Customer Reviews

Plextor PlexWriter 40x12x40 Internal IDE CD-RW Drive

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This drive is by far the best CDRW drive on the market as of May 2002. Why? Several reasons. 1-the drive has Burnproof technology which prevents those dreaded buffer-underruns (hence preventing making coasters of your CDs). 2-the drive has PowerREC II, which improves the quality if audio CDs that your burn. And the most important 3-the drive supports reading and burning of that ever-important sub-channel data, which is what allows you to make fully-functioning duplicate copies of copy-protected CDROMs. I've been using Plextor drives for years, and by far, hands down, bar-none this drive is the best CDRW on the market today.

If you're looking for a drive that'll spit out "My Favorites: Vol. 3" in under 5 minutes, this drive will do it for you. If you're looking to backup all of those digital photos of your latest family trip to Disney, this drive will do it. It does what it's supposed to do and fairly quickly and with its "BURN-Proof" technology, it is nearly impossible to waste a CD.

However, for those of you that are looking to backup your copy-protected media, this drive is already obsolete. It will read sub-channel data, but the newest protections need several other features, namely the ability to write correct EFM coding, not found on this and most other drives. If you're looking for a drive that will copy just about anything, try a Lite-On or Pacific Digital drive.

Aside from the drive itself, the package comes with a clear and concise installation manual, a full one-year warranty, free tech support, and the software necessary to burn your own discs. While some of the software (Roxio's Easy CD Creator) is a little on the flimsy side, it makes burning a basic music or data CD a simple task for even the newest computer users.

Overall, the Plextor 40/12/40A is a solid drive. It will reliably burn music and data in a relatively short amount of time. So if that's all you'll be using it for, this is your drive. If however, you like to keep back-ups of your games / software, you will find that it will become increasingly obsolete as newer protections are developed.

Pros:

-Quick
-Reliable
-Unlimited Free Tech Support
-Good Installation Instructions

Cons:
-Will not burn newest game / software protections

I got this drive the moment it came out. With the CDR's that I use, I burn a completely loaded CD in 4 minutes. What people do not realize is this drive is faster than what most CDR's can be written at (even if the blank CD says 40x). If you get this drive now you will not need to upgrade for years because this drive will be able to write a full CD in 2 - 3 minutes as blank CDs catch up. Some other features include:

- 4 Meg buffer (another CD saving feature)
- Upgradeable (the drive can be upgraded to support new CD media)
- Super Cheap!
- 1 Year manufacturer's warranty
- Unlimited toll free tech support from Plextor

I promise you will not get all that from another CDRW drive!

This was my first CD burner ever purchased. I had read many good reviews and recommendations for Plextor drives. Looking back, the installation was quite easy (although it took me at least an hour because I was so unfamiliar with the inside of my computer and the technical terms used in the instructions). The Roxio software that accompanied the drive was also easy to master.

However, my first two audio CD's were not capable of playing on neither my home stereo nor my car stereo... I guess because I did not use the CD-R Media recommended by Plextor. I had bought a spindle of Memorex 80 min. 32X blank cd's at Wal-Mart. After two unsuccessful attempts, I noticed that the box contents contained one Plextor-brand blank CD-R. I tried once again using the Plextor-brand CD and was successful with the CD playing in both my home and car stereo. I have now downloaded off the Plextor website a list of recommended CD-R Media (Memorex is not one of them).

Also, please note that the audio recording speed on this Plextor drive is limited to 24X. Could I have found a cheaper 24x drive and been just as happy? I don't know, but I bought this Plextor model thinking that it was the fastest on the market for audio recording and it is not.

I won't question Brad from Illinois on his problems with the drive, but I have had none. I installed the drive in a machine that I custom built strictly for Digital Audio work. I don't mean copying CDs and burning MP3s, I mean creating music. It was not only my first attempt at building a Dig.Aud. workstation, it was also my first attempt at building a computer of any kind. I've done some CD, memory, and hard drive installations, but never the whole thing. I set the jumpers, installed the drive, inserted the power cable and IDE cable, then booted up and had absolutely no problems. The software tha came with it is helpful, and perhaps useful, but I may see what else is out there.

Now, Plextor is now the only CD burner I'd ever buy. I have burned a half dozen CDs, and made a couple of variety discs, and all audio came through flawlessly. The few data discs I have burned (for pictures with a new digital camera) also worked great. I don't know what the real pros use, but this should do every job short of that.

Good plastic and metal went to this!?! Can't read half the discs I have. Won't burn above 8X even with a very capable computer. And now they won't help me with customer support! Apparently it's my problem for buying their 160 dollar POS.

Supposedly Lite-On has a comparable reputation with about 1/2 the cost. Maybe you should try one of those.

Very unimpressed. 12 thumbs down.

Received the Plextor 40-12-40 today. Installation went like a breeze. Drive was immediately recognized by W98SE. Documentation is outstanding! Ships with CD Creator 5 (Basic) which is so crippled it's worthless. Upgrade to Platinum costs [more]. Also comes with Plextor Manager program which is much better.
Now the 'good' part. Drive rips to .wav at about 11x MAX. Of course, it takes another 1.5-1.75 minutes to convert a track to MP3, so 40x claim, or even 20x, is of no value what-so-ever. The replaced drive (Yamaha 24x) burned a 74min CD-R in 4:55. This Plextor 40x burned the same CD in 14:45 using the supplied CD Creator 5.0 Basic! Almost 15 minutes for a drive that's supposed to burn Audio CD at least 10x-24x. Using AudioGrabber for ripping was pathetic (1.8x) and WinRip topped at 3.0. So, in short, the drive only rips to .WAV at max 11.0x and then only with the supplied crippled CD Creator 5 Basic. Now I need to send this back and incur the hassle and the shipping expenses. I am thoroughly unhappy with this product.