DVD-R Burning and Reading seems to be OK. I have not tested other media.
The drive is very loud, not suitable for watching movies or doing complicated work while it is working.
The drive provides a 'Silent Mode', but this can only be activated with Windows software -- according to:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=138061
http://qpxtool.sourceforge.net/problems.html
Plextor tries to prevent free software developers from solving this.