ASUS ZenDrive Ultra Slim USB 2.0 External 8X DVD Optical Drive +/-RW with M-Disc Support for Windows and Mac and Nero BackItUp for Android Devices (SDRW-08U7M-U/BLK/G/AS),Black

Works well but a little slow to be recognized by my Asus computer. Not sure why.

Im happy with my purchase! Pros: - Light and slim - Reasonable price - Reads and writes efficiently Cons: - When I eject the tray, it only comes out part of the way which requires an assist from me to complete the eject

Works fine, but Im disappointed on two fronts. First, I own a brand new Zenbook UX330UA-AH55. I bought this ZenDrive thinking it would be designed to work with any Zenbook computer, but I was wrong. The ZenDrive requires two USB connections, but on my Zenbook the only two USB ports are on opposite sides of the computer, and the ZenDrives cord is too short to reach both. I actually had to buy a separate USB extension to make a ZenDrive work with my Zenbook. Secondly, ASUS has refused to give me the advertised $10 rebate, despite my best efforts so far. I will be following up for a second time soon to try to get my promised money. So overall, I have paid more than expected (both in no-rebate and paying for a USB extension) for a product that sounds like it should be a perfect fit for my Zenbook. But it gets the job done. Three stars.

the outer plastic case is a bit flimsy: flimsy enough to interfere with the drive trays ability to close if you put your fingers on top of the case

Although they have been around for years, these external DVD writers have seen a resurgence with the popularity of laptops, ultrabook notebooks and tablets that do not possess built-in DVD drives. Matte black in color with a subtly textured finish (feels like a record album) that does not show fingerprints, the unit has an understated appearance, is a half inch thick, measures almost five and a half inches square and has a plastic housing. According to the included Quick Installation Guide, the DVD writer requires two USB 2.0 A connections in order to provide reliable power. The guide recommends not attempting to use the drive with just one connection, or a USB hub. Against the manufacturer’s recommendation, I tried playback of a DVD with just one USB connected and it played fine, but when I tried to burn a disc using just one USB port, it crashed. I tried this because many of the smaller devices that would utilize this external DVD writer do not have two USB ports, most have one and some have none. If the device being used does have two USB ports on opposite sides, a USB extension cable may solve the issue although this is a less than elegant solution, but it is a solution. The optical drive does not read or burn Blu-ray discs. It comes with a disc that contains backup and disc recording software which can be used if desired but similar software is usually built-in to operating systems or available free online. With my Windows 10 laptop I burned an image from my hard drive to a DVD+R disc in the ASUS external DVD writer and it took eleven minutes and two seconds. Then to compare speed, I burned the same image to the laptop’s internal DVD drive and it took eleven minutes and eight seconds. These are ISO image files that are the same size as a blank DVD (4.7 Gigabytes). This DVD writer also has the capability to burn M discs which are used for archival purposes. To accomplish this the laser beam within the device is five times more powerful than a normal DVD writer. The discs are expensive (around $4 each) and have no additional storage capacity than a normal DVD. I bought a pack of DVDR M discs to test the machine and successfully burned an ISO image onto the disc in 15 minutes and 40 seconds. To test playback of the M disc I put it in a different laptop and the DVD player connected to my TV and it worked fine. I also played two movies (Trainwreck and Ant-Man) using the optical drive and experienced no buffering or interruptions of any kind. Modestly priced and easily transportable, it provides DVD reading and writing capability when needed.

The ZenDrive Ultra works really well. An important note for potential buyers, you can use just one usb to play discs, but to burn a disc you must use BOTH of the usb connections.

I usually do not write a review so soon for this type of purchase. I generally use it for awhile. I tested DVD RW and CD RW and they test good. I had a Macrium boot disk for imaging my system hard drive that works on boot up. I have a Dell XPS 8930. I started PC with the Asus DVD optical drive plugged in and the Macrium boot disc in the DVD drive. I started the PC pressedF12 and the Asus drive appeared, chose the Asus drive, and the drive booted to the Macrium rescue disk. So it will boot to the drive with bootable media inside the Asus drive. It is light weight, will play DVD on one USB plug 3.0. I use two male type A plugs normally. It has a Y splitter cable with mini USB male into the Asus drive and two male A plugs to plugs into the PC. I do not know if it will burn with one type A male inserted into a usb 3.0 port or not. Perhaps it would but I must test it later. It may be for USB 2.0 two plugs are needed but not sure. I use both regardless if Im using 3.0 or 2.0 USB ports, but later I will test with one plug in 3.0 port to see if it works. When I will test that part is unknown. This little drive is plug and play without any of the software in the Asus box. It would be very handy to have the software though. The drive seems to be durable. Being that it is portable, be careful not to drop the drive when transporting etc. It does come with 2 Traxdata M disc DVD R discs 4.7 GB, 4X. I eject the disc and then unplug the drive rather than disconecting with a disc in the drive. The drive is fast enough. You will not be sorry if you purchase this drive with what I have learned so far.

Very stylish. M-disc support is nice. Used heavily and didnt overheat or create read/burn errors. cons: hard or impossible to operate with just one hand free. its slower than other drives - basic CD rip at 8x with some that go higher, of course, but tops out 16-18x. Somewhat nosier than other drives but not a screamer. Rebate wait is long: 8-10 wks from when they process the mail-in. FAQs say there is a way to get it faster (5-7 days), but I didnt see anything like that on the forms or how much it costs.

I may have received a drive with problems, but I can only review the product I received. I ended up returning mine. So what was the problem? There was always a long delay / pause before the drive would begin executing and reading information, and it was enough that I did not keep the drive. I own two other external optical drives, and have used many others, and this is the first one I used that was so slow. It would come to full speed, and you could hear it spinning, but it would delay for long periods before it would read / transfer the information. The net result was the drive was much slower than I anticipated, and more than I would tolerate. At the time of review, the price was lowered to $19.99 with a $10 rebate, and in my opinion there is a reason the price was so low. The fact I returned it even though it was a net of only $10 gives you an idea how poor the transfer time was. What is to like about this drive? The size / weight is nice - it is sleek, nicely appointed and is light - which makes it nice if you want to transport it. Personally, I am not a fan of having to get an external drive for laptops, I still have a need for optical drives. But that is a separate issue, and the desire to make laptops smaller / lighter, combined with a need to provide larger batteries to power the 4K screens, then making the batteries internal is not the best end result. But others may disagree... Overall, I will search for another brand - this one did not make the cut. Thanks for reading.