PleXWriter PX-W4012A IDE CDR-W - Page 2

- The package

We got the European retail package which contains: the drive, an electronic PDF manual in 16 languages, an RMA request form, a registration card, a quick installation guide, 6 blank CDs - five 40x recordable (made from Hitachi Maxell) and one 4-12x HS-RW media (actual manufacturer Ricoh), an IDE cable, an audio cable and mounting screws. The attached CDR software comes from Ahead (Nero 5.5.7.3/InCD 3.20) and a separate CD with "PlexTools" v1.12. The drive has a 2-year guaranty (only valid in Europe, Middle-East and Africa) and Plextor's "on-site collect and return service" (EU countries + Norway and Switzerland). The retail package is expected to cost 180Euro.

The attached five pieces of 80min come from Hitachi Maxell

ATIP start of lead in: -02:34:46 (sector: -11596)
ATIP start of lead out: 79:59:74 (sector: 359999)
Manufacturer code: 97 25 29 - Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. (Type: 9)
Disc subtype: Medium Type B, low Beta category (B-)
Target writing power: 4

The front of the PleXWriter PX-W4012A is the same as the previous IDE models. The drive contains the "40/12/40", "BPRec" and the "High Speed" logos.

In the back of the drive, you will find the power connector, the IDE cable connector, jumpers for setting up the MASTER/SLAVE/CABLE select status and finally, the analog/SPDIF connectors. There is also 2 jumpers which represent "DMA" status, in case you need forcing DMA working mode:

- Installation

The Plextor PX-W4012A was installed as a Master in the primary IDE BUS. The drive worked in UDMA-33 model. After booting, it identified itself as a "PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W4012A". WinXP activated DMA without our interfearance.

The drive was a January 2002 model with firmware revision v1.00 and TLA#0000 hardware revision. We used Nero v5.5.7.3 Plextor Version, CloneCD v3.3.4.1 and Ahead InCD v3.21 for the recording tests. The unofficial project name of Plextor's PX-W4012A is "Windsor" in case you don't know ;-)