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External DVD drives

Both of those drives should work and are USB 3.0 which means they'll operate from a single port rather than having to use two ports as some USB 2.0 DVD drives require.
 
I recently picked up an external drive for my iMac. They are all pretty much the same. Just get one with a long cable. Mine has a short cable and placement is a bit of a problem.
 
We use 2 different external optical drives. One was an inexpensive ($25) LG picked up at Frys. Short cable, nice and compact for the 99.5% time it spends on the shelf. The other is a more expensive BD writer, with external power supply, and long cable. 99.9% of the time it resides in a shelf in the garage. Both work on whatever we've hooked them up to (2011-2015 MBAs, 2013 MBP, 2009 MP).
 
I guess I should of also asked if there are certain ones to avoid.

Anyway thanks.
 
chscag said:
Yes. The Apple Superdrive. Overpriced and confusing as to which side is up. :p
Click to expand...

:D Yeah Apple's is a little overpriced to say the least.

I'm curious, does anyone have or used MCE external blu ray player on iMac? If so, are they any good?
I'm some what tempted to get one.

Thanks.
 
Yeah, it's hard to differentiate them – I've occasionally wanted to rip Blu-rays, so my price range was a little higher. I've gone through more than one; apparently my usual care in handling devices didn't prevail for the first unit.
 
This is the one I use. It's USB2 but eh. Have had it for going on 4 years and it works like a champ.
For discs that are badly scuffed and BDs I use this with a USB3 SATA adapter. Also works like a champ.
 
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OP:

Of the two drives you listed, I'd choose the one with M-DISC support.
Supposedly VERY long-lasting media if that's important to you.

Having said that, have you thought about a drive that has Bluray capabilities as well?
(they're more expensive, however)
 
Fishrrman said:
OP:

Of the two drives you listed, I'd choose the one with M-DISC support.
Supposedly VERY long-lasting media if that's important to you.

Having said that, have you thought about a drive that has Bluray capabilities as well?
(they're more expensive, however)
Click to expand...


Yes. I'm considering one of these -

http://store.mcetech.com/mm/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BD6XSLU3AL

http://store.mcetech.com/mm/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BDC4XSLU2

http://store.mcetech.com/mm/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BD16XEXT


Leaning towards one of the two cheaper ones.
 
Again, these drives are commodity products. It really doesn't matter which one you buy.

The third device is more expensive because it is Blu-ray writer. No one here can guide on your decision as we do not know if writing is a feature you desire.
 
Resister said:
Yes. I'm considering one of these -

http://store.mcetech.com/mm/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BD6XSLU3AL

http://store.mcetech.com/mm/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BDC4XSLU2

http://store.mcetech.com/mm/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BD16XEXT


Leaning towards one of the two cheaper ones.
Click to expand...

I personally use this one and it works great. A bit large, but I rip all my blu-rays to my NAS so they can be streamed in the house with PLEX. I use it on a 2017 MBP 15" with a caldigit TS3 dock.

https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Int...517193535&sr=8-3&keywords=asus+blu-ray+burner
 
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As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I have something like this:

https://hothardware.com/news/veloci...dvd-writer-usb-hub-and-500gb-hdd-into-vmultra

but I bought a barebones model on ebay.
I had spare optical drive and HDD.
mine is usb 2 only and SD capped at 8GB
needs 2 USB ports or external power and one port.
Mine goes work with me for use with my 2012 MacBook Air.

the usb3 one above does not have the 8gb SD cap of mine.

But just goes to show what out there.
this is optical, external HDD/SSD and usb hub/card reader all in one neat unit.
 
For blu ray features, ability to write would nice. Not critical, but nice if I can get it. The main thing, of course, is watching blu rays on my iMac.


Thanks for all the feed back.
 
Then get a barebones unit like my link and fit a blue ray writer to it.

then you can.

or buy any empty caddy and fit a blue ray drive.
usb blue ray drives are still little expensive but cheaper than used to be.
 
GordonGekko999 said:
How long does it take to rip the average 2 hour blu-ray if you just want to save the file to an external drive?
Click to expand...

Using MakeMKV, very fast actually. Around 20 minutes I believe off the top of my head. Then I use handbrake to convert it to high profile so it my NAS can handle it for streaming on PLEX.
 
I would just get one that only requires one USB slot (vs 2 on most of these drives). Any of them, be it Samsung, LG, Asus, etc, are roughly similar in performance. Personally, the Koreans tend to have better aesthetic than the Taiwanese (slimmer casing, etc).
 
4RunnerHeaven said:
Using MakeMKV, very fast actually. Around 20 minutes I believe off the top of my head. Then I use handbrake to convert it to high profile so it my NAS can handle it for streaming on PLEX.
Click to expand...

Thank you, why do you need the dock, what advantages does that bring? I was going to rip 50 or so of my favorite movies using Make MKV, save them to a 4tb WD my passport drive, play them using Kodi on a Nvidia Shield. I want to keep the drive plugged into the Shield so I have my own mini Netflix style system for my favorite movies. I wanted to avoid having to plug in a server but I realize your NAS setup is more convenient.
 
Resister said:
For blu ray features, ability to write would nice. Not critical, but nice if I can get it. The main thing, of course, is watching blu rays on my iMac.


Thanks for all the feed back.
Click to expand...

pioneer make a few Blu-ray writers ranging from £90 - £200 something like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pioneer-BD...rd_wg=XM36d&psc=1&refRID=AR06RC75F47AKA2E9NQP

Or the best rated one on amazon UK is this unknown brand

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aluminum-E...rd_wg=Jlplq&psc=1&refRID=3HPS3Z4NPF0870PR7S4C
 
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