help with picking a new dvd burner

[trparky]

I still put one in all my own personal builds - which means I have to be careful when buying a case because many now no longer support external drive bays.

That said, while I prefer internal drives, a decent external drive is nice if you have multiple computers.

My case has no 5.25 drive bays, so I had to buy an external enclosure for my old DVD burner. All I did was take my old drive, put it in the enclosure, and I was done. Instant external DVD drive.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Its required to restore UHD disc playback, unlock ripping, and region locks.

How To Restore UHD Playback In Latest Blu-Ray Drives

I don't know if you guys and girlettes are aware, but latest internal Blu-Ray drives (and its firmware) cannot read UHD discs. If you bring in a movie, you may face an unpleasant surprise. It appears that hardware vendors have begun blocking UHD within the drives' firmware. The Blu-Ray drive...

www.techpowerup.com

Did not know that. Then again, I don't do a lot of movie playing/ripping on my PC. My drive is almost exclusively used for data backups.

 

[Bill_Bright]

The laser lense gets dirty over time and just die. If you have a dusty environment (smoker or live in a desert), it dies even faster than normal.

Another reason to make sure your case has removable, washable filters and your fan setup creates a slight positive or overpressure environment. This ensures the vast majority of dirty, outside air is pulled in only through the filters. Plus the slight excess pressure causes just a little filtered air to go out through the optical drive. With under or negative pressure, dusty air is pulled in through every crack and crevice, including through the optical drive.

My case has no 5.25 drive bays, so I had to buy an external enclosure for my old DVD burner. All I did was take my old drive, put it in the enclosure, and I was done. Instant external DVD drive.

And that's great - if you don't mind another something sitting on your computer desk. And it is especially great if you will be using that drive on different computers. And of course, sometimes that is your only option, such with a laptop - most of which these days don't support opticals or 5.25 drives.

I'm just saying for me, I always go for decent mid-tower ATX cases. IMO, there's no reason the makers cannot make one 5.25 slot accessible from the front. They all support 5.25 bays internally. But that's just me.

 

[keakar]

i took all of your advice to heart and decided to buy this one for $47 (Pioneer 8x Internal Blu Ray combo DVD/CD Burner Writer Drive BDR-L06+SATA Cable)

i understand it may not be the best out there, but then i dont think i need anything super high end

while i was at it i also got a new samsung 870 EVO 1TB SSD drive for $129 to replace my old samsung 512gb 840 PRO SSD drive which i will now use as a portable external drive

 

[lexluthermiester]

i took all of your advice to heart and decided to buy this one for $47 (Pioneer 8x Internal Blu Ray combo DVD/CD Burner Writer Drive BDR-L06+SATA Cable)

Nice. That's a good drive.

while i was at it i also got a new samsung 870 EVO 1TB SSD drive for $129

Also nice drive!

 

[eidairaman1]

Another reason to make sure your case has removable, washable filters and your fan setup creates a slight positive or overpressure environment. This ensures the vast majority of dirty, outside air is pulled in only through the filters. Plus the slight excess pressure causes just a little filtered air to go out through the optical drive. With under or negative pressure, dusty air is pulled in through every crack and crevice, including through the optical drive.

And that's great - if you don't mind another something sitting on your computer desk. And it is especially great if you will be using that drive on different computers. And of course, sometimes that is your only option, such with a laptop - most of which these days don't support opticals or 5.25 drives.

I'm just saying for me, I always go for decent mid-tower ATX cases. IMO, there's no reason the makers cannot make one 5.25 slot accessible from the front. They all support 5.25 bays internally. But that's just me.

I just buy a different case

 

[bobbybluz]

As a sidenote I have three Blu-ray burners. All are Lite-On iHBS-212's. I bought two of them new over 10+ years ago and they're still going strong. The third showed up on Ebay two years ago listed as "for parts only". I sent the seller a message asking what was wrong with it. He told me he'd only used it a few times and it burned coasters so he put it back in the box and stashed it away. I didn't ask what burning software he'd used. He then said if I wanted it and thought I may be able to fix it I could have it for $10 including shipping. Of course I jumped on the deal.

It showed up in virtually new condition in the original packaging, I put the latest firmware in it and it's been perfect using Nero and Sound Forge Pro to burn several hundred discs with since I got it. Not a single coaster so far and I've used some questionable media at times in it (like the no-name CD's I got off the local Craigslist for $20 for 400 blanks in spindles of 100).

One trick I've discovered for older optical drives that have doors that don't want to open unless you push the button several times is to leave a disc in them at all times. My experience has been they'll open every time with one push of the button as long as there's a disc in them. No idea why that happens but it's worked for me for years.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The third showed up on Ebay two years ago listed as "for parts only". I sent the seller a message asking what was wrong with it. He told me he'd only used it a few times and it burned coasters so he put it back in the box and stashed it away. I didn't ask what burning software he'd used. He then said if I wanted it and thought I may be able to fix it I could have it for $10 including shipping. Of course I jumped on the deal.

It showed up in virtually new condition in the original packaging, I put the latest firmware in it and it's been perfect using Nero and Sound Forge Pro to burn several hundred discs with since I got it. Not a single coaster so far and I've used some questionable media at times in it (like the no-name CD's I got off the local Craigslist for $20 for 400 blanks in spindles of 100).

SCORE! Nice find.

One trick I've discovered for older optical drives that have doors that don't want to open unless you push the button several times is to leave a disc in them at all times. My experience has been they'll open every time with one push of the button as long as there's a disc in them. No idea why that happens but it's worked for me for years.

I usually open them up and re-grease the gears. The factory grease gets dried out and sticky sometimes depending on the brand and model.

 

[Bill_Bright]

The factory grease get dry and sticky sometimes depending on the brand and model.

I've seen this often when case fans are not setup properly to provide a slight over or positive pressure. Positive pressure pushes excess "clean" air out through the optical drive's front panel - that's a good thing. Negative (too much exhausting out than being pulled in) causes "dirty" air to get pulled in through the optical drive's front panel (and every USB and other ports) - not good. That dust/dirt then gums up the lubricants - not to mention can obscure the optical lens.

Just about every optical drive has a manual release mechanism. If you look carefully, you should see a tiny hole in the front of the drive. There is no standard location for this hole, so look all over. You typically see these mentioned for stuck trays. But for trays that sometimes don't open (as described above) I have found by inserting a straightened paperclip and pushing it all the way in - not just until the tray pops open, but insert it as far as you can. This will help work loose a gummed up mechanism. Do this a few times, like working a stiff shoulder joint. No promises, but some times it works.