Plextor PX-760A 18x DVD±RW

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 and DLA 4.95:

For this test I randomly generated 650MB and 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.

 

The PX-760A has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Fuji's 48x media, the drive started writing at about 21.54x and reached a maximum speed of 48.54x at the end of the session. This gave Plextor's new DVD±RW an average writing speed of about 36.76x.

To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden manufactured Fuji media rated at 48x. The results are below.

The PX-760A did pretty well in our CD writing tests. While not as fast as the drive from Lite-On, it was able to write an entire 650MB CD in 2:39.

To test the PX-760A's writing quality I used the Q-Check C1/C2 Test built into PlexTools Professional. This test can be used to give us the average, maximum and total number of C1, C2 and CU (uncorrectable) errors on a disc. For these tests, the drive's read speed has been set to 24x. For comparison, I've also included test results from Lite-On IT's KProbe2.

The PX-760A's writing quality was very good. By looking at the screenshots, you can see that the number of C1 errors stayed relatively low. More importantly, there were no C2 or CU errors on any of the discs I tested.

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 24x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

While the PX-760A uses CAV when writing to CD-R discs, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 24x. The drive starts rewriting at about 20x and then jumps to its maximum speed at the 7 minute mark..

While the drives from NEC and LG can rewrite at 32x, the PX-760A has a maximum rewriting speed of only 24x. As you can see, this put Plextor's new DVD writer at a disadvantage in our tests.

The PX-760A also erases at 24x. While this didn't have much of an effect on the drive's quick erase times, it took more than four minutes to do a full erase.