Ultimate Guide to the Top External Optical Drives – Your Buying Checklist
While plenty of content is available for download or streaming online—and most of us carry around a whole library of movies and music on our phones and laptops—physical discs still have their uses.
So, if you need it, we’ve got a host of great picks, from compact and affordable to powerful and fully featured.
While many of the best external optical drives go for a smaller form factor, making them easier to travel, this pick for top performance goes big. The ASUS BW-16D1X-U measures 2.48 x 6.50 x 9.57 inches, making it a bit of a desk hog, but with that extra size, you get serious performance for every task.
The ASUS BW-16D1X-U has fast access times on all types of optical media, so you’ll spend less time waiting around. It can access CD-ROM at 160ms, DVD-ROM at 170ms, and BD-ROM at 180ms. Its read and write performance is also stellar, with 40x, 16x, and 8x read speeds in CD, DVD, and Blu-ray, respectively. Likewise, it can burn CD-R at 40x, DVD-R at 16x, and BD-R at 16x.
So, whether you want to rip media from discs or burn data to them, the Asus BW-16D1X-U can do the job quickly. It also supports BDXL, allowing storage of up to 128GB on a single, compatible disc. Making the package even sweeter, the ASUS BW-16D1X-U supports Windows and Mac computers.
If you don’t need the Blu-ray capabilities offered by some of the more premium external optical drives, you can get a great deal on a CD/DVD drive. LG’s GP65NB60 is a low-profile and affordable combo drive that offers both read and write capability for CD and DVD. Measuring 0.6 x 5.4 x 5.6 inches and weighing just 0.4 pounds, it even gives our top compact pick a run for its money.
The LG GP65NB60 can read CD-ROM at 24x speeds and DVD-ROM at 8x speeds, meaning it’s not lagging behind most of the competition despite its budget price. Write speeds are also decent, with up to 24x on CD-R and up to 8x on DVD-R.
The LG GP65NB60 needs a single USB connection for all its power and data transfer needs. Further rounding out the package, the LG GP65NB60 supports Windows and Mac, can burn archival-quality M-Disc, and comes in various colors, with black, gold, white, and silver on offer.
Many modern laptops forgo an optical drive to trim their size and weight. But that reduction wouldn’t be valuable if you need an optical drive.
Measuring just 0.45 x 5.24 x 5.75 inches, the Verbatim 70102 is super compact. What’s more, the reduction in size doesn’t mean a bunch of compromises. It’s built with metal housing for a premium look and feel and is speedy.
It can write CDs at 24x, DVDs at 8x, and Blu-rays at 6x — even supporting M-Disc. It’s a CD/DVD/BD drive weighing less than half a pound. The Verbatim 70102 is a mobility champion, with power and data transfer over USB, so you’ll only need one cable.
The Dell DW316 measures 0.55 x 5.41 x 5.67 inches, making it both a budget and compact contender. Along with its slim profile, the device weighs just 0.44 pounds, so you’ll hardly notice it in your laptop bag. Running off a single USB connection for power and data transfer doesn’t take much to get the Dell DW316 up and running.
Support is confirmed for Windows, but reviewers have also mentioned using the Dell DW316 with Mac computers.
The Dell DW316 performs in line with what most of the competition offers. It boasts maximum read speeds of 24x for CDs and 8x for DVDs, and it can provide those same speeds for writing as well.
Title: Top Rated External Hard Drive Models - Buyer's Guide