Review: Plextor PX-W4824TU
Reviewer: G@M3FR3@K
Provided by: Plextor Europe
Firmware: version 1.02
Production date: September 2002
TLA#: 0001

A few weeks ago we presented you with our in depth review of Plextor’s latest recorder the PX-W4824A drive. Today we have a new review for you of basically the same drive but now in an external case using the USB 2.0 interface. Because the ‘A’ and ‘TU’ drive are the same drive our test results will probably be the same as we got with the internal model but this Plextor PX-W4824TU drive has the latest firmware version (v1.02) and it will be interesting to see if there have been any improvements.

Of course this external Plextor drive has the same features as we saw on the internal model. The drive supports the new ultra-speed (24X) re-write standard, the same fastest access time ever (< 65ms), Mount Rainier and 48X CAV recording of data and audio. Besides that we of course have the usual Plextor technologies on board such as PoweRec and VariRec ensuring a quality back-up.

As we just mentioned this Plextor drive uses the USB 2.0 standard which we also saw on the Plextor PX-W4012TU drive. USB 2.0 is still a pretty new technology that extends the speed of the peripheral-to-PC connection up to 40 times over existing capabilities. USB 2.0 can reach speeds up to 480 Mb/sec, 40 times faster than USB 1.1.

In this review we will take a look at this latest external Plextor drive and see if the drive performs the same as the internal model we reviewed a few weeks ago. Read on to find out what we have to say about this Plextor drive!

Test Machine:

For the tests we’ll be using the following configuration:

Hardware:

Motherboard: GigaByte GA-7VAXP
Processor: AMD AthlonXP 2100+
RAM: 256MB (PC2700)
GFX: ASUS V8200 (GeForce 3 Ti200)
Hard Disks: DiamondMax 40GB & 30GB (7200rpm)
IDE Controller: PCI UDMA100 Controller

System set-up:

As you can see the Plextor PX-W4824TU was hooked up to the onboard USB 2.0 Controller and identifies itself as “PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W4824A”. As you can see this Plextor USB 2.0 is thus just a normal PX-W4824A drive but with an external case. Autorun was disabled for every device.

Used Software:

The Windows XP Professional operating system is installed on our test machine. We’ll be using the following software to perform the various tests:

On the next page we’ll take a look at the retail package of the Plextor PX-W4824TU…

The Package

5 Comments

stvastva: Posts: 357; Posted on: 09 Nov 02 13:35

will someone PLEEZ tell me how to get & install plextools. i am in the US. i have 5 plextor drives. i realize it is not distributed with the us drives. so what? why can i only find upgrades that i cannot install without the original program? thank you.

DoMiN8ToR: Posts: 9067; Posted on: 09 Nov 02 13:51

Please see our Plextor Forum at http://club.cdfreaks.com for more information. Use the reactions for comments on the review.

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 31 Dec 02 01:07

I just picked up this bad boy. I've skimped on CD-Rs before and been burned multiple times (yeah it takes me a while). Previously I had a Yamaha 16x burner and I had nothing but problems. After trying every possible solution I figured the problem was either a Windows 2000 + motherboard problem or a defect with the drive. Either way I'd had enough with both the IDE interface and cheap CD burners. So I picked up this drive. So far the drive works -exactly- as this review implies. Everything -just works-. Mad props to Plextor... the extra cost is worth it if I don't have to screw around with getting it setup for hours. One last thing I'd say is that the drive is way more quiet than the old yamaha and it burns perfectly fine using a PCI USB 2.0 card at 48x using Maxell media on my AMD 1600+ XP. Thanks for the -kick ass- review. Keep it up!

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 31 Dec 02 18:31

A couple of things that I forgot to mention: One thing that might be obvious but I hadn't really considered is that this drive is not bootable from the bios... so you can't use it to reinstall windows or linux. Also the drive doesn't come with the classic (internal) CD to soundcard audio connector. It has RCA style (red and white) stereo outputs on the back... this means that you need a cable (generally RCA to 1/8th inch headphone) to attach the drive your sound card's line-in. For me this is a negative since I use the line in for other purposes... but its not that big of a deal to switch this up when needed.

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 10 Apr 08 02:17

Where can I get the driver for the DVD ROM LTD163? I'm going insane trying to get a flash to update it so it works

Plextor PX-W4824TU

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