Savant
12-01-2000, 12:47 AM
I have acquired a plexstore 12x SCSI CD-ROM drive, and being the sort I am, naturally the first thing I did was test it in comparison to my other CD-ROM drives (Mitsumi IDE 12x, Mitsumi IDE 36x, and some ancient IDE 2-4x drives) not surpriseingly it was well past the 2-4x ones, but it was also significantly faster than the 12x, and while in smallish files it was slower than the 36x, for large things it would actually get done faster. This kinda surprised me, thought I'd ask if that was normal. (if it is, I'm gonna have to see about a new plextore http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif )
Savant
otheos
12-01-2000, 01:22 AM
Plextro CDROMS are the highest quality you can get. Try to rip an audio CD next and you will be suprised!!
The 12x is a CLV drive. This means that all data on the disk is read at the same speed (it passes under the laser at the same (Constant) Linear Velocity). So from centre to edge you get 12x. Whether your 12x Mitsumi is CLV or CAV (constand angular velocity, also known as MAX technology) I don't know. It is a CAV it will be slower as it only reads 12x at the outer parts of the CD. If it is CLV there is one good reason why the Plextor is faster (and the same should be true for the 36x which is certenly CAV): Spin Down! If the drive cannot read the data the first time (weak laser/dirty cd, or too much vibration -something that cheap drives suffer from) it will try again but it will spin down to make sure it will read it. Now if the Plextor with its supperior quality laser (usually Sanyo or Pioneer) and motor (own brand) does not need to spin down, there you go. Data read the first time at 12x.
But do try DAE and you will be suprised. Hint: the Plextor will outperform both your Mitsumis by far!
Note: as for the plextor being slower with smaller files, this is due to the seak times. CLV units suffer from long seak times due to their constand changing of angular velocity. If your 12x mitsumi is faster it may be a CAV and not a CLV (which explains why it's slower in throughput).