Is it PlexManager 2000 or Bad Karma?

[paulcs]

I'm sure a lot of you have gotten this little program to function properly, but I've never had a bit of luck with it. I tried the very first version, when Plextor first released it, and probably a couple more at one time or another. I've used it on at least a half dozen machines, and I've always had trouble of one type or another. The only thing that varies is the type of trouble I have, but I always have a problem.

I only use it for one thing: to control the spin down time of the Plextor drives I own or test. This time, I started getting blue screens when the system was stressed. I was confounded at first, then, out of pure superstition, I uninstalled PlexManager 2000 and things appear to be back to normal.

(Actually, pure superstition is not entirely correct. I hadn't gotten any blue screens until after installing the software, although I have had some issues with this system.)

Gratuitous System Specs:

PIII 933 MHz at spec
Asus CUSL2-C (BIOS 1003)
VisionTek GeForce2 Ultra
Adaptec 2940 UW SCSI Card
PlexWriter 12/10/32S
Crucial 128 MB PC 133 RAM CL2-rated
IBM IDE Hard Drive 7200 ATA-66 RPM
Philips Seismic Edge Soundcard

Has anyone else had problems with this program or is it me?

Has anyone used the older Plextor software with their new drives? Again, I'd just like to switch from drive to drive and control the spin-down time.

Thanks.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Chucky Cheese]

paulcs,

i just ordered that same drive(..should get it tommorrow), scsi version. i haven't had any trouble with the older versions and, if the drive comes with it, i had planned on installing it...i'll let you know how it goes for me.

cc

[Wombat]

Sorry Paul,
No worries with their software and my 32/12/10A. Have you checked the web site? I know there was both an upgrade to the Plextor software and upgrades to my drive's firmware since I bought mine in September.



------------------
MSI-6167 w/ Athlon 500@750 (thx Greebe!), 128MB Crucial PC133, G400MAX,SBLive!-MP3,Pioneer 10x DVD, Plextor 12/10/32A, a hard drive or two, and a Sony 420GS. Running RH7.0 (2.4.0-test8), and Win98 (when I have to).

[paulcs]

I haven't even used the drive for burning purposes. Just for ROM to hard drive data transfers and installs.

The blue screens seem completely unrelated to the drive itself. I installed PlextorManager 2000. A few hours later, I shut down and got a blue screen. Today, I ran SETI for about 20 minutes and it blue screened. I restarted, removed the software, and haven't seen an issue since.

Several months ago, on an Athlon-based system, it would lock up on me if I tried certain functions. Again, I've used it on other platforms and had bad luck. I'd just go back to the old software.

I'm in no way pointing the finger at Plextor. It's just I never had any problems with PlexManager before they stuck the 2000 after it. I just have the worst luck with every version of 2000 I've tried.

Very weird.

Thanks guys.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[dZeus]

I'm using Plexmanager 2000 v1.05 in Win2k, and everything works very well... haven't had an unexplained blue screen yet. However, when I try PlexManager 2000 v1.07 my plextor drive goes beserk killing the Plextor Icon in the explorer and stuff... so I'll stick to 1.05 until a new version is released

[xortam]

I was eyeing this SCSI burner as well (since I've seemed to have killed my Yamaha CRW4416S). I noticed a HP drive had a much more rugged tray mechanism than the Yamaha. How does the Plextor compare? Any comments/concerns regarding burning on this drive (both -Rs and -RWs)?

What does the PlexManager SW provide you?

[paulcs]

Hey Chucky. I just did a simple disk hard drive to CD data copy (about 450 MB of spreadsheets). Man, this drive is fast!

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[xortam]

Paul ... where's a good place to get one of these puppies? I'm down in South Bay. I saw one at Central for $336. Paid $388 for my Yamaha in 3/99. ... Just checked where I got the Yamaha, PixelUSA, and they have the Plextor for $318 (getting better ).

[paulcs]

Computers4sure has it for $299.99. UPS Ground is only $5.95.

http://www.computers4sure.com/produc...oductid=112021

If they have in in the California warehouse, turn around will be very fast (although the holidays can cause UPS delays). I've gotten stuff from the California warehouse before they got around to sending me notification of shipping. It must be in the East Bay somewhere.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Chucky Cheese]

paulcs,

mine arrived after i left for work...they left it outside!!!! after it comes to room temperature for about 8 hours. it is about 5 degrees out.

i got my day planned around installing this drive, blowing out the machine and cleaning the filter. i'm also going to test that CD-ResQ utility.

cc

[paulcs]

Congratulations Chucky. It's appears to be a great drive. I thought the IDE drive was fast as hell, but the SCSI version seems even faster. I couldn't believe how fast it copied 450 MB of data files.

Forgive me if you know this already. CD-ResQ *is* a repackaged version Norton Ghost. When you get it up and running, you'll see the Symantec logo along with Plextor's. I tested it with the IDE PlexWriter, and it works well. Plextor was selling it, but it's nice to see that they're shipping it with the SCSI drive. It works and it's free. You can't beat that.

I think the Burn-proof feature is a miracle. It actually works better than Plextor claims. It has to be supported in software, however. The software that ships with the drive supports it, and many other programs do as well.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Chucky Cheese]

paulcs,

i didn't know that...thanks! right now i'm using drive image(..past 2.5 years) and it has been flawless, i'm at version 4 now. does ghost then offer anything better?

i'll be taking this thing down in about an hour or so to install it. btw, the plexmanager 2000 version that came with my drive is 1.08. i'm also going to do some serious "cable management".

later...

cc


[This message has been edited by Chucky Cheese (edited 24 December 2000).]

[xortam]

Nice little SW package. You guys are getting me excited about this product. I wonder if I can swing by PixelUSA while I'm doing my holiday shopping today? I think I'll patronize my local store if its only a $12 difference.

Anybody interested in a Yamaha burner ... slightly used.

[Chucky Cheese]

just installed it...so far so good..

the only issue that came up was because of my 50-68 pin converter that i got from adaptec...i had to reseat it a couple of times to get my symbios channel 1 to see it!!

let the testing begin!!!

BTW, win2k is the only OS i'm running at the moment...not that it is a bad thing...

cc

Revised Platform Configuration:

Motherboard: AMI MegaRUM II, dual 600Mhz Pentium III processors (installed), each with a 32/512 Cache configuration. 1 GB of PC100(CAS2), 8ns memory. Symbios Logic 53C896 U2W SCSI controllers. Intel 443GX Xeon chipset.

SCSI I/O:

Channel 1(LVD/U2): 4 Seagate LVD Cheetah 18LP, ST39103LW Ultra2 Wide SCSI-3 hard Drives, each with 1024k cache.

Channel 2(SE): JAZ 2GB internal, Plex-Writer 12/10/32s CDR-W, Pioneer DVD-303s ultra-scsi DVD reader and 2 UltraPlex-Wide 17/40 speed CD-ROM drives. Everything on this channel is ultra scsi or higher...yee ha!

USB: USB Zip Drive, Epson Stylus Scan 2500, Intellimouse Explorer and 3com US Robotics 56K Voice Faxmodem Pro

Networking: The network adapter is a 3Com 3Cr990-TX-95 PCI 10/100 Mbps Ethernet controller.

Video: Matrox G400 Max with Dual Head. The primary display is a Panasonic PanaSync E21, .25-dot pitch, 20" viewable; the secondary display is a Samsung 17" Flat Panel Display(.264mm pitch) model 770TFT.

Multi-media: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live PCI Bus Mastering sound card. Speaker system is the Cambridge Works FPS2000 Digital speaker system.


[This message has been edited by Chucky Cheese (edited 23 December 2000).]

[paulcs]

The only drive imaging software I've tried is CD-ResQ/Norton Ghost. It worked, so I didn't look any further. I'm not sure if Plextor had Norton add any Plextor-specific tweaks (other than the logo).

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net