Question: external CD burners

Rangefinder

What are the best external CD drives? Brand , model etc..

eric93se

Hey Rangefinder, welcome to clubmyce

So there are tons of quality CD burners. Now-a-days we really don't get a plain CD burner, they also burn DVD's and they are pretty cheap. Blu-ray burners are becoming more affordable now and can store a lot more data.

So good names for CD/DVD burners are Samsung, Lite-on, Pioneer, LG and some others. But I guess it depends on what you want, they make more compact "slim" versions and there are the larger 5.25" drives that are generally faster and probably more reliable. So there's a trade off with compactness for travel and ruggedness. In THIS THREAD I suggested a Bytec enclosure and a Samsung drive. If you want a slim external drive then this Lite-On looks like a good choice.

Here is a list of external drives, you can pick one that has favorable reviews and you should be ok. Link

Rangefinder

I was looking at the slim drives. Amazon has a super slim LG Gb08 that would serve my needs and it has light scribe as well. The burner in my laptop seems to have gone south. Haven't used it much but if I'm out an about I'll need a working unit. Have a Plexor DVD that was to go a desktop rebuild but the laptop has been my mainstay for a while now. I will get a enclosure for it to use on the desk.

eric93se

This LG might be a little newer: Amazon link. The reviews are a little better too.

Rangefinder

The LG suggested certainly looks good but the idea of the lite scribe is appealing.

Took a look at the Lite On eTAU 208-46 and it looks good. Any thoughts?

eric93se

Looks good! go for it.

Romphotog

I bought an LG DVD burner for $69, not slim but works great!
I guess all major brands are good, just shop by price.

As for Blu-ray, I say forget it; costs too much and with 100gb discs coming soon, and slim HDD costing $89-500gb, and USB thumb drives dropping in price, BD arent a good value.

SubZero

The Pioneer BDR-2206 supports the higher than normal density and is a very good drive. The newer BDR-2207 is even better.

I have access to a 2206 and find it very quiet and very good for BDR use. It is slow of DVD's and CD's ripping.

I would get Optiarc 7260 or such for CD and DVD work and consider Pioneer for Blu-Ray.

Good luck to you on your purchase.

coolcolors

I would first see if the drive in your laptop is Sata and if so I would first go the route of replacing it first with a newer Sata laptop replacement drive. That would cost less or more depending on the brand but I would recommend going that route first. The only hard part once you get the drive out is the drive face plate swap meaning you take off the new drive face plate and then take your old face plate from the dead drive and swap it to the new drive thus making it look and fit into your laptop. This requires more work and patience and money but I find this more route to go and then get a external dvd burner drive a separate if need be hardware when you need it or go the route of a ext BD burner they do cost more but then again those BD drive burn DVD media and backward compatible with older media. But that is my .02 cents recommendation and opinion. But you will be the decider on what you get and buy.

_chef_

You live in the PAST!

I deal with BD-XL media since months, LOL!

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