The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Recommend an external Bluray/DVD drive

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by alexhawker, Apr 21, 2019.

  1. alexhawker

    alexhawker Spent Gladiator

    Reputations:
    500
    Messages:
    2,540
    Likes Received:
    792
    Trophy Points:
    131
    Can anyone recommend a good external drive? If I'm going to get one, I'd like it to at least read Blurays, I don't care if it can write them (though it seems most will).

    Looking on Newegg and Amazon, I find it hard to see anything that stands out based on reviews/brand/etc.

    Does anyone have one that works well that they'd recommend?

    Thanks in advance.
     
    alexhawker, Apr 21, 2019
    #1
  2. Dr. AMK

    Dr. AMK Living with Hope

    Reputations:
    3,961
    Messages:
    2,182
    Likes Received:
    4,654
    Trophy Points:
    281
    Dr. AMK, Apr 21, 2019
    #2
    joluke likes this.
  3. jclausius

    jclausius Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    6,160
    Messages:
    3,265
    Likes Received:
    2,573
    Trophy Points:
    231
    The Panasonic drive in my signature was a decent drive. You could pair that with an external enclosure to build your own- https://www.amazon.com/s?k=external+slot+12.7mm+enclosure&ref=nb_sb_noss

    However, I have to warn you,if you're wanting this for movies, blu-ray on a PC is not what you would expect. There are multiple players that are buggy and crash half the time on different movies. The menus don't work. I thought about purchasing a couple of different players, but the trials were just as bad as the free-ware competitors. I'd recommend anyone considering Blu-Ray on PC just for the sake of movies to tread carefully.
     
    jclausius, Apr 22, 2019
    #3
    joluke, Vasudev, alexhawker and 5 others like this.
  4. alexhawker

    alexhawker Spent Gladiator

    Reputations:
    500
    Messages:
    2,540
    Likes Received:
    792
    Trophy Points:
    131
    Thanks!

    I mainly want/need an external DVD drive for now - I figured it might make sense to buy one that can do blurays too, for future needs. I don't currently want or need to watch any movies with the drive, but may use it with handbrake at some point down the road...

    Should I just go for a cheap DVD drive instead, you think?
     
    alexhawker, Apr 22, 2019
    #4
  5. Mastermind5200

    Mastermind5200 Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    372
    Messages:
    2,152
    Likes Received:
    826
    Trophy Points:
    131
    Cheapest one off Amazon/eBay
     
    Mastermind5200, Apr 22, 2019
    #5
    Starlight5 and jclausius like this.
  6. jclausius

    jclausius Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    6,160
    Messages:
    3,265
    Likes Received:
    2,573
    Trophy Points:
    231
    If you're going to use it for data, there's a lot of storage for blu-Ray. If you go DVD, that would be the most affordable. I guess it really just depends on your needs.
     
    jclausius, Apr 22, 2019
    #6
  7. alexhawker

    alexhawker Spent Gladiator

    Reputations:
    500
    Messages:
    2,540
    Likes Received:
    792
    Trophy Points:
    131
    I ended up getting this one. So far so good.
     
    alexhawker, Apr 30, 2019
    #7
    jclausius and tilleroftheearth like this.