ASUS ZenDrive Silver 13mm External 8X DVD/ Burner Drive +/-RW with M-Disc Support fr $26.56 + FSSS

90-day average price $33.41, seemingly in and out of stock.
lowest ever was $24.9o9, so pretty close

(Occasionally?) Useful for all those getting ultra portable newer laptops that don't have a built in.

Should be BD burner at this price..

Quote from pingb : Should be BD burner at this price..

I'm looking for one of those, too. Link, please!

Quote from pingb : Should be BD burner at this price..

I don't follow those closely but I've not seen those below $60.

Quote from pingb : Should be BD burner at this price..

It's 2020. What are you even going to do with a BD burner?

Would love a slot load drive. I already have an external LG drive, otherwise I'd jump on this.

Quote from buttbuddy : It's 2020. What are you even going to do with a BD burner?

Archive. Burn your photos/videos onto a blurays or dvds and put them away. Don't have to worry about your 5tb hdd dying or your ssd dying (typically within 3 years).

This drive has M-Disc support. M-Disc last up to 1000 years vs roughly 7 years for regular DVDs. I believe blu-rays last a bit longer than DVDs.

Man, old SD sure spoiled us with those Newegg rebates on these things... I want to say they were $10-15 after rebate. Was also hoping for bluray for the price, since I think the only bluray player we have is an Xbox One

Quote from PassiveX : Archive. Burn your photos/videos onto a blurays or dvds and put them away. Don't have to worry about your 5tb hdd dying or your ssd dying (typically within 3 years). This drive has M-Disc support. M-Disc last up to 1000 years vs roughly 7 years for regular DVDs. I believe blu-rays last a bit longer than DVDs.

I prefer the cloud and thumb drives.

Quote from SlickCrowd6832 : I prefer the cloud and thumb drives.

The cloud costs money monthly and thumb drives are less reliable.

I bought two of these maybe between 2010 and 2013. Both eventually seemed to have a loose connection inside where the wire connects to it. It would drop the connection to my laptop at the slightest movement and even no movement. I changed the cable but no luck. I threw one away. I'd like to rip the second open and to see if I can fix it.

I had one stored as a back-up and didn't use the other one for a long time; used it for a while and then not again for years. I used it a lot then and it had that problem. I pulled out the back-up one and it had the same problem after hardly any use.

They may have improved since then. Otherwise, I'd say don't buy them.

You can buy a laptop optical drive and buy a cable to connect it externally to your USB port. You'll have a techie, steampunk look. You can also buy an external enclosure if you like. I've used ones with drawers and slot load ones with and without external enclosures.

You can buy a used optical drive for under $10 on eBay and a cable is a couple of bucks. A slot load can be had for $11 to $13 or $19 or more.

Dell made various external enclosures that are better than any others I've seen. Some have an eSATA connection to the enclosure with a USB connection to your laptop. They come with the cable. Don't buy one without the cable. The cable alone will cost you $7 or more.

I don't know what connections the older, clunker ones had and any since the models I'm talking about. I think newer ones are all USB at both ends. I tried to date when each was released but it doesn't matter. Dell still sold one model on their website when last I checked.

You can find them NEW and in-box on eBay for around $10. I've seen them for less and more and a crazy amount more. You can find them on Amazon too. One model has four rubber feet. Another has a rubber gasket/band/whatever that forms a circle around the edges on the underside of the enclosure to serve as "feet". It keeps it stable and prevents it from scratching your table. Some of them come with a case. When I bought one, I couldn't find a case alone on eBay or Amazon for less than $15.

I paid either $10 or $11 with free shipping for a NEW one in-box with cable, four feet and a case. Dell hasn't included a case for many models since that one.

Of the two models I speak, one had the Dell logo on the top without a circle around it and the other has a circle around it. The case has an uncovered pocket on the outside and two open sections on the inside. I used to know the model numbers and dates of manufacture. You can find what you want if you look.

I was disappointed when my first Asus failed. I was more disappointed when my second Asus failed after hardly being used.

Why this one?
The other model is just $22.2 : SDRW-08U7M-U/BLK/G/AS

I need a deal on an external Blu-ray burner like this but can't seem to find one.

Quote from PassiveX : Archive. Burn your photos/videos onto a blurays or dvds and put them away. Don't have to worry about your 5tb hdd dying or your ssd dying (typically within 3 years). This drive has M-Disc support. M-Disc last up to 1000 years vs roughly 7 years for regular DVDs. I believe blu-rays last a bit longer than DVDs.

BD discs are about $20 per TB and very time consuming once you have larger files or many discs to work with. You can get external HDD for cheaper just put them away in a good case and avoid dropping it accidentally.