Determine Your Computer's Operating System; Determine What Interface To Use - Plextor PX-708UF Installation And User Manual

Section 2. Installing Your PX-708UF External Drive
Determine Your Computer's Operating
System
To determine which operating system your personal computer uses:
1. Select the Start menu, then select Settings, then Control Panel, and
choose the System icon. You see the System Properties window.
2. In the System Properties window, make sure the General tab is
selected. The System line shows details about your operating system.
(For example, "Windows 2000.")
NOTE: Your computer must be running Windows 98SE, Windows 2000,
Windows Me or Windows XP or the Macintosh operating system. If you
are not running one of these operating systems you cannot use the PX-
708UF. You cannot use the PX-708UF with early versions of Windows
98; it must be Windows 98SE (Second Edition).

Determine What Interface to Use

You can use either USB 2.0 or FireWire. The built-in USB ports on
older computers (and even on inexpensive new ones) provide only
USB 1.1—that is, Full-Speed (12 Mbps) USB.
So for optimum performance:
• If your PC does not have built-in USB 2.0, use the FireWire port, if
available.
• If you have neither USB 2.0 or FireWire, you can purchase and
install a third-party PCI USB 2.0 or FireWire plug-in host adapter
card.
• If you don't want to purchase a separate card, you can use your PC's
built-in USB 1.1 port. However this limits the CD-RW drive
performance of the Plextor PX-708UF to 4X write, 4X rewrite, and
6X read. DVD performance with USB 1.1 is 0.7X.
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PX-708UF Installation and Users Manual