What optical drive do you guys use?

[L255J]

A couple years back I wore down my laptop's built-in optical drive while importing my DVD collection like mad, so I got a new one put in under warranty.
Well, I'm still into importing DVDs, but I don't want to wear out my laptop's optical drive and my warranty go out, so I think I'm gonna' need a more reliable standalone optical drive.

So do you guys know of a good standalone unit worth the money? What do you use?

[mduell]

By "standalone" you mean external, right? Not actually standalone.

16x Samsung + BYTECC enclosure = $56

[L255J]

Yeah, external is what I meant. Thank you—that looks like a great deal! If I get the extra cash, I'll definitely plop down for that or something better if someone has a better suggestion.

[TedJ]

The samsung drives are good performers, I'll give you that. I'd also look into the current Sony/Optiarc drives or splurge on a Pioneer BDC-202 if you think Blu-ray is in your future workflow.

[L255J]

Oh, wow. That article has a lot to say about it's ability to read through scratches, which greatly interests me. However, it's $120, which isn't chump change. Does it work with a Mac?

[mduell]

You can switch to a Sony for another $2 or even go Bluray for another $45 (although this is only 8x DVD not 16x... for 16x DVD and Bluray, it's $75 more than 16x DVD alone).

Any USB optical drive is Mac compatible, although of course OS X can't play Bluray without additional software.

[RoverTX]

@L255J

http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9258

At the moment I think Mac's still can't play Blu-ray but the above link explains how you can use a windows boot to get things ready to be used in Mac Hand Brake.