Plextor 12x10x32x Plexwriter Review - PAGE 1Richard Harris - Thursday, October 19th, 2000
Introduction
Well it’s time once again to peer deep into the tunnel of technology and glance at a new product that’s storming its way into the hearts of CD-Burning enthusiasts all over! It’s from Plextor and it’s the PlexWriter 12/10/32 CD-Writer.
Plextor is a name that most people are familiar with –as they have created a revolution in the CD-ROM market ranging from Ultra fast SCSI drives to the new EIDE PlexWriter we’re going to take a look at in this review.
CD-RW drives are steadily taking over the mainstream format for transporting data. There are lightning fast drives available today that make it possible for you to write data onto a CD in much the same fashion as if it were on a local system drive! But the biggest problem faced with the new CD-RW technology is the machine stability needed to write data onto a CD at those speeds.
To compensate, some manufacturers have created their own proprietary software to help with such things as “buffer under-run errors that occur when the source drive is not able to provide the data fast enough for the CD writer to record at higher speeds. This causes the data buffer to become empty, and makes the entire CD-creation fail –thus making a good CD-R disk nothing more than a coaster!
But the PlexWriter 12/10/32 drive is using a patent technology called “Burn proof” which was actually developed by Sanyo and stands for Buffer Under RuN –to create a CD at maximum speeds and with NO errors! That’s quite a lot to boast about –because most people who currently have a CD-R or CD-RW drive have witnessed the “disk creation failed” message more times than JJ belted out "Dyno~mite!" on the Good-times show.
We know that 12X write speeds are fast –but the PlexWriter has something else up its sleeve. 10X Re-write speeds! And 32X read speeds! This drive sounds like dream come true, ultra-fast write speeds, no “bad” burns plus it comes with some great software! Is this the perfect CD-RW???? Let’s find out!
The Package
Opening the package Plextor sent to us –revealed a very nice suite of manuals, software, IDE cable, and yes –the CD-RW drive itself. In addition there is also one CD-R disk and one 10X CD-RW disk included. Here are the specs and package contents.
Part # (retail kit): PX-W1210TA/SW (internal)
E-IDE (ATAPI-4) interface
3-in-1 drive: 12X CD-R, 10X CD-RW, 32X max CD-ROM
150ms Average Random Access
2 MB Buffer
Records highest quality audio CDs
Capable of Digital Audio Extraction at 24X max
Supports CD-DA; CD-ROM (Mode 1); CD-ROM (Mixed Mode); CD-ROM XA (Mode 2, Form 1 and Form 2 and Mixed Form; CD-I; Photo CD; Video CD; CD-Extra; CD+G; CD Text
Compatible with a large number of CD-R and CD-RW media
Burn-Proof technology eliminates buffer underrun errors in fast write modes, allows for multi-tasking
Flash ROM allows for easy upgrade over the Internet
Windows 95/98/2000 and NT4.0 Compatible
Supports Disc-at-Once, Track-at-Once, Session-at-Once, Variable & Fixed packet writing modes
One-Year Full Warranty and Unlimited Toll-Free Tech Support