plextor CD-writers. The program has come a long way since its first
introduction and now offers some advanced features such as 'DAE Error Recovery' and advanced settings to control your
Plextor drive with. The latest PlexTools version (1.17) now also offers the possibility to burn your own data compilations
(audio was already possible in previous versions):
review on it.
On the next page we'll take a look at the features the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive...
Let's check out the drive specifications as mentioned on the Plextor Europe
website and as detected with additional
software (Nero InfoTool):
Drive Specifications:
| Write Speeds: |
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| Re-Write Speeds: |
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| Read Speeds (max): |
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| Buffer Size: | 2 MB | ||
| Interface: | USB 2.0 / 1.1 | ||
| Access Time: | < 125ms (24X CAV) | ||
| Supported Formats: | CD-DA, CD-ROM Mode 1, CD-ROM XA, CD-ROM Mix Mode, Photo CD, Video CD, CD-I, CD-Extra, CD-Text, CD+G, Mount Rainier |
||
| Recording Modes: (detected with Nero InfoTool) |
Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO, RAW DAO, RAW SAO 16, RAW SAO 96, RAW DAO 96 | ||
| System Requirements: | 300 MHz PII processor or faster, 64 MB RAM minimal, Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP and MacOS. One free USB connector |
||
| Disc Loading: | Tray, manual load/auto eject | ||
| Dimensions WxHxD: | 141 x 22 x 171 mm | ||
| Weight: | < 410 grams | ||
| Extra's: | PoweRec, two year full-warranty * (parts, labor, and replacement) with on-site Collect and Return Service **. |
** Only for EU-Countries + Norway and Switzerland.
The slim line Plextor drive supports all recording formats and of course offers the same Plextor technologies such as
PoweRec which we'll get back to later. Let's give you a screenshot of Nero InfoTool first and the detected features of this
latest external Plextor drive:
drive supports C2 Error Information and the 'Mount Rainier' format. Let's take a closer look at some of the supported
features and technologies:
Buffer (Underrun Protection):
Unlike most Plextor recorders, the Plextor PX-S2410TU does not use Plextor's BURN-Proof (Buffer
UnderRuN Proof) technology to prevent buffer underruns. The drive simply uses a 'Buffer Underrun
Proof Technology' according to the Plextor website. Like mentioned before in the drive specifications, the Plextor PX-S2410TU has a 2 MB buffer on
board as you can also see in the screenshot below of the drive's detected features with Nero Burning Rom:
buffer underrun protection can be enable and disabled although we would of course never recommend that you disable this
feature.
Mount Rainier:
The Plextor PX-W4824TA and
PX-W4824TU drives were the first Plextor drives to
support the Mount Rainier format and this latest external slim line recorder continues to do so. Here's a small introduction
of the CD-MRW format. Click on the Mt. Rainier logo to read our article on the Mt. Rainier format:
"...Mount Rainier enables native OS support of data storage on CD-RW. This makes the technology far easier to use
and allows the replacement of the floppy. This is done by having defect management in the drive, by making the
drive 2k addressable, by using background formatting, and by standardizing both command set and physical layout.
The new standard is promoted by Compaq, Microsoft, Philips, and Sony and is supported by over 40 industry leaders:
OS vendors, PC-OEM's, ISV's, chip makers, and media makers.
The purpose of the proposal made by the Mount Rainier group is to make CD-RW easier to use for data storage and
interchange. The changes proposed will enable the operating system support of dragging and dropping data to CD-RW
discs. Formatting delays will also be eliminated and the use will be comparable to using a hard disk or a floppy..."
PoweRec Technology:
To ensure a quality back-up of your files the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive uses the PoweRec Technology. PoweRec (Plextor
Optimised Writing Error Reduction Control) monitors the quality of the disc while burning
and will adjust the speed if necessary. You can read a full explanation of the PoweRec technique in this
PDF-document.
Write Method:
The Plextor PX-S2410TU uses the Z-CLV write method (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) when writing
CD-R's. Z-CLV is used to reduce the rotation speed of the CD-R disc inside the recorder and thus reducing noise and stress
on the drive mechanism. During switching writing speeds, the drive's buffer underrun technique takes over preventing buffer
underruns. In the screenshot below you can see a test burn done with Nero CD Speed:
The yellow line indicates the rotation speed (rpm) of the CD-R.
In the produced graph you can see that the external Plextor drive starts writing at 10X and immediately increases
the write speed to 12X. At the 18-minute mark the speed is increased to 16X and at the 38-minute mark the speed is increased
again to 20X. Finally at the 64-minute mark the speed is increased to the maximum write speed of 24X, resulting in an
average write speed of 16.88X.
This average speed might not seem as a very fast speed compared to 'normal' recorders (with an average speed of more than
30X or even 40X) but keep in mind that 24X recording for such a small and light weight drive is impressive. Compare the 24X
to Plextor's other slim line drive, the PX-208TU
for instance, which had a write speed of only 8X!
Next up in our Plextor PX-S2410TU review, the data read tests.
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:
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:
interface. The access times are listed as less than 125ms. Let's continue with the read speeds:
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:
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:
 |
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:
| Original Discs |
Average Reading Speed |
Start Reading Speed |
End Reading Speed |
Seek Times Random |
Seek Times 1/3 |
Seek Times Full |
| Slim Line Recorders | ||||||
| Plextor PX-208TU |
18.25X | 10.77X | 24.08X | 131ms | 140ms | 254ms |
| Plextor PX-S2410TU |
18.29X | 10.78X | 24.12X | 93ms | 113ms | 203ms |
| PX-208TU vs. PX-S2410TU | ||||||
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:
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-R Discs |
Average Reading Speed |
Start Reading Speed |
End Reading Speed |
Seek Times Random |
Seek Times 1/3 |
Seek Times Full |
| Slim Line Recorders | ||||||
| Plextor PX-208TU |
18.93X | 11.34X | 24.90X | 138ms | 147ms | 255ms |
| Plextor PX-S2410TU |
18.26X | 10.73X | 24.10X | 112ms | 123ms | 194ms |
| PX-208TU vs. PX-S2410TU | ||||||
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:
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):
| CD-RW Discs |
Average Reading Speed |
Start Reading Speed |
End Reading Speed |
Seek Times Random |
Seek Times 1/3 |
Seek Times Full |
| Slim Line Recorders | ||||||
| Plextor PX-208TU |
8.16X | 4.80X | 10.78X | 137ms | 155ms | 263ms |
| Plextor PX-S2410TU |
12.34X | 7.24X | 16.30X | 124ms | 141ms | 239ms |
| PX-208TU vs. PX-S2410TU | ||||||
So far for the data reading part. Now let's check the audio reading (DAE) speeds on the next page...
On the previous page where we showed you the PlexTools screenshot with the listed supported read speeds we could see
that audio was listed at only 8X. Let's check if this latest external Plextor drive is indeed limited to only 8X when it
comes to DAE (Digital Audio Extraction). For the audio read tests we this time only used the
PlexTools software. Exact Audio Copy
didn't work with the Plextor drive for some reason. We could get EAC to recognize the drive with Ahead's WNASPI32.DLL file
but when we wanted to extract the audio tracks, EAC simply crashed.
Digital Audio Extraction - PlexTools:
For the Digital Audio Extraction (DAE) tests we started PlexTools and simply extracted the separate audio tracks in
uncompressed WAV format to our hard disk. Our test disc had 20 tracks and a total playing time of 77 minutes and 45 seconds.
Plextor PX-S2410TU DAE speed - PlexTools
doing DAE. Not a very good result considering that the drive can read normal data discs at 24X and CD-RW discs at 16X.
Let's check our results with Nero CD Speed:
read speed of 8.02X. As you can also see from the screenshot the seek times are within the drive's specifications.
The processor (CPU) usage was a bit high at 8X but the Nero CD Speed tests aren't always correct and 69% seems a bit too
high.
Advanced DAE Quality Test:
To conclude our DAE test we did the 'Advanced DAE Quality Test' with
Nero CD Speed. This test is a very hard and intense test for any reader.
We created a new test disc using a Plextor
PX-W4012TU recorder. We used some high quality 'Hi-Space' media which are also available from our
online shop (for our Dutch and Belgian visitors only).
These Hi-Space discs have a 24 carats gold reflective cover and can be written up to 24X. Here are the results from the
Advanced DAE Quality Test:
read any data from the lead-in and lead-out area but it can read the CD-Text and SubChannel Data information. The drive
also produces a perfect quality score of 100%.
Now that we've concluded our data and audio reading part, let's see how fast the drive can write data. We've skipped
the scratched and low quality disc tests since the drive simply choked on the (C2) errors and couldn't read the discs at
all.
As mentioned before the Plextor PX-S2410TU can write discs at 24X using the
Z-CLV write method. To see what this speed means
in real life we set-up a basic write process using the latest Nero Burning
Rom version 5.5.9.17. We used the DAO (Disc At Once) method for writing the disc. The disc was
finalized and set-up as a non-multisession disc. In the screenshot below you can see the burn process completed
successfully:
and an average speed of about 17X the drive is not as fast as internal 24X writers. For this reason we won't compare the
PX-S2410TU drive to other (internal) recorders we've reviewed.
DAO-RAW Writing:
Besides normal writing we can of course also use the drive to write in DAO-RAW mode (which basically means that data is
written uncorrected). Some drives however are limited in recording speed when writing in this mode so let's see if the same
also applies to this Plextor drive. For the DAO-RAW writing tests we created an image of a protected game and simply wrote
that image to a 24X certified CD-R disc:
write speed when recording in DAO-RAW this is in fact not the case. Because the drive uses the Z-CLV write method and the
image is only 578 MB in size the drive doesn't reach its maximum speed. Just when the drive wanted to switch to 24X, the
recording process was completed. So in conclusion we can say the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive is not limited when recording in
DAO-RAW mode. Let's check if the same applies for audio.
Writing Audio:
The next thing we're going to check is the Plextor PX-S2410TU's audio writing abilities. Unlike other Plextor recorders
the external slim line model does not support the VariRec recording mode (which allows you to change the laser power when
writing audio at 4X). Let's see if the drive can write audio at maximum speed:
time for 24X recording as we saw with the normal data and DAO-RAW writing. The Plextor PX-S2410TU drive is thus not limited
when recording audio.
Now that we've finished our normal read and write tests, it's time to check the drive's write quality...
To test the Plextor PX-S2410TU's write quality we simply used Nero Burning Rom to write several discs at maximum speed.
For each disc we then used Lite-On's C1/C2 error scan program called WSES (Write Strategy Evaluation
System) v1.07. This program can accurately scan a disc for errors and it's a better method of checking the write
quality then when using Nero CD Speed for instance. The created discs were scanned using a Lite-On LTR-52246S drive
(WSES only works with Lite-On drives) at 40X reading.
Note: The display scale were using for our error measurement is 60 for C1 and 20 for C2. Please keep this in
mind when you, for instance, compare our tests to other reviews. The scales may be different and you can thus not compare
the results just by looking at the created graphs!
Introduction:
C1 and C2 errors are not really on a disc. They occur during reading. The more difficult it is for a drive to read a
disc, the more errors will occur while reading that disc. A good disc should report low error rates even at high scanning
speeds. But don't forget that a bad disc can also have low error rates after burning. A good disc will still report low
error rates if you put the disc into direct sunlight, while a bad disc will damage and/or may degrade after some months.
The results below are thus not an indication whether or not the used disc is of a good quality. It's merely an indication
if the burn process was done properly.
In the figures below you will see a graphical overview of errors occurring during the read process. Please note that
every created/burned disc will always have C1 errors. These are errors that are corrected by the drive and they will not
effect the disc in a bad way as long as their amount is limited. C2 errors are however very bad for a disc and are harder
to read and correct. When there are too many C2 errors present on the disc it means you have bad burned disc and it can't
be read in the test drive you're using as a reader. Although a low amount of C2 errors can still be recovered by the drive,
a zero amount of C2 errors is always preferred!
The Tests:
700MB Plextor CD-R80:
- Manufacturer: Taiyo Yuden
- Certified Speed: 48X
- Write Speed: 24X (6m:01s)
- Code: 97m24s01f
- Disc Type: CD-R
- Recording Layer: Dye Type 1: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
- Capacity: 79:59.72 (703 MB)
These discs were delivered with the Plextor drive and were certified for 48X recording. The Plextor PX-S2410TU drive (of
course) wrote the discs at maximum speed and as you can see from the graph below, created a perfect quality disc:
- Manufacturer: Hitachi Maxell
- Certified Speed: 40X
- Write Speed: 24X (5m:59s)
- Code: 97m25s29f
- Disc Type: CD-R
- Recording Layer: Dye Type 9: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
- Capacity: 79:59.74 (703 MB)
The next disc we scanned was a Maxell CD-R certified for 40X recording. The Plextor drive wrote the disc at maximum speed
and created another quality disc as you can also see from the following graph:
- Manufacturer: Mitsui
- Certified Speed: 48X
- Write Speed: 24X (5m;43s)
- Code: 97m27s58f
- Disc Type: CD-R
- Recording Layer: Dye Type 8: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
- Capacity: 79:59.74 (703 MB)
The next disc we scanned was a recorded Mitsui audio disc. From the graph below you can see that there are more C1 errors
than on the previous two discs but keep in mind that this is still a perfect result: the number of errors is low and there
are no C2 errors:
- Manufacturer: CMC Magnetics
- Certified Speed: unknown
- Write Speed: 24X (6m:02s)
- Code: 97m26s66f
- Disc Type: CD-R
- Recording Layer: Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
- Capacity: 79:59.74 (703 MB)
As a final test we wrote some Imation CD-R's which were kindly provided to us by forum member
Jailer. The discs were
manufactured by CMC Magnetics and the Plextor drive wrote them at maximum speed. In the graph below you can see that at the
end of the disc the amount of C1 errors increases but they're still limited and there were no C2 errors. Another well burned
disc:
and write data and audio copy-protections.
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:
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:
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:
| Test drives (weak sectors ignored) |
The Sims: House Party v2.10.030 |
| -Plextor PX-S2410TU | passed |
| -Plextor PX-W4012A | passed |
| -Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502Â | failed |
| -Yamaha CRW-F1 | passed |
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:
| Test drives (weak sectors amplified) |
The Sims: House Party v2.10.030 |
| -Plextor PX-S2410TU | passed |
| -Plextor PX-W4012A | passed |
| -Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502Â | passed |
| -Yamaha CRW-F1 | passed |
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:
| Test drives (weak sectors ignored) |
Serious Sam 2 v2.51.021 |
Mafia v2.70.030 |
| -Plextor PX-S2410TU | failed | failed |
| -Plextor PX-W4012A | passed | passed |
| -Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502Â | failed | failed |
| -Yamaha CRW-F1 | passed | passed |
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:
| Test drives (weak sectors amplified) |
Serious Sam 2 v2.51.021 |
Mafia v2.70.030 |
| -Plextor PX-S2410TU | passed | passed |
| -Plextor PX-W4012A | passed | passed |
| -Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502Â | passed | passed |
| -Yamaha CRW-F1 | passed | passed |
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).
Prix 4 game is launched
the table below you can see the achieved results:
| Test drives Grand Prix 4 v2.80.010 |
Weak Sectors Ignored |
Weak Sectors Amplified |
| -Plextor PX-S2410TU | failed | passed |
| -Plextor PX-W4012A | passed | passed |
| -Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502Â | failed | passed |
| -Yamaha CRW-F1 | passed | passed |
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.
Next up in our Plextor PX-S2410TU review, the reading of protected audio discs...
Now that we've taken a look at how well the external Plextor drive can handle data protection it's time to see how well
it does with protected audio discs. Audio discs are protected more and more and so it's important a drive can read
these protections. For the tests we used PlexTools
and CloneCD. For more information on how to handle copy-protected audio
discs please read this thread on
our Audio forum.
Key2Audio version 2:
The first protection we're going to take a look at is Key2Audio developed by Sony DADC. The disc we're using
is 'Shakira: Laundry Service' protected with version 2 of the Key2Audio protection. On the front of the CD-cover we
can read the text 'will not play on PC/MAC'. For more information on Key2Audio you can visit
www.key2audio.com.
We first started PlexTools, inserted the disc and closed the tray. We waited until the CD-contents were displayed but
unfortunately the Plextor PX-S2410TU failed to recognize the disc. We of course also tried to read the disc with CloneCD
but we got the same error:
For the Key2Audio version 3 tests we used an audio disc with the title 'Celine Dion: A new day has come'. On the
front of the CD-cover we again find the text 'will not play on PC/MAC'. When it came to reading the protected audio disc
we unfortunately had the exact same result as with the previous Key2Audio version: the Plextor PX-S2410TU simply cannot
recognize the disc.
Cactus Data Shield:
For the Cactus Data Shield (CDS) tests we used an audio disc with the title 'Bitte Ein Beat 5' protected with CDS200. On the
back of the CD-cover and on the disc itself we can find a small logo mentioning that the disc is copy protected by Midbar
Tech (www.midbartech.com).
We first tried to read the disc with PlexTools but as you can see the disc lay-out is detected wrong (the red text is
incorrect, there should be 15 audio tracks and 1 data track):
external PX-S2410TU drive. With this option enabled we were able to read the CDS200 disc with the mentioned PX-W4824TU
drive but since the option does not work for the PX-S2410TU drive we were unable to extract the audio tracks.
When we tried CloneCD it also failed to read the disc and thus the only option we had left was the Exact Audio Copy
software (which, as said before on page 5, didn't work with the Plextor drive). Although we could detect the audio tracks
when we used the 'Manually Detect TOC' option we were unable to extract them:
Doc.loc is another audio protection and can be recognized by the text 'DOCdata' on the inner ring of the disc. On the back
of the CD cover we can read the following text:
"This product features copy protection technology, as we feel the necessity to protect our artists and ourselves from
illegal copying; it is intended for use in standard home CD audio players and may not play on other devices, especially
computer drives."
Doc.loc is a protection that has been produced by the DOCdata company (www.docdata.com) and when you insert an audio disc that has the Doc.loc protection in a computer
drive it will simply keep searching indefinitely because the drive cannot recognize the disc. To test this 'theory' we
inserted the protected audio disc in the Plextor recorder and waited till the disc had been recognized. Unfortunately, just
as we saw with the Key2Audio protection, the PX-S2410TU drive again failed to recognize the disc. We of course tried with
both the PlexTools and CloneCD software but the results were the same: the drive cannot read the Doc.loc protected disc.
Next up in our Plextor PX-S2410TU review the CD-RW and Mount Rainier tests.
In this part of the review we'll take a look at the Plextor PX-S2410TU's CD-ReWriting abilities and its Mount Rainier
(CD-MRW) support. For both tests we used Ahead's InCD version 3.51.91.
For the erase tests we used Elaborate Bytes' CloneCD version 4.2.0.2.
Packet Writing:
We formatted a Plextor 650MB high-speed CD-RW disc which was delivered with the Plextor package. We fired up InCD,
inserted the empty CD-ReWriteable disc in the recorder and measured the time it took from inserting the disc till it was
ejected again. The InCD option to 'Format disc to CD-MRW' (Mt. Rainier) was been disabled. We will do the CD-MRW tests later
on this page of our review.
400MB (419.791.239 bytes)). In the table below we've summed it all up for you:
small. When formatting the CD-RW disc with InCD the Plextor drive needed a lot more time than the other recorders, partially
due to the drive's low read speeds. When erasing CD-RW media the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive performed very well. As a final
test we erased the CD-RW disc and then wrote it using Nero Burning Rom. As you can see the drive now needed 5
minutes and 26 seconds to write the test data:
Since Plextor's PX-W4824A drive all new Plextor drive seem to support the new Mount Rainier format and the PX-S2410TU
is no exception. Although the drive can only re-write at 10X, let's see how well it performs when using InCD version 3.51.91.
If you want to read more on the CD-MRW format please read our Mount Rainier article.
results the external drive is one of the slowest drives and needs quite a lot of time to copy the 400MB of test data to
the CD-RW, regardless if the disc had been completely formatted or not. Its reading performance was a little better but
still one of the slowest drives we've seen.
On the next page we've tested the drive when reading and writing special discs. We've skipped the media compatibility
tests since nowadays all CD-Recordable media can be written at 24X. The Plextor drive could write all our test media at 24X.
We're almost done with our Plextor PX-S2410TU review and for our last tests we're going to check if the drive can read
and write exotic CD-Recordable's. These include 99 minute discs and 8cm discs. Let's start with the first one:
Overburning:
We used DataTrack 99min/900MB CD-R's for our tests that were certified up to 40X writing. We used Nero CD Speed to do an
overburn test. We set the 'Test capacity' to 99 minutes and started the test. You can see the achieved results below:
So writing isn't going to be a problem but can the drive also read the 99 minute media:
this point, it could not read more than that. We of course also simply tried to copy all the data from the 99 minute disc
to our hard disk using the Windows explorer but this resulted in the Plextor drive making some weird noises and an error.
Reading 99 minute media is thus not possible...
The results we got were pretty weird: so the drive can write 99 minutes of data but cannot read it? That really doesn't
make any sense. To test the Plextor's ability to write 99 minute discs we set up a compilation of 97 minutes (859 MB) using
Nero Burning Rom, enabled overburning and started the write process. We selected a low write speed of 10X just to be safe:
again:
overburn to 99 minutes and is probably limited to about 92 minutes.
8cm CD-R Tests:
To conclude our Plextor PX-S2410TU review we're going to read and write an 8cm disc. The 8cm discs we're using were
manufactured by Plasmon. The discs can hold a maximum of 23min/200MB and were certified up to 12X writing. Here's the ATIP
information and a picture of the disc itself:
 |
|
We first created a data compilation of about 200 MB. We started the write process at maximum speed but to our surprise
the burn process failed. To check if this was due to the speed we lowered the write speed to 10X and as you can see from
the screenshot below the process failed again:
process failed! The weird thing was that when we checked the burned 8cm disc with a Lite-On LTR-52246S drive, the disc was
read just fine without a single error:
disc itself. Unfortunately we only had one brand of 8cm discs so we were unable to test other brands. Next we tried reading
the burned 8cm disc using the Plextor drive. From the Nero CD Speed graph below you can see that this was again no problem.
The disc was read at a constant 8X:
Positive Points:
- Very nice looking drive
- Very portable and easy to use because of USB 2.0 interface
- Complete package (software/hardware)
- Complete manual and in many different languages
- Two year full warranty for Europe, The Middle-East and Africa
- Supports 24X Z-CLV writing
- 2MB buffer plus buffer underrun protection
- Supports PoweRec technology
- Good software package:
- Ahead's Nero Burning Rom & InCD
- Plextor's PlexTools
- DAE quality was good
- Write quality was good
- Supports Mount Rainier format
- Supports DAO-RAW writing
- Supports reading and writing of 8cm discs
- Supports reading and writing of CD-Text information
- Supports reading and writing of full SubChannel Data
- Could back-up all SafeDisc 2 versions when the 'weak sectors' were amplified
Negative Points:
- DAE (Digital Audio Extraction) is limited to 8X
- Read performance of SafeDisc copy-protection could be better
- Needs 'amplify weak sectors' to copy SafeDisc 2 protection
- Drive cannot read heavily scratched and low quality discs
- Drive couldn't read any audio copy-protected discs
- Mount Rainier performance could be better
- Cannot fully overburn to 99 minutes (±92 minutes is the max)
Before we continue with our final words we would first like to point out that the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive we reviewed was
based on the TEAC CD-W224E drive. When we opened up the Plextor drive we could see the CD-W224E model number printed
on the recorder label. Plextor using other manufacturer's laser units for their slim line recorders is no surprise since we
saw the same thing with the other slim line Plextor recorder, the PX-208TU drive. This explains some of the un-like Plextor performance we saw during our review.
As always with Plextor drives, their package is very complete and includes everything you need to get started right away.
The drive comes with an excellent software package here in Europe (unfortunately Plextor America includes Roxio's Easy CD
Creator with their drives and they also do not include the PlexTools software). As always the drive's manual is very
complete and Plextor Europe gives a two year warranty period on their drives.
When it came to read and write performance we had a bit of a mixed result. Reading normal data discs was of course no
problem but when it came to reading audio the drive was limited to only 8X reading. This of course makes DAE take a really
long time. Writing was of course also no problem but when it came to writing exotic media we had some problems. Although
Nero CD Speed reported that the drive could overburn to 99 minutes this simply didn't work. Writing 8cm also gave us some
problems but, as said during the tests, we're not completely sure what caused this.
The reading and writing of copy-protections could have been better. Although we were able to copy most data
copy-protections just fine (with some help of the software sometimes) the reading of the SafeDisc copy-protection could have
been a lot better. When it came to reading audio copy-protections the Plextor drive's performance was simply not good at all.
The drive failed to read every protection we tried.
Another thing that also needs to be improved is the drive's performance when reading scratched and low quality discs. When
the drive encountered an uncorrectable error it completely froze up and made reading impossible.
Of course the Plextor drive does also have its positive points. When you're looking for a very portable drive that will
look great attached to your notebook you can't really go wrong with the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive. Its performance was
decent and because of the drive's great design, it will give you an opportunity to brag about to your friends 
When you're however looking for a new external drive for your desktop computer and you don't need portability, then you'd
better stick to another external drive like the Plextor PX-W4824TU for example.
The lowest price on Price Watch for the Plextor PX-S2410TU drive
is $187 (checked January 9th 2003).
