BR/DVD Drive Recommendations???

[mtngoatjoe]

My BR/DVD Drive has died, and I need a new one for ripping on my Late 2012 iMac.

I'm thinking USB 3.0 be good for speed, but I don't know.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[campyguy]

I've owned and used a Pioneer BDR-XD05B for around 3 years, still use it regularly to rip BR discs to my Mac Mini. It's fast, not expensive, and still being sold today. I used a USB 2 BR reader/burner before buying the BDR-XD05B, the newer Pioneer is so much faster.

FWIW, check out Pioneer's options for their BR readers/burners. No personal affiliation. Other form factor options at that link, I bought mine from Amazon. My GF uses a BDR-XS06, the slot-loading version. Both work great, PnP with Macs.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

If you get a new drive, you might consider choosing one that also has M-DISC capabilities.

This usually adds nothing to the price, but if you ever want to burn a disc that has extra "longevity", M-DISC looks like the way to go.

 

[mtngoatjoe]

The Pioneer drives don't list Mac OS X compatibility. Does that matter?

 

[campyguy]

The Pioneer drives don't list Mac OS X compatibility. Does that matter?

They do, copied this from the XS-06: "In a Mac OS environment, Finder can be used to read and write to BDXL, Blu-ray, DVD and CD media, and DVD Player can play back DVD movies. Blu-ray playback requires additional software (not included). Of course other Mac software that supports optical drives can access the BDR-XD05S also."

My unit has the macOS icon right on the box, it's PnP, and includes a special USB cable to use with either 1 or 2 USB-A ports. Works perfectly with burning for iTunes and MakeMKV. I have copied dozens of BR disks for my media library with my Mini Server and I don't know how many of my CDs for my lossless library.