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Plextor Premium + Plextools Pro 2.05 = missed C2/CU ?!

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Plextor Premium + Plextools Pro 2.05 = missed C2/CU ?!

Postby Halc on Thu Jul 10, 2003 8:21 am

I did some testing with the new Kprobe 1.1.16 when I found out the following oddity with test results from Plextor Premium / Plextools Pro:

Ricoh MP9120 12x burned TDK Reflex Ultra (TDK Corp) tested with LiteOn 48246S at 24x on Kprobe 1.1.16:

Image

I had to cancel the test (at 99%), because at the end LiteOn started slipping constantly and would advance to next LBA very slowly. It appears the end of the disc is damaged according to LiteOn/Kprobe.

However, the same disc tested with Plextor Premium (fw 1.03) with Plextools Pro 2.05:

Image

As you can see, there are C2 errors that are not there on the LiteOn scan (c. 53 mins mark). Furthermore, the tracking errors that cause LiteOn to slip at the end of the disc (c. 78 mins) and produce C2 errors are not there on the Plextor scan.

Furthermore, the disc is totally unreadable in Windows Explorer on LiteOn 48246S. Nero CD Speed's ScanDisc/Surface Scan gives the value 'damaged' for the very last block of the disc when tested on the same drive:

Image

On Plextor Premium the situation is the same: disc not readable in Windows Explorer and ScanDisc Surface Scan shows only the last block as 'damaged'.

There are two anomalies here:

1) Plextools Pro does not report the end of the disc to contain any CU errors (nor C2 for that matter). However, the disc remains unreable in all drives tested (directory/contents data part of the disc is unreadable?) and last block is reported as 'Damaged' by Scan Disc.

Likely explanation: Either Plextools or Premium misses the reporting of C2 errors on that part of the disc.

2) Plextools Pro reports C2 errors at c. 53 minutes on the disc. However, Scan Disc on the same drive (or any other drive) does not report any block as "damaged"

Likely explanation: What Premium/Plextools flags as C2 errors is not flagged as such by Nero CD Speed's Scan Disc test. Another (unlikely?) explanation is that Premium generates random C2 errors on its own.

Are there any other possibilities?

Am I testing something wrong or is the Premium/Plextools Pro test inaccurate when testing the end of this particular disc?

I will report this to Plextor if my findings are considered to be valid.

Best regards,
Halcy
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Postby dolphinius_rex on Thu Jul 10, 2003 12:56 pm

your findings look well founded to me. Those are some very surprising results. I suppose it just goes to show you should always pay attention to what the final testing size is, compared to the total disc size!
Punch Cards -> Paper Tape -> Tape Drive -> 8" Floppy Diskette -> 5 1/4" Floppy Diskette -> 3 1/2" "Flippy" Diskette -> CD-R -> DVD±R -> BD-R

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Another scan, more problems

Postby Halc on Fri Jul 11, 2003 2:52 pm

More oddíties with PlexTools Pro scans:

LG 4480B 40x burned Verbatim DataLifePlus 48x (Mitsubishi Chemicals) disc.

Tested on Plextor Premium with PLextools Pro 2.05 at 10-24x CAV:

Image

Problems at the end, but nothing irrepairable (no CU).

The same disc on LiteOn 48246s at 52x:

Image

Doesn't look irrepairable either.

However, the disc scanned in Nero CD Speed / Scan Disc / Surface Scan on both drives produces this:

Image

Clearly the last test unit is damaged beyond repair.

The disc however does remain readable on the burner (LG) it was made with, but it is not readable either in LiteOn 48246s or on Plextor Premium.

At least one anomaly here:

Now Plextor Premium does report C2 towards the end of the disc. However it does not report even a single CU. Regardless of this, the disc is unreadable in both Plextor and LiteOn units.

I'm starting to feel a little bit worried by all this. I think I have now shown that PlextoolsPro on Plextor Premium cannot even be used as a measure to safely find out if a disc is readable and good quality on that same drive that it is being tested on.

The test gives 'readable' results, while real world use on the same drive proves otherwise.

I have already contacted Plextor about this. I sincerly hope they respond and look into this.

regards,
Halcyon
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More tests

Postby Halc on Fri Jul 11, 2003 4:02 pm

The same disc as in my previous post.

Now measured in Plextools Pro at 4x:

Image

The C2 errors are gone and still no CU reported.

The same disc again, tested on CD Speed / Scan Disc / Surface Scan on Plextor Premium at 4x CLV still shows the last block as 'unreadable' (image omitted as it is 100% identical to above CD Speed test image).

Also the same disc tested with CD Doctor 1.20 alpha / LiteOn 48246s at 8x (C1/C2 scan):

Image

It also completely misses the C2 errors.

Clearly there is something wrong with Plextools Pro reporting. In my opinion, it should NOT miss CU errors at the lowest possible speed setting, if the disc is not readable in the same drive at any speed!

regards,
Halcyon
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