It's time to wrap this case up before it becomes an endless discussion. It seems not everyone is able to read. Plextor has never ever said they support RAW write, and never said they will stop supporting it, they only make clear they don't want to be associated with illegaly copying copyrighted CD's.
You must agree on this, there is NO company that will tell us; "hey guys we got a nice drive, and it will copy everything you want, go on and make illegal copies of your games with our drive, we don't care how much you damage the games industry !" Because when they tell us they support RAW write, that's what they actually do.
Also it's not only Plextor's 'fault' the drives can't copy everything, they are dependant of the Sanyo chip. Also I remember the times that people told me they own a Plextor drive and how happy they were with it.
I remember when CloneCD was still a 'underground' program and Plextor released a new firmware, and CloneCD was also updated, and suddenly we got reports that the Plextor drives worked with CloneCD (Read here) Maybe now some of you would call it a coincidence, you can be sure it was not.
Why would you care if Plextor supports RAW write officially or not, if you are able to use CloneCD to backup a game with your Plextor drive, well then it's okay right ? Plextor is just like any other CD-R company, none of them officially supports RAW write, simply because it's associated with pirating. And if you have problems with RAW write, then there are forums to ask your questions.
Plextor does not state they will never make their drives be able to RAW write, it could be that newer drives DO write RAW. The only thing they say is, we don't officially tell you that we support RAW write. That's all. You should be able to read trough the lines. It COULD be they say something else then what they really mean, but that are only my words But why wouldn't you believe me ? Maybe Plextor is not telling you the truth, but between the lines they do ?
Also the word support is probably something that is misunderstood, maybe it's because both the Plextor employee and my language are not native English. But support means in this case; Plextor does not answer your questions on RAW write, and nor will they state their drives are able to write RAW. It does not mean that Plextor drives are not able to write RAW, this is another case.
I think that it's very clear, Plextor reads this site, Plextor reads your comments, and they have never let their customers down, I assume that newer drives will not have this problem anymore. They know they will lose a lot of customers when they sell drives that are not able to write RAW, and since there is NO reason for them to have their drives not able to write RAW they will probably make sure future drives can do this, although they will not tell you/us about it. But we can find out ourselves !
Maybe you can send us tests of future Plextor drives, and tell us if they support RAW write or not. Till then, don't judge too soon, it's not because Plextor doesn't want to produce what their customers want, they are a large company and that brings responsibilities, and not only to their customers !
So my conclusion:
- Plextor is not blocking SafeDisc 2 copying in the firmwares, the firmwares were never changed for this.
- Because Plextor doesn't officially support RAW write, it doesn't mean their drives will never support it. They just don't tell you.
- The thing with the firmware is still unexplained, but if it works for you, keep it that way ! If you need older firmwares, please post it on our site, Plextor already told us they will be happy to put them back online !
- I received lot's of mails about this case from visitors, they all make very clear that Plextor drives are very good drives, and that Plextor has a very very good support department.
- There is no reason to assume future Plextor drives will not be able to RAW write (mail us when you bought a new Plextor drive and tell us if it supports RAW write or not)
- Plextor behaves just like any other CD-R manufacturing company.
- And don't forget about the firmware updates from yesterday. I think we can see them as somekind of sign
Also, of course your reactions are appreciated, but make sure you know what you are talking about, this subject is very complicated, and can do some unneeded damage to a company that does not deserve it. Also please be polite, calling bad names will stop others from reacting.
Source: CD Freaks
