How to choose an optical drive for a PC or laptop

It must be admitted that miniature, capacious and fast flash memory drives have recently seriously squeezed the position of optical discs on the market. Even to install an operating system on a computer, an optical disc is no longer needed. However, there are still plenty of games, movies and music sold on them. You can also buy optical drives to use as a backup device, freeing up space on crowded hard drives or SSDs. Actually, that is why the drives in our computers are still actual devices.

Size matters

Slim internal slim options are designed for installation in laptops.

Slim internal slim options are designed for installation in laptops. Laptop slim drives include LG GTC0N and Samsung SN-208 models. Standard internals are used in more spacious desktop PC cases. Good and affordable desktop internal models are LG GH24NSD0, LiteOn iHAS122, Samsung SH-224BB. External optical drives, usually connected via USB, are the most versatile - they can be used equally successfully with both desktops and laptops. Good external USB drives, and with support for large Blu-Ray drives - Asus SBC-06D2X-U, LG BP50NB40, etc.

And recently, external drives have been mass-produced in thin slim cases. Universal external slim devices are Asus SDRW-08D2S-U, Transcend TS8XDVDS-K, Apple MD564, etc.

Completeness

The Retail version contains the necessary screws, connecting wires, etc.

What to look for when buying an optical drive? First of all, for the delivery set, which can be in Retail (retail) and OEM (for equipment assembly companies). If you're choosing a drive for a new computer, it's best to opt for the slightly more expensive Retail option. The point here is not so much in the beautiful packaging of such an option, as in what was put in it. In addition to the drive itself, here you can find the necessary screws for fixing the device in the computer case, a connecting cable for connecting to the motherboard, an accessory for emergency opening of a jammed drawer with a disk, and various additional bonus software on the supplied disk. The OEM packaging option means that apart from the drive, possibly in a plastic bag, the user will not receive anything else. This option should be preferred if you are replacing an old drive with a new one, for example after a breakdown. In this case, all the necessary screws and cables are already there, as well as the software necessary to use.

Connection interface

All internal slim and full-size optical drives today are available exclusively with a SATA interface. If you need to replace an old IDE drive, then you will most likely have to look for a used device that is in working condition.

External drives are connected via USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 interfaces. Since the optical drive is a rather slow device, the presence of a USB 3.0 interface is not a significant plus for it, unlike, say, an external HDD. At one time, external optical drives with an eSATA interface were still produced, but now everyone has safely forgotten about them.

Optical disc support

Be sure to pay attention to the types of supported disks.

Be sure to pay attention to the types of supported disks. Now most of the optical drives produced are DVD-writers - DVD-RW. This drive is capable of reading DVD-ROM discs, reading and writing to DVD-R/RW/RAM discs, as well as reading CD-ROM, reading and writing to CD-R/RW discs. However, the family of CD discs, due to its low capacity, is obsolete and has lost its relevance. Also, optical drives with support only for CDs have long been discontinued; they can only be found in a “very used” condition. DVD-ROM drives with the ability to read DVDs only, as well as combo drives with DVD reading and writing to CD-R/RW, are also not available. If you are offered this option, just bypass this seller on the tenth road.

As for drives with support for the latest Blu-Ray technology, they have not become popular due to the global spread of broadband Internet access to data and cloud services, as well as due to their high cost. These drives are available in two varieties: read-only Blu-ray and write to DVD-RW discs, or write-only to Blu-ray discs. But the latest models cost absolutely space money - 4-5 times more expensive than DVD writers. But if you do not want to deny yourself this pleasure, then the best option would be the Asus BW-16D1HT, LG BH16NS40, Teac BD-W512GSA, etc. But frankly, if you really want to watch licensed films in Blu-Ray quality, today there are much it is wiser to buy an external USB hard drive for the same money and watch movies from images, since external hard drives can be connected to modern TVs without any problems. It is also rational to enjoy watching high-quality paid content in online cinemas - it is much cheaper than buying licensed Blu-Ray media with movies.

Speed

The higher the rotation speed, the stronger the load on the disk, which may cause cracks to appear.

The next important aspect of the optical drive is the read and write speeds. Do not think that the higher both speeds, the better. Yes, with a drive that provides high speed to work faster. But! The higher the rotational speed, the more severe the loads experienced by the drive in the drive, which can lead to the appearance of cracks on it and even a break inside the drive. This trouble can equally happen both with licensed branded discs bought in a store, and with "blanks" purchased on the radio market. When recording a disc at high speed, the probability of errors also increases. Moreover, at high speeds, the parts of the drive mechanics wear out faster, and the drive itself makes increased noise. Fortunately, many modern drives use adaptive speed to reduce mechanical stress and noise.

Typical CD rotation speeds in modern drives are up to 48x for non-rewritable CD-ROM discs, up to 40x for rewritable CD-RW discs.

DVD discs rotate in drives faster than CD discs by about three times, and due to the higher data density, the average reading speed of DVD is about 9 times higher than that of CD. For DVD, the average 1x speed is 1385 KB/s, while for CD drives, the 1x speed corresponds to only 150 KB/s. Actually, it is clear why CD drives have long sunk into oblivion. I also remind you that the reading speed of any optical disc in normal mode is not constant, and in the centre is always much less than on the extreme side of the media.

Typical read speeds for DVD-ROM/ R/RW/ discs in the drive are 12-16x. For DVD-RAM and dual-layer DVD±R DL discs with increased capacity up to 8.5 GB, the read speeds are about 8x/4x. The speed of writing to DVD-RAM discs and dual-layer DVD ± R DL in modern drives is also limited to 8x/4x, but on DVD-R/RW you can write much faster, at speeds up to 16x.

For Blu-Ray format discs, the read speed reaches 1-4x, but it should be remembered that 1x Blu-Ray drive speed corresponds to about 4500 Kb / s, which is 3 times “cooler” than 1x DVD speed. However, the recording speed of 1-2x, with a huge capacity of Blu-Ray discs, reaching 25, 50 and even 100 GB for common models, turns into too long a pleasure that can be fully combined with a lunch break. As well as searching for some sample of random data on a Blu-ray disc turns into a long story. Given the proliferation of faster and more capacious flash drives with meager access times to random data, Blu-ray drives seem to have no prospects in the market and will never be able to reach the mainstream CD and DVD drives.

Outcome

What can be said in conclusion? When choosing an optical drive, stick to the principle of reasonable sufficiency. If there are no low-cost restrictions, choose Blu-Ray devices. If you need a drive to read old stocks of CDs and DVDs, an inexpensive internal DVD-RW drive will be quite enough, since there are no prospects for the mass use of Blu-Ray discs and buying such a drive “with a reserve for the future” is futile.