- Reading Tests

To create the image of the various protected titles to the hard disk, we used Alcohol 120% software and the appropriate settings, according to the protection type of the inserted discs. Below you can see the duration of each process as well as the transfer rate in each case.

With the PSX and SecuROM protected discs, it managed to rip them fast and without errors. This was not the case with the Safedisc protected game though, since it took about 1:30 hours to rip and not without any errors.

- Writing Tests

The Plextor 740A supports the DAO-RAW writing mode. For checking the drive's EFM correction status, we used 5 different game titles with different SafeDisc 2 versions having the latest software patches installed. After making the images of the various titles onto the hard disk, we burned them (at maximum speed) with Alcohol 120% v1.9.2.1705. Two different discs were created for each title; one with the "Bypass EFM error" enabled and one more with the function disabled.

• FIFA 2004 - Safe Disc v3.1x
• The Sims Superstar - Safe Disc v2.9x
• The Sims Unleashed - Safe Disc v2.8x
• Serious Sam Second Encounter - Safe Disc v2.51.021
• Max Payne - Safe Disc v2.51.020

The table below shows the results of the attempted backups and whether they worked (game installed / played normally), or not.

Unfortunately, as already mentioned, the performance of the drive was not that good with SafeDisc protected games and it was only able to rip up to v2.8x.