Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

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mhschmieder
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Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by mhschmieder »

I totally forgot that I'll now have to buy an external optical drive for my new iMac.

After an hour of research, I am very confused, as I found a few good articles but then saw too many caveats for almost every available model once I went to NewEgg and Amazon (haven't tried OWC yet).

It seems that many do not work with the brand new iMac and laptop models.

Also, very few people seem to care about CD error recovery, which has been a big problem for me these past few years on my MacPro, with so many discs skipping once playing back the uploaded files. That's literally the ONLY thing I care about, as I have a huge CD collection that will take years to fully upload to the computer. I sold my high-end standalone CD player and hi-fi system a few years back.

LG seems to make reliable ones; albeit still not as USB3. Almost every other brand seems unreliable (including Samsung). Some say the LG drives use Panasonic, but I recall a few years back people saying Pioneer drives are the ones you want inside.

Of the newer models from "unknown manufacturers", this one looked the most likely to be a quality product with proper support for backup, buffering, etc. (known as M-Disc technology?):

https://www.amazon.com/DIZA100-External ... eature_div

The Apple Superdrive seems to be a POS that is unreliable and featureless. I don't want to continue with Apple optical drives as I'm unhappy enough that the one in my MacPro lost its ability to choose the read speed when uploading CD's, after Apple decided one shoe fits all (at 64x, not good for typically scratchy discs). I also prefer actual mechanical trays vs. a slot that can scratch the discs.
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by mhschmieder »

Looks like I wasted time by bothering with newegg and Amazon, as OWC has much more reliable compatibility data and filtering for quality models:

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewir ... al-drives/

https://eshop.macsales.com/search/external+blu+ray

I'll read through all of those now and place an order ASAP so I can hopefully get it shipped out today, as it's clear I'm better off ordering from OWC than going back to Fry's to sort through options there.

Money is not an object. Well, within reason. It looks like that won't be an issue, as "high-end" models seem to top out around $130. I'd rather spent that and get something good, than $30 for junk.

I see also that the "M-Disc" terminology that I saw for the first time today, is related to BluRay discs as storage/backup media. I don't think I'm ready to go there, but might be soon, as it could be a better way of archiving audio projects than strictly using backup drives, given that I will at some point need to hand backup copies to other people in case they want more than just final mastered audio from me.

So, even though I don't watch BluRay movies, getting a BluRay capable drive is probably still the wisest move. Only a few models don't yet support that by now, so there isn't much difference between the first and second search lists.
Last edited by mhschmieder on Mon Jul 03, 2017 3:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by mikehalloran »

The Apple is too slow and too expensive.

It's been so many years since I've burned a coaster, I don't know... I use generic drives in generic housings and just don't have issues. I notice many touting that they have eSATA, FW and other connectivity. Mine have FW800 and eSATA connections but they are no faster than connecting those same drives via USB 2 ... except that you can't Boot an Intel Mac via FW or an eSATA optical drive. A 48x write speed is just as fast if USB 2.

Do "features" count on a Mac CD/DVD burner?

All the ones on that list are bus powered. None of mine are. Notice that some also have dual USB cables in case extra power is needed.

I use Verbatim DataLife media from Mitsubishi and burn with Toast 15. I think that has more to do with reliability than anything else.

Can you get externally powered drives anymore? I'm hanging onto the ones I have.
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by mhschmieder »

Remember, this is primarily for recorded audio CD's, as I gave up my hi-fi system a few years back and have Radial Engineering DI's for my phonograph and my cassette deck but depend solely on computer optical drives for audio CD's.

I no longer play audio CD's from the drive as I figure that's too much wear and tear. I upload them, annotate a minimal amount of info from liner notes into the comments section in iTunes, and then consider the physical CD a backup (though I also backup the hard drive).

They lied to us when CD's came out, and I had enough insider knowledge at the time to know it, but it isn't simple black & white either as different manufacturers and manufacturing/mastering processes, as well as storage, affect how long a Red Book CD will last before it starts self-erasing (UV mostly).

I just find it weird that I'm apparently the only person left on the planet who owns audio CD's, buys them (occasionally) instead of downloads (never), and uses the computer to upload them to iTunes.

At least we don't generally need optical trays anymore for software installations. It was an improvement on floppy drives, but still unreliable and non-performant for such purposes.

Writing once-only or many-write discs is still useful though -- especially for "bucket" based photo organization (a la "Digilloyd" suggestions) and particularly for handing a client an audio project in full (if requested -- something I haven't dealt with yet as people have trusted me to do backups and haven't been interested in trying out other engineers mid-stream).

I do agree with Apple, however, that it is best to keep the optical drive out of the main computer (especially a laptop or iMac, or a Mini). It's never going to be used as "non-stop" as a data drive anyway.
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by mhschmieder »

OK, it is down to two OWC enclosures that include highly-rated LG optical drives inside:

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MR3USD24/#owctabs

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MR3UBDRW16/#owctabs

Note that there is no wall wart; just a floor lump, which is far preferable. I found this out through the user reviews (and also that the actual drive is from LG).

OWC also sells the enclosure on its own, but I don't see better internal optical drives than the LG and certainly don't want to cannibalize the rather poor one from my 2010 macPro.

I'll have to read up a bit before deciding, but it does turn out that "M-Disc" is available for more than just BluRay discs, so I was wrong on that front earlier. Even so, BluRay capacity may better match an audio project -- especially if an album full of song projects.
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical driva

Post by mikehalloran »

I don't know M-Disk from BluRay. Otherwise, both look somewhat like mine. I like old school trays that pop out so you can drop the disk down then it slides back in.

I, too, buy CDs still. I load them into iTunes at m4a Apple lossless and go from there. Since they are already finished products, 44.1/16 is fine. I used to make copies for my car but have since gone to BT from my iPhone 7+.
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by mhschmieder »

Here are the more detailed specs from LG, for the two optical drives:

http://www.lg.com/us/burners-drives/lg- ... -dvd-drive

http://www.lg.com/us/burners-drives/lg- ... -dvd-drive

I wouldn't use the one DVD format that is faster on the non-BluRay device enough to give it an edge as the best choice, and the reviews are far superior for the BluRay drive as well, so I'll go with that. It comes with two blank BluRay discs, which will help me decide how soon I want to start using those for archiving of projects (vs. full-drive backups).

The M-DISC technology is fascinating -- although I don't know if I care whether aliens 1000 years from now can still play my music (assuming they can extract it from these archival discs) :-).
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by mhschmieder »

I just read through all of the reviews at LG's site, and the negative ones are listed first and are quite plentiful and scathing. Yet they are mostly by people who are entertainment-oriented vs. working professionals using the drive for project work and the like, so I would more heavily weight the reviews at the MacSales website as being from more savvy people and not confused by possible compatibility issues with large screen TV's and the like.

Also, it may be that the OWC enclosure improves the situation considerably. Not to mention one can keep the enclosure and upgrade the optical drive as new models arrive, or as needed.

I can't imagine that there are better solutions that this, even if it's imperfect (and what isn't?).
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by daniel.sneed »

IMOE, Apple usb external optical drive is very *connection sensitive*.
While it does fine connected to my new MacBookPro, it refuses to mount when connected thru a usb hub. Not to mention connected thru anything else, such as a PC, or older computer.
Bad bang for the bucks ratio to me.
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by mhschmieder »

The optical drive in my 2010 MacPro is labeled "Hitachi LG". Of course it's older than what I just ordered from OWC, by good measure, and I'm wondering if the Apple-branded USB drive is Samsung?

There can't be that many manufacturers of raw optical drives, but the enclosure can make a difference of course, as well as the connectivity and other factors.

I haven't re-found the topic, but a few years back I inquired on replacing the internal optical drive of my MacPro when I began to suspect it was near end-of-life due to so many disc errors, and someone recommended Pioneer, but I couldn't find those so maybe they stopped making them.

I'm sure the new one from LG, in the OWC enclosure, will be more reliable and less error-prone than the one in my 2010 MacPro. If it's better for CD's, but has flaws with BluRay and DVD, I'll still be ahead.
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by mhschmieder »

The OWC optical tray enclosure with LG BluRay M-Disc installed, arrived today, and is a huge step up from the older LG CD/DVD optical tray in the 2010 macPro.

Much more accurate at reading discs, and it doesn't automatically go for super-fast speed even when there are obvious disc errors that should be processed.

Fortunately, it has a floor lump instead of a wall wart.

The main drawback is that the eject button is in the lower left, making it all but inaccessible when the tray is open -- not that it's easy to reach when the tray is closed either.

I'm going to have to swap it to the left side of my computer tomorrow before my next bootup.

Notice that the optical tray is not recognized until a reboot -- at least, the first time, I knew well enough to reboot when it wasn't recognized, before going into a panic.

Strangely, you seem to have to eject the disc from iTunes itself, but then you can only close the tray from the drive mechanism.

It does act like a magnet, so even an inch or two away from my metal-enclosed G-tech hard drives, I got a surprise effect that I couldn't halt, kind of scaring me that I might erase my hard drive quite quickly!

As a result of so much metal in my new external gear, I'm a bit concerned about best setup of devices. Even the iMac base is all-metal and quite conductive of magnetism, if a drive gets near it.

What are people doing? I guess you can't stack any of these G-Tech, Newertechnology, or OWC (all three the same brand) devices due to the all-metal casings. But who has the desk space to have them sprawl all over the place?
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by mikehalloran »

I built a shelf above my iMac to hold my Time Capsule, a couple of docks etc. using adjustable legs I got from ikea to get the height right. Only my optical drive sits on my desk.

Except for my optical drive, my docks have plastic housings and no fans—the drives are exposed to the air.

The eject button below the open tray is normal. A gentle push on the open tray should tell the motor to retract the tray.
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Re: Recommendation on most reliable external optical drive

Post by mhschmieder »

Good to know. I tried a gentle push, but I'm gentle by nature as I'm always cautious about using too much force and breaking things.

I did rearrange this morning before turning anything on, and now it sits on the left of the iMac, making everything more accessible. I also stacked my two G-Tech 10 TB USB3 drives, as there are non-conductive plastic feet that allow them to be safely stacked.

As soon as my PayPal Credit payment clears, I will buy the Helios 3 to host my Mercury Accelsior_2 PCIe 480 GB SSD. If it has plastic feet and good clearance, it may be OK to set it atop the optical drive.

I am avoiding fans as much as possible, but the one on the Helios 3 is said to be variable yet whisper quiet when in operation. We'll see.
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