PleXWriter PX-W1210S SCSI CDR-W - Page 5

CDR Tests

- Recorder properties: (Screenshot from Feurio v1.55 b4)

As we can see, the Plextor drive supports all current CDR/W writing modes including DAO RAW and BURN-Proof! Notice that the current (1.51.4) version of English Feurio doesn't support the drive officially (works with compatible  PX-W1210A driver) so you cannot see RW writing speeds in the above pic.

Let's head over to the CDR tests now:

Procedure:
We tested the TDK CyClone with the latest software which supports it and with several media:

- Software used: Nero v5.0.2.4 /  Padus DJ v3.00.730 / CloneCD v2.7.8.1 / Feurio v1.55b4
- Media: Princo 74 & 80min / Ricoh Platinum 74 & 80min / Mitsui Gold& SG / TDK 74 & 80 min / Verbatim74min / Ricoh HS RW / TDK HS RW media

CDR-R Tests:
The PleXWriter PX-W1210S comes with WinOnCD 3.7 version. We used the latest Nero version (5.0.2.4) for all of our tests. We made a Data CD job with data slight higher than 74mins (74:03:65). We burned the same job with all 4 CDR-W drives:

The PX-W1210S gave back different scores for writing the SAME amount of data and media than PX-W1210A and TDK CyClone drives. The PX-W1210S only took 407 secs to finish up the job, just one more second than the Sanyo CRD-BP3. As we can see we have another improvement. The CPU Usage for the PX-W1210S is little higher (10.14%) than the Sanyo drive (9.85%) but much lower than PX-W1210A and TDK CyClone (13.5%) drives when writing at 12x.

- 80min CDs:
As previous we created a datacd with Nero 5.0.2.4 and used the same media for all burns (Ricoh 80min 12x):

As we saw, before with the 74min CDs, all of four drives had timing differences between them. The Sanyo continues to deliver the lowest burning time. The TDK CyClone, Plextor PX-W1210A/S have again the exact same burning times to finish the job.

- Overburning Tests:
The PX-W1210S can burn 90min CDs without any problems. We used 90min CDs (from Medea inIernational) and by using Nero we burned them up to 89mins without any problem at 12x. The drive can also read the 90min CDs fine.

- AudioCD Tests:
We created several Audio CDs (including CD-Text). All of the CDs we created, were tested with the Plextor PX-40TS and Plextor's CD-Text compatible CD player. From what we saw, everything worked just fine.

- CloneCD Tests:
The PleXWriter PX-W1210S supports DAO-RAW feature so it is fully supported from CloneCD. As with the previous Plextor models, you don't't have the option to "Simulate" burning.. That should not trouble users since with 10xRW media you can have your backup test CD in less than 9mins. Since the drive supports BURN-Proof you will be able to make on-the fly copies when v3.0 of CloneCD arrives :)

- Buffer Underrun tests:
As we said in the Introduction, PX-W1210S supports the newest build of "BURN-Proof" technology. That means you will get better quality CDs, the difference with previous BURN-Proof version is not noticeable to user, at least in your mind… All the tests we have done confirmed our claims. No matter what you do, you  won't get a coaster, at least due to buffer underrun!

Verdict of CDR Results:
The PleXWriter PX-W210S was a very good performer in all our tests. The drive supports most current writing modes and this will enable users to write/backup almost all current CDs. Since the drive supports "BURN-Proof" you will not have any problems with buffer underruns. Writing at 12x, both 74min and 80min CDs, is a joy. The drive supports overburning and can write up to 89:00mins.The users will find "DAO-RAW" mode useful when the time comes for backing up their protected CDs. The build-in fan will keep the drive cool even when writing many CDs in row.

The user might wonder why the drive comes with 4MB since it supports BURN-Proof. The answer is that Plextor wants also the drive used for professional use (TOWERS), which of course cannot support the "BURN-Proof" feature, so the 4MB buffer are important for 12x writing.