ASUSSDRW-08D2S-U LITE external 8X DVD writer, Mac Compatible, M-DISC support, Disc Encryption, Unlimited Webstorage(12 months), NERO Backitup, E-Green, E-Media

I bought this "ASUS SDRW-08U7M-U Ultraslim" as my current 15 year old External DVD Drive has started to randomly refuse blank discs it has always accepted. At first glance it looks nice, its light, looks a bit flimsy, but it's not like I'm going to be tossing it around the place. The discs need to be pressed onto a spindle until they click securely into place (much like a PS1 Console), these are actually better as there's no chance of scratching or damaging a CD.The only downside to this DVD Drive is the included Y Cable, it is only 18 inches in length, perfectly fine if you are using a Laptop. But I am using a desktop PC and I have to use books to prop it up to reach my USB ports. There are 2 USB Connectors, the 2nd provides additional power if needed (my PC only needed me to use the one, some low power laptops may need it, so make sure you have 2 USB ports side by side or within 4 inches of one another).I installed Power2Go 8 from the bundled Software disc as I had previously used a Trial and liked its functionality, its a quick no fuss burning Software but has advanced options if needed.Also I liked the inclusion of 2 Verbatim DVDR ''M-Discs'', will be the only time that I will use these as the DVDR M-Discs are hard to purchase and have little use to me, standard blank DVDs are fine. I have a collection of family photos going back to the 1920's so will use them for that as there supposed to last a lifetime. I ripped a CD and extraction speed was slower than my older drive, but its what it is, but track quality was 100% and that's the main thing. Burning DVDs was quick though and it accepted all the discs, disc verification afterwards gave a 100% pass. My copying and burning was silent enough, all depends on surface you have it on.

I am really impressed / pleased with this drive. It seems to be increasingly difficult to find a recognisable brand-name drive for under around £35.My laptop does actually have a CD/DVD drive, but it is playing up and does not recognise some music CDs (I rip my CDs to my laptop, so I have music with me when working away from home). It is quite likely that my next laptop will not have an optical drive at all - so I decided to get an external drive.This drive comes with a software disc (DVD format), although I have not bothered to use it. I simply connected the drive to my laptop, confirmed that windows 7 recognised it, inserted my CD and I was away. I also tested it with a DVD movie - no problem at all.As with many external drives, optical drives like this and hard-drives, this device takes its power from the USB socket of the computer to which it is connected. Also, in common with many similar peripherals, there is no external power-supply for this drive. The supplied USB cable is a "Y-cable", such that if your Asus drive cannot receive enough power from a single USB socket, then the second USB plug must be connected. The Y-Cable lead to the extra-power USB plug is quite short, so the two USB sockets would need to be close together (and not on opposite sides of the laptop - or you will need an extension USB cable). I needed to plug in both plugs to play a DVD movie - it was recognised by my computer, and the DVD name was recognised with only one plug connected, but it would not play the DVD (it would read the contents of the software DVD supplied with only one plug connected)The supplied DVD with the drive seems to contain some sort of back-up software, and an ASUS-Green "power-saving" software - I did install that but after one look at it I uninstalled it. The quick operating instructions do not cover what is included on the CD, and I do not need it for my purposes.I also bought a case in which to store or carry this drive - as the drive itself is quite lightweight and I think could be easily damaged if not looked after. I bought this: RLSOCO Hard Protective Carrying Case for USB CD DVD HDD Blu-Ray Burner, Ultra Portable External Hard Drive Case . The case fits well in terms of length and width/depth - perhaps slightly too high, but a bit of foam on top of the drive and it is held snugly.Very happy with the purchase of this drive, great value for the price.Update: 23 Jan 2018: been using this drive quite a bit for several weeks. Has not failed to be recognised once by my laptop, and has not failed to read even a single CD (I only plug it in to the laptop when I need to use it).

My latest laptop doesn't have an optical drive as often seems to be the case these days. There are occasions when I still need the capability so I looked up these external drives. I realise streaming is one of the more popular means of viewing media in this day & age (I stream an awful lot myself), but it's not like everyone instantly stopped using CD, DVD, or Blu-Ray media, or completely stopped using them to store, or move important data either. 22 years ago my first laptop had a removable 3.5" floppy drive & CD-Rom drive, (only one of the drives could be in the dock at a time obviously & a reboot was required to swap drives too). It worked well enough but it wasn't particularly convenient especially at a time when hard drives were measured in mere MB's, not the TB's of today. Despite also owning multiple USB external HDD's, dozens of various data cards, & flash drives, etc., too, I still feel dropping optical drives completely was a bit of a backwards step personally.Ergo, this external drive has already come in quite handy for me. My laptop instantly discovered the drive & it immediately installed the relevant software drivers too. The drive was ready for use in seconds. It does the job well enough for its rated purpose but it's pretty noisy without the chassis of a laptop to dampen the vibration & noise of the spin speed. (The design is essentially an optical drive from a laptop inside an external case). It's supplied with a splitter cable in case you need the extra power from a second USB port when writing to discs, but thus far a single USB3 port has supplied enough power for both read & write operations on my newer laptop. (Whether you need to use 2 USB ports will come down to individual hardware). It looks good & seems well made externally, although the internal tray isn't particularly robust, & could very easily become damaged or inoperable if not exercising care!! External optical drives can get VERY warm too, especially when writing but this is to be expected. For the price, can't really grumble.Overall, not bad for light or occasional use, but I wouldn't rely on one like a dedicated internal drive in all honesty. Build quality could be better!! However, I would still recommend one if your device doesn't have an internal optical drive & you find yourself in need of one. 4/5.