USB or Firewire External DVD/CD Drive?

[jazzer15]

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but I wasn't sure of the best place for the question.

I would like to buy an external DVD/CD burner for my Late 2009 iMac, but will be using it primarily for ripping my music collection to mp3. I will use it for burning DVDs and CDs on occasion, but the primary purpose is to rip CDs. I have done this a little with the internal super drive, but figure an external will do the job more quickly and quietly as well as preserve the internal drive.

The question I have is whether there would be a big difference in speed, if any, if I bought a USB 2.0 drive rather than firewire (the firewire drive I was looking at is a Lacie drive that is FW 400). The USB drives I am considering are are from OWC, use either a Samsung or Pioneer drive and are somewhat less expensive (about $35-$50 less).

 

[Jolly Giant]

i'd go for firewire every time.

LaCie is making good ODDs - had one for ages.

 

[theSeb]

A DVD drive will not saturate USB 2.0

 

[jazzer15]

Thank you for your responses. On a related but slightly different topic, if I decided not to buy an external, would the internal drive on my iMac be up to the task of ripping several hundred CDs? Or am I just asking for trouble?

 

[Detosx]

Anything that reduces heat in a computer over a sustained period of heavy multitasking isn't a bad thing. Whatever the life expectancy of a current generation Superdrive, an external drive is cheap, especially if you buy a DVD drive and put it in a cheap USB enclosure (if sustained usage go for metal rather than plastic for quiet/heat exchange and, preferably, one that has a fan).

 

[Badger^2]

firewire, $35

case: http://www.cooldrives.com/index.php/alox911fiusb.html

drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106281

cable: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10301&cs_id=1030104&p_id=3541&seq=1&format=2

 

[Detosx]

And there you go. PATA/IDE rather than SATA but good find/price. Thumbs up for the Oxford chipset, here. I went through a period of experimenting using external Firewire 400 drives as Mac boot drives and some Firewire chip sets couldn't handle it reliably. Those that used the Oxford chip sets worked every time.

 

[Badger^2]

SATA or PATA is irrelevant for it, either interface is way more than enough for CD or DVD burning.

Comes with USB cable and FW400 cable.

2009 iMacs only have FW800, so you will need a FW400 to FW800 cable -- unless you use USB.

Id use FW myself.

 

[archer75]

I need to find a bluray drive. Reader, not burner. External. I do have an internal SATA drive now I could use if I could find the right enclosure. But i'm not opposed to just buying an external drive.
Most enclosures i'm looking at though seem to have poor reviews so i'm still shopping. Any recommendations?

 

[Detosx]

Pointed up PATA/IDE aspect of the enclosure only because some people, assuming they have a recentish DVD writer, will perhaps find it is SATA.

 

[cube]

For a fast Blu-Ray burner you need an FW800 enclosure. OWC sells one.

 

[archer75]

Just a reader, not a burner.

I found this enclosure that looks like it will work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

 

[cube]

Just a reader, not a burner.

I found this enclosure that looks like it will work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

If you want to read BD at, say, 16X, you also need FW800.

 

[archer75]

If you want to read BD at, say, 16X, you also need FW800.

The reader I have is only 4x

 

[Badger^2]

If you want to read BD at, say, 16X, you also need FW800.

And to be running Windows.

 

[Detosx]

My experience with some of the better reviewed name brand enclosures has been poor, largely. The difference as compared to cheap brands, though, is when they died, outside of warranty, I was still able to write to the companies concerned and get replacements within a couple of days and without charge. Try that with the no name cheapos. Sorry to almost wholly cop out on your question but as I haven't purchased a DVD enclosure in the last eight months or so, so I would check out the customer reviews at newegg and amazon, also for Blu-ray drives. I am sure you will have read up on the software issues of Blu-ray playback under OS X.

 

[cube]

And to be running Windows.

You don't need Windows to read BD disks, just to play BD movies properly.

 

[archer75]

I am sure you will have read up on the software issues of Blu-ray playback under OS X.

Not interested in playback. Just ripping. I do it now on my PC/hackintosh but i'll get an imac soon so i'll just do it there.