PlexWriter 8/2/20 SCSI CD-RW Drive
Reviewed by Tachyon (16 September 99)

The Tests

Since the PlexWriter uses the SCSI interface, a SCSI card was required. For this review we use the ASUS PCI-SC875 using the Symbios SYM53C875 Ultra SCSI controller. The card has connections for both UW SCSI and single ended SCSI. Since the PlexWriter only has the 50-pin SCSI bus, we can only connect it to single ended SCSI. Installation of the card was straightforward, the card was detected by the BIOS upon reboot. I had the PlexWriter plugged into the card at the same time the card was able to detect the drive as well.

Test System Configuration
Processor	Celeron 366 on MSI-6905 riser card
RAM	128MB PC100 Hyundai SDRAM
Motherboard	Intel BX Chipset with Slot-1
Hard Drive	Quantum Fireball 6.4 GB
Operating System	Windows 98 Second Edition Build 4.10.2222A
Software Used	CD WinBench

Here are the results of the test after running WinBench CD.

CD WinBench 99 Results
WinMark 99 Overall (Kbytes/sec)	655
Access Time (milliseconds)	172
CPU Utilization (percent used)	3.09
Transfer Rate:Inner disc (Kbytes/sec)	1520
Transfer Rate:Outer disc (Kbytes/sec)	2700

As you can see from the results, the numbers are quite close to that specified by Plextor. I performed a number of other tests on the Plextor including playing games and playing CDs from the drive. Playing VCDs and games on the drive did not pose any problems. In fact, everything worked very smoothly. It also proves that SCSI drives are better at sustained data transfer than IDE drives. I was able to create CD-DA and CD-ROM XA discs without any write errors. CPU utilization was a little high but I think it is because the IDE hard disk was playing catch up with the buffer in the Plextor. I could see and hear that the hard disk was working pretty hard at it too.

Adaptec Easy CD came standard as the CD writer software for the drive. There is also a piece of software from Plextor called CD-ResQ which is a CD archival software. Being a SCSI drive also meant that I was able to test the drive on the Macintosh. I was able to hook the drive up to my trusty old Quadra 700 as an external drive. I use Adaptec's Astarte Toast CD software that came with my Yamaha CD-RW drive on the Plextor. At the first try Astarte Toast CD failed to recognize the drive as a valid CD-RW drive. A trip to Adaptec's website revealed a later version of the software which recognizes the Plextor. Armed with the updated software, I proceeded to archive some files on my Mac to a CD-R. Using 4x writing speed I was able to write the entire disc in about 18 minutes successfully without any errors. So to the Mac users out there, this is one drive that you can consider. At 20x read speed for CD-ROMs, it is also pretty good as a CD-ROM drive for the Mac considering most SCSI CD-ROM drives hardly ever need to reach that speed. Most drives on the Macs today use the ATAPI/IDE drives with 24x/32x read speed. I tried a couple of other tests writing with other formats and different types of discs at different speeds on CD-RW and CD-R without any problems. Next to the Yamaha, this is the most trouble free drive that I have ever had the chance to use.

Unfortunately for fans of IDE, Plextor only makes the drive with SCSI interface, in other words, high-end. This makes sense since all the performance would have gone to waste with a slower interface.

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Conclusion

The Plexwriter, compared to other CD-RW drives in the market today is truly a top of the line drive with its 8x/2x/20x capability. Its 8x write speed is the fastest in the market today and is truly remarkable. If cutting down CD-R writing time is what you want this is the drive to get but first you will need to use media that will work well with 8x writing speed. It also has the largest buffer of all the drives in the market. It has a whopping 4MB cache to enable writing at 8x without suffering from buffer underruns. It is also a good thing that this is a SCSI drive since SCSI will be able to sustain the transfer rate that the drive requires. All this performance comes at a price. At S$795, it is the most expensive CD-RW drive in the market today.

The Plextor is a very well made drive. It looks very well built and the finishing is excellent. It lacks in the industrial design department though but I am not complaining since there isn't really a lot of ID one can do to improve a CD drive. The drive is made in Japan and I believe one of the few remaining drives to come from the land of the rising sun. I have no doubts about its reliability and quality. If a top performance drive is what you are after, the Plextor should be the first candidate on your list.

Thumbs up to Plextor ! I can't wait to see more high performance drives coming from Plextor in the near future. At the rate that they are going, I wouldn't be surprised if they double the speed of the drive in the next year or so. The next time you hear the name Plextor, you'll know what they are good at.

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CD-RW RATING

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AI-EN Enterprises Pte. Ltd.

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