1 Topic by Nexy (edited by Nexy 2011-10-23 20:53:37)

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I thought we could start a little thread about Plextor drives and what known models support and do not support. I'll start with my own. If you have a different model, please post your findings as it will prove useful to selecting a drive to use for new dumpers, and also for backup drives for those that already own one.

Drive: PX-W5224A/PX-W5224TA
Type: CDRW
Bus: PATA
Firmware Revision: 1.04

D8 read command  : Yes
C2 error correction : Yes
Read Offset            : +30
DPM Measurement : Yes
Fast Error Skip       : Yes
Sub Code reading  : Yes

Notes:

I've been using this drive for several years now, and it's been a great drive and supports all features that I require. It's proven to be an excellent drive for ripping audio cd's as well as dumping. It does seem to have problems with even with lightly scratched discs, and appear to have problems with certain SafeDisc protected discs. It creates very good DPM measurements for SecuROM protected CD's and I have not have a failure yet. A drawback to this drive is it not able to go below 4X speed reliably.

-------------------------------

Drive: PX-W1210TA
Type: CDRW
Bus: PATA
Firmware Revision: 1.10

D8 read command  : Yes (only partially)
C2 error correction : Yes
Read Offset            : +99
DPM Measurement : Yes
Fast Error Skip       : Yes
Sub Code reading  : Yes

Notes:

The PX-W1210TA seems to be able to deal with SafeDisc better than the PX-W5224A can on initial tests. I was able to dump a disc without problems that the other drive has issues with. I have a couple more such discs so I will try those next. Sub Code reading also seems to be less error prone on a few discs I have tried so far. I suspect that the laser is more powerful, or due to the maturity of the firmware the drive is slightly better in some regards.

Plextor PX-760A 1.07 (+30) : Plextor PX-716SA 1.11 (+30) : Plextor PX-W5224A 1.04 (+30) : Plextor PX-W4824 1.07 (+30) : Plextor PX-W4012TA 1.07 (+98) : Plextor PX-W1610TA (+99) : Plextor PX-W1210TA 1.10 (+99) : Lite-On LTR-48246S (+6) : Lite-On LTR-52246S (+6) : Lite-On LH-20A1H LL0DN (+6) : BenQ DW1655 BCIB (+618) : ASUS DRW-2014L1 1.02 (+6) : Yamaha CRW-F1 (+733) : Optiarc SA-7290H5 1H44 (+48) : ASUS BW-16D1HT 3.02 (+6)

2 Reply by Jackal (edited by Jackal 2013-02-01 20:21:33)

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I think that all genuine plextor drives pretty much have the same capabilities (built around the same software)?

A drawback to this drive is it not able to go below 4X speed reliably.

Could you elaborate that plz? Because I've always found the lower capable speeds (at least for burning) to be an advantage of the CDRW models (the PX-760A wouldn't read or write below 4X).

Maybe it's good to add a list of 'real' Plextor drives, so that people will know which ones to look for? And maybe we could make some sort of ranking based on price/availability/capabilities. Here's to start off the list, but I'm sure there are more:

CDRW:
PX-W1210A / PX-W1210TA / PX-W1210S
PX-W1610A / PX-W1610TA
PX-W2410A / PX-W2410TA / PX-W2410TU
PX-W4012A / PX-W4012TA / PX-W4012S / PX-W4012TS / PX-W4012U / PX-W4012TU
PX-W4824A / PX-W4824TA / PX-W4824U / PX-W4824TU
PX-W5224A / PX-W5224TA / PX-W5224TU
Premium
Premium2

DVDRW:
PX-708A / PX-708UF
PX-712A / PX-712SA
PX-716A / PX-716SA / PX-716AL / PX-716UF
PX-755A / PX-755SA / PX-755UF
PX-760A / PX-760SA

As for the meaning of the letters, I know that:

A = Atapi (IDE)
SA = S-ATA
U = USB (external model)
F = FireWire

And I think the T (= Tray?) models are the same as non-T.

3 Reply by Nexy (edited by Nexy 2011-10-20 09:23:02)

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Well if I set the speed below 4X in various tools (EAC/CloneCD/Alc) and even in Plextools Professional the drive spins up and slows down constantly and it really makes read times crazy, like hours and hours. I tried it here today with the 1210 I got and it works no problem. Probably a firmware bug.

The PX-W1210A should be a real plextor also.

These older drives don't have Mount Rainier capability according to AIDA64. Also the 1210 didn't have C2 support with firmware v1.07, but I updated it to 1.10 and it then did.

Yeah I started the thread to list the known real plextors, and also to post experiences with the different ones and the capabilities each one has.

Plextor PX-760A 1.07 (+30) : Plextor PX-716SA 1.11 (+30) : Plextor PX-W5224A 1.04 (+30) : Plextor PX-W4824 1.07 (+30) : Plextor PX-W4012TA 1.07 (+98) : Plextor PX-W1610TA (+99) : Plextor PX-W1210TA 1.10 (+99) : Lite-On LTR-48246S (+6) : Lite-On LTR-52246S (+6) : Lite-On LH-20A1H LL0DN (+6) : BenQ DW1655 BCIB (+618) : ASUS DRW-2014L1 1.02 (+6) : Yamaha CRW-F1 (+733) : Optiarc SA-7290H5 1H44 (+48) : ASUS BW-16D1HT 3.02 (+6)

4 Reply by Nexy (edited by Nexy 2011-10-23 20:56:15)

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pxd8 seems to work only partially with the px-w1210ta, it works on some discs and not on others giving the error code 05:64:00 (ILLEGAL MODE FOR THIS TRACK) which seems to indicate that it can't find the sector header. Seems rather odd that it works on some discs and not on others. I will disassemble the drive and clean the lens to see if this corrects the problem. It could be a bug in pxd8, or a bug in the firmware, I am not sure.

:EDIT:

Cleaned the optics on the drive, no difference. D8 command is only supported partially, it works on some discs and not at all on other discs. Neither pxd8, EAC or subdump would work on quite a few discs giving the same error. I would guess it is only partially completed in the firmware.

:END EDIT:

I had no problems dumping the audio from several discs, both mixed mode and audio only, using the d8 command in EAC.

It certainly can handle SafeDisc better than my px-w5224a. I was able to dump 3 discs which the px-w5224a would not dump, without any problems at all. I have a 4th disc which would not dump on either drive, but I suspect the scratches on it are the cause of that.

Additionally Plextools says that the slowest the px-w5224a can go is 4X CLV, it is not capable of 1X reading or writing.

Plextor PX-760A 1.07 (+30) : Plextor PX-716SA 1.11 (+30) : Plextor PX-W5224A 1.04 (+30) : Plextor PX-W4824 1.07 (+30) : Plextor PX-W4012TA 1.07 (+98) : Plextor PX-W1610TA (+99) : Plextor PX-W1210TA 1.10 (+99) : Lite-On LTR-48246S (+6) : Lite-On LTR-52246S (+6) : Lite-On LH-20A1H LL0DN (+6) : BenQ DW1655 BCIB (+618) : ASUS DRW-2014L1 1.02 (+6) : Yamaha CRW-F1 (+733) : Optiarc SA-7290H5 1H44 (+48) : ASUS BW-16D1HT 3.02 (+6)