Drives > DVD±RW (±R Double Layer) Drives > USB 2.0 > Less than 30 GBP

Advantages: Easy to use, reliable & its just Plug & Play
Disadvantages: May need a firmware upgrade, depending on what media you use.

Where can I start, everyone should have something like this. I mainly use this for backing up information when I’m out & about doing odd jobs for people or research into my next project. The speed, style & reliability of this was a main issue for me, it hit all the right buttons & works like a dream. It does everything a normal internal DVD-RW should do, except you can plug it into any pc/laptop with a USB 2.0 port and your away. The downsides ...
...upgrade the firmware to allow it to recognise some cheaper versions of DVD’s. Such as a version of DataWrite DVD-R’s that was manufactured as 8x DVD’s, but a technical issue prevented the Initial creation from being 8x but only 4x. Now, most DVD-R are mostly 8x now, but some 4x about still, and some of the higher tech DVD Writers will have issues with this. A firmware update makes the DVD Writer see the disk correctly & its correct capacity. Second ... Read review

Advantages: Quick, Easy, Reliable, Small, Fits into any pocket or bag
Disadvantages: Faded out use lately

I originally bought this external floppy drive a few years ago after the standard for laptops was not to have an inbuilt floppy drive already in them however at the time floppy disks were still in use from time to time. It doesn't mean that this can't be used for desktop computers that don't have internal floppy drives. Power ********* Usually when having an external device like an external hard drive or optical drive you would usually need more ...
...the power into a power socket in the wall and a separate cable to send and receive data between the device and the computer however with this external floppy drive it has completely changed. Now all that is need with this floppy drive is simply just one USB cable with a mini USB connected to the drive making it quick and easy to use when your on the move as well as easy to fit and store on the move with no extra cabling which could possibly get tangled ... Read review

Advantages: faster optical drive with 2MB buffer size.
Disadvantages: --

Asus optical drive is more then stable product. With fast reading, fast writing, it make everybody like Asus optical drive. With IDE/ATAPI interface, ASUS DRW 1608P make it always support at all pc. At max operating, this optical drive temperature always stable, and not make a big noise. Make reading faster with 2MB buffer size. If you see with front side at this ASUS DRW 1608P, it look a strong optical drive. Dual compatibility feature make your ... Read review

Advantages: Very, very cheap; SATA; Fast; Reads/Writes most DVD formats
Disadvantages: Only comes in beige; No DVD-RAM writing (Read Only)

...REVIEW I bought my Pioneer DVR-212D, a few days ago for just £11 inc. VAT, BRAND NEW, from eBuyer.com. I hope you agree that's an incredible price for a S-ATA DVD rewriter. I only really needed the Pioneer drive to aid in testing the functionality of another more current P-ATA DVD-RW drive that was exhibiting some very odd behaviour that I wasn't absolutely certain was the drive's fault, so I wasn't too fussy about it being highly specified. Having ...
...the drive vertically. Being Pioneer I imagine longevity is a given, at least here in my household they have an enviable reputation for reliability. I have never managed to break anything I have bought from them in the past. It doesn't seem to matter what quality of disc you present it with either, it just accepts any old tat. Even the really nasty 8x reject DVDs my local computer emporium tries to pass of as quality gear work in this drive, a welcome ... Read review

Advantages: ummmmm
Disadvantages: Doesn't work very well, slow, intermitently recognises disks, poor back up service, need I go on?

I ordered my Freecom DVD Recorder LS USB 2.0 after my CD/DVD drive packed up on my 15 month old HP Desktop. I wanted it mainly to load CD ROM and burn DVD's from movies already converted to DVD format on my hard drive. Being that my PC had no disk drive I relied upon this external drive to load the bundled DVD burning software (Roxio 9). This took several days and many attempts. Then I tried burning my first DVD. After taking 3 hours to do a task ... Read review