Need external USB optical drive for new computer

[Thunder_Mountai]

Wife's computer died. It had an optical drive for loading programs, playing CDs and watching DVDs. The new Dell doesn't have an optical drive. Need to reload some programs. What formats do I need to be able to read, write and play? Prices are all over the place.

[ferretgrandpa]

You could pull the old drive from the dead computer and put it in an enclosure, will cost about the same as buying a new one.

I have the samsung external from Amazon, $36 with shipping. My local Walmart sells the LG external for about $40.

Externals work well, but not really fast as compared to a desktop machine, about what the average laptop does.

You might want to think about a powered USB hub, to keep the power draw lower on the new computer, also keeps the drive running better (and, hopefully longer)

[Thunder_Mountai]

TucsonJim wrote:
Why not just pull the optical drive from the old computer and install it in the new one?

Not an option. There is no port/opening for a drive. And I doubt there is a place to connect.

[TucsonJim]

Why not just pull the optical drive from the old computer and install it in the new one?

[TheBearAK]

My experience is the USB powered drives are slower as they cannot draw enough power from the USB port to spin them at the faster speeds. If speed is not an issue, then by all means, get one.

That said, there are a large variety of external drives. You could probably go to a local store and find one as well.

As long as it is a DVD reader, it will most likely be able to read CD's as well. You won't need a BluRay reader. Just DVD.

I like Samsung and LG.

http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Portable-External-GP65NB60/dp/B00ODDE33U/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

[MrWizard]

just buy which ever external DVD/CD RW drive picks your fancy
some will run off USB with no external power brick
i Like LG external DVD burner/RW with a power brick

most software now comes on DVD disc,
some driver software for printer, camera etc still comes on CD

most external optical drives are both DVD/CD
that is what you want
no need to worry about blu-ray
unless you would like to play BR discs on her PC

[Johno02]

Amazon. Read/Write drives for less that $25.00