Recommendations for a Thunderbolt (USB4) CD Drive please

[philstubbington]

I'm still using a Apple SuperDrive with a Thunderbolt/USB adapter but it seems a lot slower than my old MacBook Air.

Anyone else having the same problem? If so, any recommendations - I guess a direct USB4 / Thunderbolt CD Drive would be the obvious answer.

Thanks.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I'm still using a Apple SuperDrive with a Thunderbolt/USB adapter but it seems a lot slower than my old MacBook Air.

Anyone else having the same problem? If so, any recommendations - I guess a direct USB4 / Thunderbolt CD Drive would be the obvious answer.

Thanks.

My understanding is that CD/DVD data transfer rates are so low, they would not benefit by using a faster protocol like USB4/Thunderbolt.

If the CD/DVD slot on your old Air really is faster (tests?) maybe a setting somewhere?

 

[Darkseth]

This. i've been googling a little bit, and the highest data rate i've found with like triple layer Blu Rays is like 128 mbit/s (mostly, it's slower)
That is 0,1~ gbit/s, when Thunderbolt goes up to 40 Gbit/s.

Even USB 2.0 protocoll, which was released in 2000~, goes up to 480 Mbit/s, which is WAY more than what DVDs/BluRays could work with.

And USB 3 starts at like 5 gbit/s~ nowadays.

So as long your external Drive supports at least USB 2.0, there's no need to replace it, as you won't notice anything.

 

[philstubbington]

My understanding is that CD/DVD data transfer rates are so low, they would not benefit by using a faster protocol like USB4/Thunderbolt.

If the CD/DVD slot on your old Air really is faster (tests?) maybe a setting somewhere?

I don't have the old Air any more.... maybe my patience has decreased

 

[philstubbington]

This. i've been googling a little bit, and the highest data rate i've found with like triple layer Blu Rays is like 128 mbit/s (mostly, it's slower)
That is 0,1~ gbit/s, when Thunderbolt goes up to 40 Gbit/s.

Even USB 2.0 protocoll, which was released in 2000~, goes up to 480 Mbit/s, which is WAY more than what DVDs/BluRays could work with.

And USB 3 starts at like 5 gbit/s~ nowadays.

So as long your external Drive supports at least USB 2.0, there's no need to replace it, as you won't notice anything.

Thanks for your research I'll save my money for something more interesting!