External DVD drive

[Kalario]

Looking for suggestions.

I would like to buy an external DVD burner (DVD RW) for my laptop. Can anyone recommend a good reliable brand?

Thanks !!

 

[Core]

Never mind, misread title AND post content.

 

[Kalario]

I meant a DVD burner (external). I will correct th OP.

How about this one from newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ROM/RW+Drives+-+External-_-SAMSUNG-_-27151218

and this one (not sure what the difference is)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=(keywords)&Page=1

 

[Nibiru2012]

Do you want a DVD drive to burn DVDs or just to view and run DVDs?

If you want to burn and view you can buy a all-in-one unit with case and drive or you can buy a separate case and drive and assemble it yourself.

Which would you prefer to do? The all-in-one units usually a USB powered. The ones you assemble use either USB power or separate power supply.

Here's a nice one from Asus which is at Newegg:
ASUS 8X DVD-ROM 24X CD-ROM USB 2.0 Slim External DVD-ROM Model SDR-08B1-U

It's $36.99 plus $1.99 shipping and has a $10 mail-in rebate.

Western Digital.

To the best of my knowledge, Western Digital doesn't make external DVD drives.

 

[Core]

To the best of my knowledge, Western Digital doesn't make external DVD drives.

No, I don't think they do either. I edited my post accordingly. I managed to misread both the title and the post to just ask about external drives. I'm a big fan of their MyBook series.

 

[Kalario]

Thanks Core and Nibs...

I am looking to burn and view DVDs. All in one is preferred. Specifically I want to burn an image using Macrium Reflect Fee, but I don't have a burner. My CD-DVD is Read only.

 

[Kalario]

This one gets good reviews

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...k=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2

 

[tubmanaxton]

1) You must ask yourself: do I want a 'slim-line' type unit (for portability and smaller footprint), or can I live with bulkier desktop unit mounted in an external enclosure.

2) Slimline units are 'cool' but those are usually more fragile and harder to get. Also, you have to decide whether you want DVD reader + CD-RW burner combo (usually under £100 for USB only; over £100 for USB + FireWire ~ however burning CDs should work just fine with USB; also see point 4), or DVD burner (that will also do CD-RW; those will be however in 'over £250' range)

3) I personally use (with desktop setup) external IDE/ATAPI to USB2/FireWire box hosting a regular desktop DVD burner. The enclosure has build in power supply (not much to misplace but power cable), small fan and on/off switch. It is based on Prolific chipset (does not require loading drivers under 2k or XP ~ not sure about Me). You can buy those for about $30 in USB2 only, or about $40 for USB2 + FireWire. All you need than is any half decent drive of your choosing (you can hunt down a 4x DVD burners for under $80; CD-RW + DVD-ROMs are even cheaper)

4) Please note that 4-year old notebook might utilize the original incarnation of USB (as opposed to faster USB2) which may support burning CD-Rs only at low(er) speed. For burning DVDs you will definitively need USB2. Watching DVD movies should work fine on any USB version.
If you decide to upgrade (via CardBus card) to USB2, I would actually strongly recommend FireWire interface instead.