Reliable external DVD (possibly BluRay) drive?
I'm wondering if anyone had suggestions for a reliable external DVD reader, that potentially also does BluRay. I'd also drop the BluRay aspect, if it means better DVD 'performance.'
I put that in scare-quotes, as what I don't need is performance in terms of speed. I'd rather the dang thing slow down and do a better job of trying to read the data!
Anyway, I'm attempting to archived info off a bunch of burned DVD-R, but also sometimes rip DVD and BluRay. I have a drive right now, but it sometimes fails in rather odd ways (like error, and then disappearing as a device until I power-cycle it). That odd behavior makes me think that maybe it is the drive and not always the disc (hopefully!).
The drive I currently have has an external power-brick, and most of the ones I see for sale are USB-powered and super slim, etc. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing, as I'd assume USB-power might be more stable than those crazy power bricks, but a power brick should also be able to supply more power if/when needed (if that is an issue... though probably more for burning?). (One of the errors I used to get when ripping BluRays kind of sounded like it was power related, but since moving from a MacBook Air to the new Mac mini, I don't see that error as much.)
My current drive is an LG BluRay writer I think I got from OWC, so it should be good quality... but it is also several years old. Since it works OK at reading BluRays (most of the time), I'm primarily concerned with the DVDs.
Thanks!
I put that in scare-quotes, as what I don't need is performance in terms of speed. I'd rather the dang thing slow down and do a better job of trying to read the data!
Anyway, I'm attempting to archived info off a bunch of burned DVD-R, but also sometimes rip DVD and BluRay. I have a drive right now, but it sometimes fails in rather odd ways (like error, and then disappearing as a device until I power-cycle it). That odd behavior makes me think that maybe it is the drive and not always the disc (hopefully!).
The drive I currently have has an external power-brick, and most of the ones I see for sale are USB-powered and super slim, etc. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing, as I'd assume USB-power might be more stable than those crazy power bricks, but a power brick should also be able to supply more power if/when needed (if that is an issue... though probably more for burning?). (One of the errors I used to get when ripping BluRays kind of sounded like it was power related, but since moving from a MacBook Air to the new Mac mini, I don't see that error as much.)
My current drive is an LG BluRay writer I think I got from OWC, so it should be good quality... but it is also several years old. Since it works OK at reading BluRays (most of the time), I'm primarily concerned with the DVDs.
Thanks!