Review: Plextor PX-W4012TU (USB 2.0)
Reviewer: G@M3FR3@K
Provided by: Plextor Europe
Firmware: version 1.02
Production date: June 2002
TLA#: 0102
Plextor is a name well known in the CD-Recordable world. Many years Plextor has absolutely dominated this market
when it came to quality writers and they're still one of the top manufacturers of CD-writers today. Although Plextor is
facing some heavy competition from other manufacturers they're still known for their quality products and excellent
service.
A few weeks ago we already presented you with our review of the Plextor PX-W4012A drive and now it's time for a follow-up. Plextor Europe was kind enough to send us a sample of their latest external recorder, the
PX-W4012TU (40/12/40). As the letter 'U' already suggests this drive uses the USB interface, or to be exact, the USB 2.0
interface. USB 2.0 is a new technology that extends the speed of the peripheral-to-PC connection up to 40 times over
existing capabilities. USB 2.0 can reach speeds up to 480 Mb/sec, 40 times faster than USB 1.1.
In this review we will take a thorough look at this latest external Plextor drive and see if it can live up to the
'Plextor standards'. The Plextor PX-W4012TU supports both the USB 1.1 and 2.0 interface. We'll test its performance mainly
using the USB 2.0 interface but we'll (of course) also do some tests when using the drive under USB 1.1. Besides that we
will also be looking at the features this drive offers such as the PoweRec II and VariRec technologies. Read on to find
out what we have to say about this drive...
Test Machine:
For the tests we'll be using the following configuration:
Hardware:
- Motherboard: ASUS K7V
- Processor: AMD Athlon 700Mhz
- RAM: 256MB (PC133)
- GFX: ASUS V8200 (GeForce 3 Ti200)
- Hard Disk: Maxtor 30GB 7200rpm (UDMA66)
- IDE Controller: PCI UDMA100 Controller
- USB Controller: NEC USB 2.0 Controller
System set-up:
As you can see the Plextor PX-W4012TU was hooked up to the NEC USB 2.0 Controller and identifies itself as "PLEXTOR
PX-W4012A". As you can see this Plextor USB 2.0 is thus just a normal PX-W4012A drive but with an external case. Autorun
was disabled for every device. All other drives support UDMA33.
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 v3.31.0
- Ahead Nero Burning Rom v5.5.8.2
- Ahead Nero CD Speed v0.85e beta
- Ahead Nero DVD Speed v0.53
- Ahead Nero InfoTool v1.01
- Elaborate Bytes CloneCD v4.0.1.9
- Exact Audio Copy v0.9 beta 4
- G&M CDR Identifier v1.63
On the next page we'll take a look at the package of the Plextor PX-W4012TU...
First things first as we check out the contents of the Plextor PX-W4012TU. In the box
Plextor send to us we find the following things:
- The Plextor PX-W4012TU drive itself
- Quick installation guide
- Warranty RMA procedure manual
- USB 2.0 connection cable
- External 12V power adapter
- Emergency eject pin
- Nero Burning Rom 5.5 disc containing;
- Ahead's Nero Burning Rom
- Ahead's NeroMediaPlayer
- Ahead's InCD
- PlexTools v1.14 disc including PleXCombo 16-language manual and USB 2.0 driver for Windows 98SE
- Five (!) blank 40x 700MB Plextor CD-R's
(manufactured by Maxell*) - One blank 4x-10x 650MB Plextor CD-RW
(manufactured by unknown company*)
As always with Plextor, a very nice and complete package as we see it. The package includes everything you need to have
for a quick start and also includes a generous amount of five (40x) CD-Recordable discs. As with other Plextor drives,
this model also includes Nero Burning Rom 5.5 which, as you will know by now, is our personal favourite when it comes to
creating your own audio and data compilations. Of course the package does not include any screws or flatcables since
the drive is an external model with its own case.
Installation:
Normally we don't discuss the installation of a drive since it's basically the same for each internal drive. Since this
Plextor PX-W4012TU is an external model we'll briefly discuss how it's attached. First of all you need to have support for
the USB 2.0 standard. Since our motherboard doesn't support this natively we installed a NEC USB 2.0 Controller card which
is attached to an empty PCI-slot. Windows XP installed it automatically and afterwards we can find an USB Universal Host
Controller on our system.
The Plextor is attached via the USB cable that was delivered with it. Its power supply comes from the 12V power adapter.
When Windows XP is running and the drive is turned on via the switch on the back, 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 we're
good to go.
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.
The Drive:
Recording) logo and the 'High Speed CD ReWriteable' logo. Besides that we have the usual headphone jack, a volume
control, disc/busy LED's and of course an eject-button.
The back of drive has some switches and connections which basically are all self-explaining:
- 12V Power Connector
To connect the device to the power adaptor. - USB Port
To connect the device to the computer with the USB cable - Stereo RCA Jacks
To connect the device to your sound system (audio cables are not included with the drive and the drive will only send
direct audio output to the RCA jacks if it's loaded with an audio disc). - Power Switch
Switch to turn the power of the PlexWriter on and off. - Selftest Switch
To use the diagnostic functions of the PlexWriter (the drive can test itself for possible malfunctions).
The Software:
As briefly mentioned when we listed the package contents, this Plextor drive includes Nero Burning Rom which doesn't really need an introduction. Nero Burning Rom, by many people, is
considered to be one of the best software packages around when it comes to your burning needs.
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. Below a screenshot of PlexTools version 1.14, delivered with the
Plextor PX-W4012TU drive:
erase CD-RW discs, etc. PlexTools also has an audio player (which also supports CD-Text) and options to set the advanced
features of your Plextor drive:
Unlike with the previous PlexTools version this option is now fully implemented in PlexTools. We tested this option and
it indeed works. We could play a back-up of a SafeDisc v2.51.021 protected game just fine. Although with the PlexTools
'Hide CD-R Media' you first need to insert the disc, access it, hide the media and then start the game since else the
disc cannot be seen at all.
From the screenshot you can also see an option called 'Single Session' to only read the first session of a disc.
Could be very handy for protected audio discs. Another interesting setting is 'Disable Zone CLV'. Perhaps an indication
the Plextor drive will soon also support the P-CAV write method as some of the Lite-On drives now do? We really don't
know..
On the next page we'll take a look at the features the Plextor PX-W4012TU...
First things first as we check out the Plextor PX-W4012TU drive specifications as mentioned on the Plextor
Europe website and as detected
with additional software like Nero InfoTool:
Drive Specifications:
| Write Speeds: |
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| Re-Write Speeds: |
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| Read Speeds: |
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| Buffer Size: | 4 MB | ||
| Interface: | USB 2.0 / 1.1 | ||
| Access Time: | 120ms | ||
| Supported Formats: | CD-DA, CD-ROM mode 1, CD-ROM XA (mode 2), Mix Mode CD, Photo-CD, Video CD, CD-I, CD-Extra, CD+G, CD TEXT |
||
| Recording Modes: (detected with Nero InfoTool) |
Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO, RAW DAO, RAW SAO 16, RAW SAO 96, RAW DAO 16, RAW DAO 96 |
||
| VariRec Recording: | 4X: 600KB/s (TAO or DAO) | ||
| System Requirements: | 300 MHz processor or faster, 64 MB RAM minimal, Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP, One free USB connector |
||
| Disc Loading: | Tray, auto load/auto eject | ||
| Dimensions WxHxD: | 169 x 58 x 247.5 mm | ||
| Weight: | 2.2 kg | ||
| Extra's: | PoweRec II Technology, Two year full-warranty * (parts, labor, and replacement) with on-site Collect and Return Service **. |
** Only for EU-Countries + Norway and Switzerland.
Overall very nice features. The drive supports all recording formats and even offers some extra technologies such as
VariRec and PoweRec II (Plextor Optimised Writing Error Reduction Control)
which we'll get back to later. Let's give you a screenshot of Nero InfoTool first and the detected features of the
Plextor drive:
all major features, except for the Mount Rainier (CD-MRW) format. The drive is 'Mt. Rainier ready' but Plextor is still
waiting till the CD-MRW format is natively supported in Operating Systems. This might take a while as some people will
understand... Too bad Plextor doesn't just implement it anyway. InCD does a pretty good job in our opinion with the
CD-MRW format.
Buffer (Underrun Protection):
The Plextor PX-W4012TU, like all Plextor writers, uses BURN-Proof (Buffer UnderRuN
Proof) to prevent buffer underruns. When the buffer of the drive falls beneath 10% of its maximum capacity,
the recorder will stop recording as of a specific location on the CD. The recorder then continues attempting to
receive data from the PC to refill the buffer. In the meantime, the BURN-Proof circuit determines where the last
successful sector was written. Using the location of the last successful sector, the BURN-Proof circuit will position
the Optical Pickup. As soon as the buffer has been refilled, the CD Recorder will start recording again. Like mentioned
before in the drive specifications, the Plextor PX-W4012TU has a 4 MB buffer on board as you can also see in the
screenshot below of the drive's detected features with Nero Burning Rom:
The Plextor PX-W4012TU has the same features as found on all new Plextor drives. These features include quality controls
like PoweRec to ensure a quality back-up. PoweRec (Plextor Optimised Writing Error
Reduction Control) monitors the quality of the disc while burning and will adjust the speed if necessary.
Additional, PoweRec II has been added for Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) writers.
The write quality at the end of each zone is checked and the outcome will determine the recording speed in the next
zone.
VariRec Technology:
Just like Yamaha with its 'Audio Master Quality Recording', Plextor has introduced its own technology when writing
audio discs. This technology, called VariRec (Variable Recording), allows changing the laser power when
writing audio at 4x (in TAO or DAO mode). With the VariRec option the user can make a slight modification to the
default setting:
VariRec has the same goal as Yamaha's 'Audio Master Quality Recording'; to reduce jitter. Like said the user can make
a slight modification (-2 ~ +2) to the laser power to achieve the best result for their audio back-ups.
With VariRec enabled you should be able to improve the quality of the recorded disc and make it more compatible with
picky CD-players like a car stereo. The default '0' setting is based on results from a database which in turn are the
result of thorough tests in the Plextor labs.
later on in our review when we do our audio tests.
Write Method:
As you may have seen in the drive specifications on top of this page, the Plextor PX-W4012TU uses the Z-CLV write method
(Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) when writing at 40x (20x and below is done in the CLV method).
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 (BURN-Proof in this case) 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 graph you can clearly see that the Plextor PX-W4012TU uses four zones to write the disc:
- Zone 1: 20x, then at 4 minute mark the write speed shifts to
- Zone 2: 24x, then at 24 minute mark the write speed shifts to
- Zone 3: 32x, then finally at 50 minute mark the write speed shifts to
- Zone 4: 40x and remains at this speed until the end of the disc is reached.
The Plextor PX-W4012TU produces about the same graph as the TEAC CD-W540E did but it's a little slower than this drive because the Plextor shifts zones a little
later. Although 30.56x average is not slow we can see it's a 'lot' (well it's about 1x or 150KB/s average) slower
than the P-CAV method the Lite-On writers now use (31.73x average). Perhaps Plextor will someday too switch to P-CAV or
even full CAV? Who knows...
Next up in our Plextor PX-W4012TU review, the data read tests.
In this part of our Plextor PX-W4012TU 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 five sections:
Transfer Rate Test - Introduction:
Let's start with a screenshot of the detected Plextor PX-W4012TU 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:
version 1.02.
full speed. 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.
Transfer Rate Test - 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:
 |
In the left screenshot you see that the Plextor PX-W4012TU (like all Plextor drives) has no problems reaching 40x and going faster than that (the top read speed was 41.71x). The average read speed was 31.62x.The seek times with original/pressed media were however not that 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-W4012TU
just falls behind the Lite-On LTR-32123S drive with its read speeds, although its top speed is a little faster:
| Original Discs |
Average Reading Speed |
Start Reading Speed |
End Reading Speed |
Seek Times Random |
Seek Times 1/3 |
Seek Times Full |
| 40x Max Readers | ||||||
| Lite-On LTR-24102B |
30,94x | 18,37x | 40,78x | 86ms | 99ms | 171ms |
| Lite-On LTR-32123S |
31,75x | 19,02x | 41,65x | 94ms | 103ms | 168ms |
| Mitsumi CR-480ATE |
30,42x | 18,00x | 40,11x | 93ms | 97ms | 132ms |
| PleXCombo PX-320A |
31,21x | 18,38x | 41,21x | 108ms | 120ms | 216ms |
| Plextor PX-W4012U USB 2.0 |
31,62x | 18,70x | 41,71x | 118ms | 139ms | 208ms |
| Waitec MEGALUS |
30,79x | 17,98x | 40,71x | 152ms | 157ms | 275ms |
| Yamaha CRW3200E |
29,46x | 17,37x | 38,89x | 94ms | 107ms | 199ms |
| 48x Max Readers | ||||||
| Lite-On LTR-40125S |
37,44x | 22,21x | 49,57x | 96ms | 96ms | 266ms |
| TEAC CD-W540E |
36,85x | 22,08x | 48,43x | 88ms | 102ms | 229ms |
| VisionTek Xtasy 48X |
36,54x | 21,19x | 48,15x | 99ms | 100ms | 168ms |
| The grey area's indicate the highest speed / best time | ||||||
Transfer Rate Test - 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:
 |
In the left screenshot you see that the Plextor PX-W4012TU again has a high average read speed of 31.81x, a little faster than with the original media. With the CD-Recordable media the drive can also reach 40x and even faster speeds. The top read speed was 41.81x.The seek times with CD-Recordable media were again not that 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-W4012TU
again just falls behind the Lite-On LTR-32123S drive with its read speeds, although this time its start speed is a little
faster:
| CD-R Discs |
Average Reading Speed |
Start Reading Speed |
End Reading Speed |
Seek Times Random |
Seek Times 1/3 |
Seek Times Full |
| 40x Max Readers | ||||||
| Lite-On LTR-24102B |
30,80x | 17,95x | 40,77x | 141ms | 148ms | 258ms |
| Lite-On LTR-32123S |
32,21x | 19,05x | 42,07x | 92ms | 105ms | 243ms |
| Mitsumi CR-480ATE |
29,99x | 17,98x | 39,44x | 91ms | 96ms | 127ms |
| PleXCombo PX-320A |
31,43x | 18,83x | 41,36x | 110ms | 125ms | 218ms |
| Plextor PX-W4012U USB 2.0 |
31,81x | 19,07x | 41,81x | 116ms | 137ms | 204ms |
| Waitec MEGALUS |
30,49x | 18,27x | 40,07x | 121ms | 133ms | 252ms |
| Yamaha CRW3200E |
30,50x | 18,28x | 40,09x | 92ms | 106ms | 196ms |
| 48x Max Readers | ||||||
| Lite-On LTR-40125S |
37,44x | 22,21x | 49,57x | 96ms | 96ms | 266ms |
| TEAC CD-W540E |
36,85x | 22,08x | 48,43x | 88ms | 102ms | 229ms |
| VisionTek Xtasy 48X |
36,54x | 21,19x | 48,15x | 99ms | 100ms | 168ms |
| The grey area's indicate the highest speed / best time | ||||||
Transfer Rate Test - 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:
 |
In the screenshots you can see that the Plextor PX-W4012TU drive can indeed reach 40x with CD-RW discs and has no problems going even faster than that. The drive reaches a very high average speed of 31.61x.The seek times with CD-ReWriteable media were pretty average as you can see in the screenshot on the right. |
 |
In the table below we compare the achieved results to some of the reviews we've done previously. The Plextor PX-W4012TU
achieves the fastest read times compared to the other recorders:
| CD-RW Discs |
Average Reading Speed |
Start Reading Speed |
End Reading Speed |
Seek Times Random |
Seek Times 1/3 |
Seek Times Full |
| 40x Max Readers | ||||||
| Lite-On LTR-24102B |
16,04x | 16,05x | 16,07x | 141ms | 148ms | 258ms |
| Lite-On LTR-32123S |
25,99x | 15,31x | 34,38x | 91ms | 101ms | 361ms |
| Mitsumi CR-480ATE |
30,98x | 18,27x | 40,84x | 96ms | 102ms | 137ms |
| PleXCombo PX-320A |
25,20x | 14,87x | 33,27x | 105ms | 124ms | 215ms |
| Plextor PX-W4012U USB 2.0 |
31,61x | 18,61x | 41,74x | 117ms | 141ms | 210ms |
| Waitec MEGALUS |
25,19x | 14,84x | 33,26x | 123ms | 138ms | 261ms |
| Yamaha CRW3200E |
31,14x | 18,37x | 41,11x | 157ms | 108ms | 206ms |
| 48x Max Readers | ||||||
| Lite-On LTR-40125S |
32,32x | 19,05x | 42,54x | 94ms | 96ms | 405ms |
| TEAC CD-W540E |
37,53x | 22,12x | 49,54x | 99ms | 96ms | 303ms |
| VisionTek Xtasy 48X |
32,23x | 18,96x | 42,57x | 91ms | 101ms | 170ms |
| The grey area's indicate the highest speed / best time | ||||||
Transfer Rate Test - Conclusion:
Overall we can say the Plextor PX-W4012TU drive is a great reader, like all Plextor drives. It has no problems reaching
40x and going even faster than that. The seek times of the drive were not the fastest we've seen but they were not that
bad. The Plextor PX-W4012TU can read all types of discs at 40x and CD-ReWriteable media is no exception. The Plextor drive
was the fastest CD-RW reader we've reviewed and beats our previous fastest model, the Yamaha CRW-3200E.
So far for the data reading part. Now let's check the audio reading (DAE) speeds on the next page...
On the previous page we already briefly mentioned the Plextor PX-W4012TU's audio capabilities. According to PlexTools
the drive can reach 40x when extracting the audio and on this page we'll test just that. For the audio read tests we
used our usual 'tools', Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and
Nero CD Speed. In order for EAC to use USB devices we copied
Nero's 'WNASPI32.DLL' file to the EAC folder. Else this program will not recognize the USB recorder.
Features:
First we checked the features the Plextor PX-W4012TU supports using EAC:
As you can see from the screenshot on the left. the Plextor drive supports all features.
Below some more information on these terms:
- 'Caching':
If your drive caches the audio that was just read, it would be a problem to read this data again in order to compare both
extractions to find out if they match. - 'Accurate Stream':
This means the drive won't jitter, thus no jitter correction has to be done anymore. - 'C2 Error Info':
Some newer drives are able to return C2 error information beside the actual audio data. In that case EAC doesn't need
to read all data twice anymore, which will result in a big speedup.
Digital Audio Extraction - Exact Audio Copy:
For the Digital Audio Extraction (DAE) tests we started Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and simply extracted the separate audio
tracks in uncompressed WAV format to our hard disk. Our test disc (Thunderdome XXII - CD1) had 20 tracks and a total
playing time of 77 minutes and 45 seconds. We used both the 'Burst' mode and the 'Secure' mode:
- 'Burst Mode':
Burst mode is the fastest mode available. The audio sectors are just read without any error-detection and
error-correction. - 'Secure Mode':
The extracted audio is checked for correctness and if errors occur, EAC will try to recover them.
Below the screenshots of the speeds the Plextor PX-W4012TU drive reached in both extraction modes:
Plextor PX-W4012TU DAE speed - Burst Mode
Plextor PX-W4012TU DAE speed - Secure Mode
a top speed of 33.7x which is not nearly as fast as the results we got with the PX-W4012A model. We suspect the slow
results were due to the interface the Plextor PX-W4012TU uses. As already mentioned when we started our review we're
using a built-in PCI USB 2.0 Controller which is not optimal for transferring the data to the hard disk. We'll do some
more DAE tests with Nero CD Speed below. There's no use in comparing our results to other recorders. The Plextor
PX-W4012TU performed a little faster than the PleXCombo PX-320A in Secure Mode.
Digital Audio Extraction - Nero CD Speed:
Now let's check our results we got with Exact Audio Copy using Nero CD Speed. You can see a screenshot of the tests
below:
40x and shows a great performance. When doing the Nero CD Speed tests there's no actual data being written to the hard
disk so the interface isn't stressed and thus the drive can reach a higher speed. In the table below we compare our results
to other recorders we've reviewed. The Plextor PX-W4012TU has the fastest DAE speeds but its seek times were not that
good:
| Original Audio Disc |
Average Reading Speed |
Start Reading Speed |
End Reading Speed |
Seek Times Random |
Seek Times 1/3 |
Seek Times Full |
Quality/ Accurate Stream |
| 40x Max Readers | |||||||
| Lite-On LXR-24101A USB 2.0 |
31,15x | 18,42x | 41,07x | 91ms | 114ms | 178ms | 10/yes |
| Lite-On LTR-24102B |
31,41x | 18,56x | 41,46x | 86ms | 99ms | 169ms | 10/yes |
| Lite-On LTR-32123S |
31,91x | 18,87x | 42,09x | 90ms | 107ms | 179ms | 10/yes |
| Mitsumi CR-4809TE |
30,98x | 18,32x | 40,84x | 106ms | 112ms | 161ms | 10/yes |
| Mitsumi CR-480ATE |
30,72x | 18,26x | 40,46x | 93ms | 101ms | 132ms | 10/yes |
| PleXCombo PX-320A |
31,68x | 18,82x | 41,74x | 102ms | 121ms | 217ms | 10/yes |
| Pletor PX-W4012TU USB 2.0 |
32,06x | 19,06x | 42,22x | 115ms | 140ms | 211ms | 10/yes |
| 48x Max Readers | |||||||
| Lite-On LTR-40125S |
37,35x | 19,98x | 49,07x | 88ms | 102ms | 177ms | 10/yes |
| TEAC CD-W540E |
30,98x | 18,33x | 40,82x | 84ms | 95ms | 136ms | 10/yes |
| VisionTek Xtasy 48X |
37,23x | 19,96x | 49,11x | 84ms | 96ms | 167ms | 10/yes |
| The grey area's indicate the highest speed / best time | |||||||
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 the 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 Advaced DAE Quality Tests:
reviewed. The Plextor PX-W4012Tu has no problems reading the CD-Text from the disc and the SubChannel Data. The drive
can also read the lead-in (75 sectors) and a large area of the lead-out (which takes a long time as you can see from
the screenshot) of the disc. Reading the lead-out of a disc is not something a lot of drives can do.
NeroMediaPlayer and the PX-W4012TU could indeed read it without problems as you can see in the screenshot
below (Disc Title and Artist are displayed):
(heavily) scratched disc and a low quality disc.
It happens to all of us sooner or later: a disc is scratched and cannot be read properly anymore... In this test we
took a CD-Recordable and (heavily) scratched it with some fine sandpaper. We then did a surface scan with
Nero CD Speed and you can see the results below. First off let's
start with the ATIP information from the used CD-Recordable:
- ATIP: 97m 15s 11f
- Disc Manufacturer: Ritek Co.
- 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)
Now for the achieved results. We read the disc with the Plextor PX-W4012TU and then read the same disc with a
VisionTek Xtasy 48X (firmware VS06), a PleXCombo PX-320A (firmware 1.01), a Yamaha CRW3200E (firmware 1.0d), a
TEAC CD-W540E (firmware 1.0B), a Mitsumi CR-480ATE (firmware 1.0E) and a Toshiba SD-M1502 DVD-ROM (firmware 1012)
for comparison. You can see the resultof the Plextor drive in the screenshot below. Please note that damaged sectors
can still be read. The important percentage is the one of the unreadable sectors. Of course the less, the better:
Again, keep in mind that the important percentage is the one of the unreadable sectors. Of course the less, the
better:
| Scratched Disc |
Good | Damaged | Unreadable | ||||
| VisionTek Xtasy 48X |
36.89% | 44.41% | 18.70% | ||||
| Toshiba SD-M1502 |
35.84% | 38.56% | 25.60% | ||||
| PleXCombo PX-320A |
64.58% | - | 35.42% | ||||
| Mitsumi CR-480ATE |
59.87% | - | 40.13% | ||||
| TEAC CD-W540E |
32.08% | 27.38% | 40.54% | ||||
| Yamaha CRW3200E |
48.59% | - | 51.41% | ||||
| Plextor PX-W4012TU |
35.95% | 8.78% | 55.28% | ||||
| The grey area's indicate the least amount of unreadable sectors
- : drive cannot report damaged sectors |
|||||||
Low Quality Disc:
To add a little more to our scratched data reading tests we've added another test for you. We wrote a low quality 74
minute CD-Recordable using the VisionTek Xtasy
48X drive and Nero Burning Rom. We disabled its SMART-BURN feature so errors would probably be created. The
ATIP information from the used CD-Recordable:
- ATIP: 97m 31s 01f
- Disc Manufacturer: unknown
- Reflective layer: Dye (Long strategy; e.g. Cyanine, Azo etc.)
- Media type: CD-Recordable
- Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
- Nominal Capacity: 656.69MB (74m 45s 00f)
We then scanned the disc with Nero CD Speed using the
following drives; the Plextor PX-W4012TU, a VisionTek Xtasy 48X (firmware VS06), a PleXCombo PX-320A (firmware 1.02),
a TEAC CD-W540E (firmware 1.0C), a Mitsumi CR-480ATE (firmware 1.0E) and a Toshiba SD-M1502 DVD-ROM (firmware 1012).
You can see a screenshot of the Plextor drive reading the low quality disc below:
Again, keep in mind that the important percentage is the one of the unreadable sectors. Of course the less, the
better:
| Scratched Disc |
Good | Damaged | Unreadable | ||||
| Plextor PX-W4012TU |
99.44% | 0.56% | 0.0% | ||||
| Toshiba SD-M1502 |
86.21% | 13.79% | 0.0% | ||||
| VisionTek Xtasy 48X |
59.44% | 40.56% | 0.0% | ||||
| PleXCombo PX-320A |
89.49% | - | 10.51% | ||||
| TEAC CD-W540E |
66.21% | 11.75% | 22.03% | ||||
| Mitsumi CR-480ATE |
60.34% | - | 39.66% | ||||
| The grey area's indicate the least amount of unreadable sectors
- : drive cannot report damaged sectors |
|||||||
Conclusion:
When reading the heavily scratched disc the Plextor PX-W4012TU performed very badly. The drive could read the least
amount of the disc and gets the last place. When reading the low quality disc it was the other way around. This time
the Plextor PX-W4012TU could read the entire disc and reported the least amount of damaged sectors. So overall, a mixed
result.
That concludes the reading part of our review. Now it's time to see how the Plextor PX-W4012TU performs when
writing discs...
As mentioned before the Plextor PX-W4012TU can write discs at a maximum speed of 40x max. This is of course when
using the drive under the USB 2.0 standard. When you use the older USB 1.1 standard the drive is limited to 4x
writing and re-writing. In this part of our review we'll test both modes. A screenshot of the reported write speeds
with the PlexTools software:
version 5.5.8.2. 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 using
the USB 2.0 standard:
and just plugged-in the Plextor PX-W4012TU drive in a standard (1.1) USB port. The drive is now limited in writing as
you can see from the write time (15 minutes and 10 seconds) in the screenshot below:
inserted the back-up discs in the Plextor drive and started a normal 'Transfer Rate Test' to see if the disc had been
written without any errors. Both disc were read just fine. In the screenshot below you can see the disc created with the
USB 1.1 interface being read by the Plextor drive:
a top read speed of 42.72x.
Comparing:
Next we did some more tests comparing the Plextor drive to some of our previous reviews. As a comparison we've
added write times of both Z-CLV and P-CAV writers. The Plextor PX-W4012TU is a Z-CLV writer as we already mentioned
and these kind of writers are slower than the P-CAV writers. Let's compare them and see how much difference we're
talking about:
writers are faster than the Z-CLV writers.
When we compare the Plextor PX-W4012TU to other Z-CLV writers we can see it's a little slower than the TEAC CD-W540E
(this drive switches zones a little sooner) but the drive is faster than the Lite-On LTR-40125S (using firmware FW ZS0A).
Writing Audio:
The next thing we're going to check is the Plextor PX-W4012TU's audio writing abilities. As already mentioned on page
3 (features) of our review, this Plextor drive supports the 'VariRec' recording technique. VariRec allows you to change
the laser power when writing audio at 4x (in TAO or DAO mode) and with it you should be able to improve the quality of
the recorded disc and make it more compatible with picky CD-players like a car stereo.
To test the Plextor's VariRec feature we ripped the tracks (in WAV format) of an audio disc with Exact Audio Copy
(Secure Mode) and then started a new audio session in Nero Burning Rom version 5.5.8.2. When writing audio you can see
an option to enable the VariRec settings:
As you can see from the screenshot, the recording speed is limited to 4x when writing in the VariRec mode. We did our
first test with the default setting (0) which is recommended using some quality Hi-Space special gold audio media. We
then wrote the same disc using some 'ordinary' That's Write CD-Recordables at maximum speed. Below you can see the
screenshot of the Plextor PX-W4012TU writing in the VariRec mode and the normal mode:
VariRec recording
Normal audio recording
we couldn't hear any difference in quality. The same results as we got with Yamaha's 'Audio Master Quality Recording'
mode. We can therefore give you the same conclusion as we did with our PleXCombo PX-320A review: audio back-ups created with the Plextor PX-W4012TU sound just as good
as the original disc regardless if VariRec is enabled or disabled. In our opinion that's a good result.
Playing Audio:
Another feature we tested was the Plextor PX-W4012TU's digital audio playback. The external drive has two stereo RCA
Jacks with which you can connect the device to your sound system (audio cables are not included). We connected the drive
to our stereo, inserted an audio disc and waited for the drive to play it but unfortunately nothing happened. We tried it
with the drive attached to the computer and as standalone. Both methods failed for some reason we're unsure of.
Conclusion:
So what can we conclude from all of the achieved results? Well the Plextor drive is not the fastest writer we've
reviewed since its Z-CLV write method is slower than the P-CAV method. When we compare the drive to other Z-CLV writers
the drive performs well. It's very close to the TEAC and faster than the Lite-On LTR40125S (using firmware FW ZS0A).
The Plextor PX-W4012TU can write a full 700MB disc in about 3 minutes and 21 seconds.
For the audio part we can give you the same conclusion as we did with the PleXCombo PX-320A review. When writing
audio Plextor offers its new VariRec technology to increase overall quality and playability of audio back-ups. We, just
like with Yamaha's 'Audio Master Quality Recording' mode, again couldn't tell the difference between a normal audio write
and a write with VariRec enabled. All disc sounded just fine and played fine in our stereo and car stereo. We did like
Plextor's VariRec a little better than Yamaha's 'Audio Master Quality Recording' because with the Plextor technology,
the buffer underrun technique is enabled while Yamaha has it disabled. Of course no major issue since the writing is
done at a low 4x but it gave us a 'safe' feeling.
Now that we've finished our normal read and write tests, it's time to test the drive for its ability to read
copy-protections.
In this part of the Plextor PX-W4012TU review we'll start testing 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 4.0.1.9 from
Elaborate Bytes. As you might know if you've read our CloneCD
v4.0 preview, CloneCD now uses Profiles for each type of disc. In this review we created 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 CloneCDProfiles folder on your hard disk. Alternatively
you can view and download all used Profiles from our CloneCD forum, by clicking here.
Now let's start by giving you a screenshot of the supported drive capabilities of the Plextor PX-W4012TU with CloneCD
v4.0.1.9:
the copy-protection used on our game discs we scanned every disc with the latest English ClonyXXL version 2.0.0.6.
ClonyXXL (English) can be obtained from kickme.to/englishclony.
We'll test the following, most common, copy-protections and compare the achieved read times with other drives
we've previously reviewed. After the tests we'll conclude the reading of protected data with our usual
conclusions:
For this test we'll use a game called 'Desperados' protected with LaserLock 2. As a comparison we read from both the
original disc and from a back-up (CD-Recordable) disc. The CloneCD Profile and the drive were set-up with the following
settings (all other options like SubChannel Data reading were disabled). You can click on the image to download the
used Profile:
- Read Speed: Max
- Fast Error Skip ON:
- Read Retries: 0
- Error Correction: Software
- Intelligent Bad Sector Scanner:
- Sector Skip: 100 (default)
In the screenshots below you can see the Plextor PX-W4012TU successfully reading the original LaserLock disc:
Plextor PX-W4012TU reading LaserLock Original
with the PleXCombo PX-320A drive. The drive needs almost one hour to read the original disc. In the table below we
compare the achieved results to some of our previous reviews. The Plextor PX-W4012TU performs better than the PleXCombo
and gets the second last place when reading the original disc. When reading the back-up disc the drive performed a little
better:
For this test we'll use a game called 'Beavis and Butthead: BungHole in One' protected with the normal (read: old)
SafeDisc protection. The CloneCD Profile and the drive were set-up with the following settings (all other options like
SubChannel Data reading were disabled). You can click on the image to download the used Profile:
- Read Speed: Max
- Fast Error Skip ON:
- Read Retries: 0
- Error Correction: Software
Below you can see the achieved result of the Plextor PX-W4012TU:
Plextor PX-W4012TU reading SafeDisc
read time as the PleXCombo drive did. Now we have two readers on the first place:
For this test we'll use a game called 'The Sims: House Party' protected with SafeDisc version 2.10.030. The CloneCD
Profile and the drive were set-up with the following settings (all other options like SubChannel Data reading were
disabled). You can click on the image to download the used Profile:
- Read Speed: Max
- Fast Error Skip ON:
- Read Retries: 0
- Error Correction: Software
Yes we're using the same Profile as for the normal SafeDisc version. As the name of the Profile suggests, this
Profile has 'Amplify Weak Sectors' (AWS)
disabled. First a screenshot of the Plextor PX-W4012TU reading the SafeDisc 2 disc:
Plextor PX-W4012TU reading SafeDisc v2.10.030
by one second! Let's compare the achieved results to other drives we've reviewed:
SafeDisc 2 back-ups depend on whether or not the drive support 'Correct EFM Encoding' which is needed to write 'regular
bit patterns'. For more info on SafeDisc 2 read this article.We wrote the disc with the default settings enabled ('buffer underrun protection and 'always close last session' on).
Like said before, 'Amplify Weak Sectors' was disabled in the Profile. As expected (Plextor writers are known for
their ability to back-up the older SafeDisc 2 protection without the need for CloneCD's 'Amplify Weak Sectors' option),
the Plextor PX-W4012TU succeeded in making a fully working back-up. We tested the back-up in the following
drives:- Plextor PX-W4012TU: success
- Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502: success
- VisionTek Xtasy 48X: success
- TEAC CD-W540E: success
- Mitsumi CR-480ATE: success
- PleXCombo PX-320A: success
Protected Data - SafeDisc v2.51.021:
Besides our SafeDisc and SafeDisc 2 tests we need to take a look at the latest SafeDisc 2 version 'called' SafeDisc
v2.51.021. This is a new version of the regular SafeDisc 2 and has caused quite a few problems for a lot of writers (which
didn't have problems with the normal SafeDisc 2). For this test we'll test two games called 'Serious Sam 2: The Second
Encounter' and 'Grand Theft Auto 3' (the Play disc), both protected with SafeDisc v2.51.021:
and SafeDisc 2 tests, although we lowered the read speed to a safe 4x. 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:
- Plextor PX-W4012TU: success
- Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502: failed
- VisionTek Xtasy 48X: success
- TEAC CD-W540E: success
- Mitsumi CR-480ATE: success
- PleXCombo PX-320A: successAs expected the Plextor PX-W4012TU drive has problems creating a working back-up that works in all drives. The
back-up fails in picky drives such as the Toshiba SD-M1502 DVD-ROM. The TEAC CD-W540E (which is normally also quite
picky) had no problems reading the back-up. The same results as we got with the PleXCombo PX-320A drive. We also
verified our results with the 'Grant Theft Auto 3' game and got the exact same results.Next we re-wrote the same image files of both 'Grand Theft Auto 3' and 'Serious Sam 2' but now with the 'AWS' option
enabled 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 with the back-ups of
both games:
- Plextor PX-W4012TU: success
- Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502: success
- VisionTek Xtasy 48X: success
- TEAC CD-W540E: success
- Mitsumi CR-480ATE: success
- PleXCombo PX-320A: successWith 'AWS' enabled the Plextor PX-W4012TU created a fully working back-up which played fine in every drive we tested,
including the picky Toshiba drive. Most Plextor writers will give you the same result. They can make a partially working
back-up with 'AWS' disabled but work very well with when it's enabled.
Plextor PX-W4012TU reading SafeDisc v2.51.021
table below a final comparison of the Plextor drive when reading the 'Serious Sam 2' (SafeDisc v2.51.021) disc:
The CloneCD Profile and the drive were set-up with the following settings (all other options like 'Fast Error Skip' were
disabled). You can click on the image to download the used Profile:
- Read Speed: Max
- Read SubChannel Data from Data Tracks
- Read SubChannel Data from Audio TracksIn the screenshots below you can see the Plextor PX-W4012TU successfully reading the SecuROM disc:
Plextor PX-W4012TU reading SecuRom
no problems reading this data but it's limited to about 8x, just as we saw with the PleXCombo drive. In the table
below we compare the drive's performance again to other drives we've previously reviewed. As you can see from the
results the Plextor PX-W4012TU is a few seconds faster than the PleXCombo PX-320A:
the first (of four) disc(s) of this game. The CloneCD Profile and the drive were set-up with the following settings (all
other options like Fast Error Skip were disabled). You can click on the image to download the used Profile:
- Read Speed: Max
- Read SubChannel Data from Data Tracks
- Read SubChannel Data from Audio Tracks
- Don't Repair SubChannel DataIn the screenshots below you can see the Plextor PX-W4012TU successfully reading the PlayStation disc:
Plextor PX-W4012TU reading PlayStation
the achieved results for the final time in the table below:
when reading the LaserLock protection (which is hard to read for a lot of devices) but showed a great performance with
the SafeDisc protection. SafeDisc is one of the most common copy-protections used nowadays so it's good that the Plextor
performs well with this protection. When reading SubChannel Data (SecuRom and LibCrypt) the Plextor PX-W4012TU is
limited to about 8x reading. Not really slow but also not really fast.The Plextor had no problems writing the copy-protections. It even performed very well with the dreadful SafeDisc
v2.51.021 protection and could create a back-up that worked in most devices without CloneCD's 'Amplify Weak Sectors'
option enabled. The back-ups did fail in very picky readers like the Toshiba SD-M1502 DVD-ROM but when we enabled
'Amplify Weak Sectors' in CloneCD 4 the back-up worked perfectly. A typical Plextor result!Next up in our Plextor PX-W4012TU review, the reading of protected audio discs...
Now that we've taken a look at how well the 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 Exact Audio Copy
(EAC) and CloneCD. In CloneCD we used the default 'Multimedia Audio
CD' Profile. For more information on how to handle copy-protected audio discs 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 please visit
www.key2audio.com.
Shakira: Laundry Service - Key2Audio 2
can see the disc has 13 audio tracks and one extra protected data track:
to our hard disk without any problems. Next we tried to copy the disc with CloneCD and the 'Multimedia Audio' Profile:
to a CD-ReWriteable disc to see if the tracks were indeed properly extracted. The disc sounded fine on our stereo. If you
look closely to the CloneCD log window you will also see that the data track was read. We checked the Profile and found
that the option to only read the first session of the disc wasn't enabled. No big deal of course since the back-up played
fine but if you want to get a back-up that's unprotected you can select this option. This way the data track will not
be read as we will test with out next test disc, protected with Key2Audio version 3:Key2Audio version 3:
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'.
Celine Dion: A new day has come - Key2Audio 3
has the same structure as the 'Shakira' disc. There are 17 audio tracks and one protected data track:
speed to our hard disk without any problems. The same result as we got with the 'Shakira' disc. Next we tried to copy
the disc with CloneCD and the 'Multimedia Audio' Profile:
(4x). To test if the disc was extracted properly we wrote the image to a CD-ReWriteable disc again. The disc played just
fine again. There were no problems with tracks having the wrong lengths or anything like that. As you can now also see
from the CloneCD log window, only the audio tracks were read. The data track was left alone so now we have an unprotected
back-up disc which you can read in every drive.Cactus Data Shield:
Unfortunately we didn't have any Cactus Data Shield (CDS) protected discs available at the time of this review. But
we can give you the results when trying to copy a protection based on the CDS protection. For these tests we used a
program called CCD-Lock v1.72 RC1a. With this tool
you can modify the CloneCD image control file and add illegal TOC (Table Of Contents) entries to
protect your discs. In this example we protected an audio disc:
though after a while. Now let's see if the Plextor PX-W4012TU is able to extract the audio tracks from the disc
again using EAC. Unfortunately the Plextor fails in recognizing the disc! Now let's try again with CloneCD and the
'Multimedia Audio CD' Profile. CloneCD also fails (or we should say the Plextor drive) to load the disc. It just
sits there waiting for the drive:
but it fails with a free version!Conclusion:
The results with the Key2Audio audio protection were very good. The Plextor PX-W4012TU had no problems reading the
discs and extracting the audio tracks. When using CloneCD the extraction was a little slow but when we used Exact
Audio Copy (EAC), extraction was done at full speed. It was a little surprising to see the Plextor fail with a free
audio copy-protection such as CCD-Lock. We waited and waited some more but the disc could not be recognized by any
program. The disc did play in our stereo (after some time)...Next up in our Plextor PX-W4012TU review, writing CD-ReWriteable media...
In this part of the review we'll take a look at the Plextor PX-W4012TU's CD-ReWriting abilities. For the packet
writing tests we used Ahead's InCD version 3.31.0 and for the
erase tests Elaborate Bytes' CloneCD version 4.0.1.9.Packet Writing:
We formatted a Plextor 650MB CD-RW disc which was delivered with the Plextor PX-W4012TU package. We used InCD to
format the disc and measured the time it took from inserting the disc in the recorder until it was successfully
formatted:
tests we created a file folder containing various files and which had a total size of 400MB (419.742.820 bytes):
disc with InCD. When writing the data the drive was just as fast as the Lite-On LTR32123S drive getting an average
write speed of 9.97x. The erase times with CloneCD were good. Not the fastest we've seen but certainly not the
slowest:
Plextor PX-W4012TU erasing CD-RW disc
screenshot below you can see that the Plextor PX-W4012TU needs 4 minutes and 16 seconds to write the test data:
We can be short with our conclusions.. The Plextor PX-W4012TU performed very well (as expected) and achieves the
same results as other 12x drives we've reviewed. The drive was a little slow when formatting the CD-ReWriteable disc
with InCD but only about 10 seconds. Unfortunately the Plextor drive does not support the
'Mount Rainier' format so we couldn't test
this:"..The Mount Rainier function will be the new standard for easier use with CD-RW, to be implemented in Windows
based operating systems. Plextor will release a firmware upgrade for the units that are Mount Rainier compatible,
such as W4012TA/TU. This will be done when the Mount Rainier standard becomes officially released by Microsoft
Corporation.."On the next page of our Plextor PX-W4012TU review we've summed up our tests results with various media...
In this part of our Plextor PX-W4012TU review we'll test how fast the drive can write different CD-Recordable media.
Of course we tested every disc afterwards if errors had occurred. We used a 650MB avi-file and various files to make a
total file size of 700MB. We used Nero Burning Rom to write this file in DAO (Disc At Once) mode.
Every disc was finalized and set-up as non-multisession. In the table below we've summed it all up for you:
were written at their certified speed and the Infiniti 866MB discs were written at 16x (32x certified). Overall a good
result as we see it. It's too bad that 40x certified media is still hard to come by but the Plextor discs delivered
with the Plextor drive worked fine at 40x. The Hi-Space discs also did quite well at 32x.When writing CD-ReWriteable media we had a mixed result. Although all discs could be written at 10x we would have
liked to see the Plextor write them at 12x just as the VisionTek Xtasy 48X drive did. All discs the Plextor PX-W4012TU
wrote could be read fine after writing them.To conclude our review we will take a look at how far the Plextor PX-W4012TU can overburn and if it can handle 8cm
CD-R's and 99 minute CD-R's...
We're almost done with our Plextor PX-W4012TU review and we'll, as always, conclude with our 'special discs' tests.
These include an overburning test and a test to see if the Plextor drive can write 8cm CD-R's. We'll of course also test
if the drive can read 99 minute discs. First off, the overburning test:Overburning:
We used Infiniti 99min/900mb CD-R's for our tests that were certified up to 32x writing. We used
Nero CD Speed to do an overburn test. We set the 'Test
capacity' to 99 minutes and started the test. Unfortunately, just as we saw with the PleXCombo PX-320A, Nero CD
Speed wouldn't even start when using a value of 99 minutes as test capacity. When we lowered it to 94: 49 minutes,
the test would start. You can see the achieved results below:
test value, the tests wouldn't start). Then how about reading 99 minute CD-R's? When reading 99 minute CD-R's the
Plextor PX-W4012TU again gives the same error with Nero CD Speed as we saw with the PleXCombo drive:
drive could read the disc without problems:
To conclude our Plextor PX-W4012TU review we tried to write 8cm CD-R's 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:
- ATIP: 97m 27s 19f
- Disc Manufacturer: Plasmon Data Systems, Ltd.
- Reflective layer: Dye (Short strategy; e.g. Phthalocyanine)
- Media type: CD-Recordable
- Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
- Nominal Capacity: 201.86MB (23m 00s 00f / LBA: 103350)
We set-up up Nero Burning Rom to burn a compilation of about 200MB and started the write process. The disc was written
without any problems at 12x. We of course did a final test with Nero CD Speed to verify if the disc was written
correctly:
That concludes our Plextor PX-W4012TU review. Let's go to our final words and conclusions.
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.
