Posted: 12/20/2000
Written by: Moto®
Price: $299.00 (Low price here)
Supplied by: Plextor

This is one fast CD writer! 16X write, 10X rewrite and 40X read. Plextor makes two versions of the 16/10/40, the A model and S model. The A stands for ATAPI, the S stands for SCSI. For this review, we took a look at the 16/10/40A.

When it comes to recording CDs, SCSI has always held an advantage over the ATAPI interface because the SCSI interface can handle up to 256 simultaneous request, making far greater efficiency when there is lots of back and forth communications between devices (as would happen if you're burning a CD). ATAPI can only handle one request at a time and must block other requests until the original request is done. ATAPI must also rely on the computer's CPU to negotiate communication between devices. 

Because of these limitations, a drive that uses the ATAPI interface has a much higher chance of running into the hated "Buffer Underrun" error. A buffer underrun occurs when the source (hard drive or CD ROM) can't feed data to the CD Writer buffer  fast enough. When this happens, the laser stops and you create a nice CD drink coaster. OK, so it's not nice. Plextor gets rid of buffer underrun with a technology call Burn Proof. Invented by Sanyo, Burn Proof allows the laser to stop writing if the buffer empties. While the lasers takes a break, the drive fills its buffer, locates the last burned sector, and re-initiates the burning process. No more coasters!

The PlexWriter comes with Plextor Manager 2000, a complete CD burning software suite consisting of MVP 2000, Audio Capture 2000, DiscDupe 2000, Audio FS and Drive Properties. The only thing missing is a CD labeling kit.

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