Suggest an external optical drive

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Just built a great new desktop PC system, but still need an optical drive. I prefer an external one that is AC powered. I have an old Asus USB powered one that works OK, but requires two usb connections to provide enough power. For that reason, I have never used it very much.

I am looking for a high quality external with good build quality, AC powered, and at least CD and DVD read capability. I have thousands of CDs and have ripped nearly all of them to FLAC (my thousands of LPs are a work in progress!) Although my CD buying has slowed greatly in recent years, I still want the ability to FLAC new ones. I don’t own that many DVDs (not a movie buff), but still want to be able to watch them. (My wife has a lot more than I do) Of course, not everything is available for streaming.

I don’t own any BluRays and, while I might like the option to play one one of these days, I was saying the same thing a decade ago, and still no BluRays in my collection! I am not sure I have seen any drives that read CDs, DVDs, and BluRays…

I have not burned a DVD or any type of disc in ages (closing in on two decades), so I was not sure I cared anything about that until I learned about the M-DISC format, and was intrigued (anyone here use it or have any thoughts ??).

In any case, this one seems to fit the bill. OWC Mercury Optical drive

Does anyone have any thoughts or advice (I am still on Windows 11 Pro 64 bit, unfortunately)?

Thanks.

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I have this LG slim drive but it has two USB ports and doesn’t meet your criteria. It does work well though.

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I have a cheap USB DVD reader drive in some closet. It cost all of €15 IIRC. We need it incredibly rarely, but it does the trick when we do.

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You’ll then probably have to check special studio or industrial equipment. I, like you and Mica, have a DVD burner that is powered by two USB connectors. Quite a flimsy device, which I haven’t used in years.

My only AC-powered optical drive was a SCSI Plextor 4x CD burner in the mid-90’s.

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Buy an internal one and convert to external. there are cheap external psu to molex-sata and if you have an esata on your pc you should be ok. I see there are also usb to sata with 12v psu.

I have a slim bluray burner, samsung, and somewhere an external ac powered samsung dvd-cd burner.

Do you still have your old internal one?

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