External CD Drive?

[modelbehaviour]

I'm planning on buying a new Macbook Pro or Air in the coming weeks once the new ones are announced tomorrow to replace my 2007 Macbook, I'm not sure which one yet but chances are it won't have a disk drive!

It doesn't bother me that it's not integrated, but I would like to purchase an external one to rip DVD's using handbrake so I can watch them on my iPad. The rip speed is fairly important to me because of this, so my question is; am I best buying Apple's own external disk drive or are there quicker 3rd party ones out there? Would a third party one be as easily compatible with my mac? I know nothing about them!

Thanks for your help!

 

[waw74]

if you're converting via handbrake, chances are that will be the slowdown. meaning any drive should be able to feed the movie faster than handbrake can convert it.

you could also get a blu-ray drive.
currently for playback, only VLC has limited support. but you can rip them using makemkv, and then play that file back (or convert that file using handbrake)

i have this model, but it's been discontinued, but this one should work just the same.

 

[radiogoober]

I whole-heartedly agree with waw. If you're going to purchase an external optical drive, get a blu-ray reader. It does all the same stuff the DVD would do, but you can also rip blurays. They are dirt cheap. I use the LG one:

http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-BP06LU10-LightScribe-External/dp/B004LB0K0Y

It's very, very fast. No issues. Literally plug in the USB ports and go. (Note, a lot of these external bluray readers need 2 available USB ports)

 

[marzer]

I whole-heartedly agree with waw. If you're going to purchase an external optical drive, get a blu-ray reader. It does all the same stuff the DVD would do, but you can also rip blurays. They are dirt cheap. I use the LG one:

http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-BP06LU10-LightScribe-External/dp/B004LB0K0Y

It's very, very fast. No issues. Literally plug in the USB ports and go. (Note, a lot of these external bluray readers need 2 available USB ports)

I've been using the DVD version of that LG drive for years for ripping movies with handbrake. It does seem fast that I prefer it to the internal Superdrive and the Lightscribe is a nice feature too.

 

[toxicnerve]

Hi Guys,

I'm a new member (and new to Mac in general) and I hope someone can help me.

I am waiting for a Retina Macbook and have ordered the Apple SuperDrive as I was advised the BIOS/EFI only recognises the SuperDrive as a valid boot device.

Is this correct or will any external DVD/BD-ROM allow booting?

I take it any DVD-RW/BD-ROM (as long as it has drivers) will allow the reading and writing of discs via OS-X?

If anyone can offer some advice that would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[toxicnerve]

Anyone?

 

[Fishrrman]

There's been a good discussion regarding cheap, external Bluray and DVD writers during the past couple of days over at macintouch.com, complete with URL's for products:
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/opticaldrives/index.html#d28jun2012

 

[waw74]

I was advised the BIOS/EFI only recognises the SuperDrive as a valid boot device.

I'm not sure that will be as useful/necessary as you think, much easier (and faster) to make a bootable USB.
Lion, and i'm guessing all future versions of osX, aren't available on optical media at all, only download and USB flash.

Anyone?

Welcome to the forums, have some patience, we aren't are sitting by the computers waiting for new messages to pop up, give it at least a couple days before you start pushing for an answer.

 

[toxicnerve]

There's been a good discussion regarding cheap, external Bluray and DVD writers during the past couple of days over at macintouch.com, complete with URL's for products:
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/opticaldrives/index.html#d28jun2012

Cheers. I will take a look. I'm in the UK but the mighty Amazon should have me covered for most things!

I'm not sure that will be as useful/necessary as you think, much easier (and faster) to make a bootable USB.
Lion, and i'm guessing all future versions of osX, aren't available on optical media at all, only download and USB flash.

No, I guess not. I'm a Windows guy so I was thinking more for bootable Windows discs etc.

Having said that, I thinking I will likely go down the VM route (Fusion or Parallels) so perhaps I will not need a bootable device at all!

Welcome to the forums, have some patience, we aren't are sitting by the computers waiting for new messages to pop up, give it at least a couple days before you start pushing for an answer.

Thanks. Sorry, I guess I was being a little impatient. I have an outstanding order with a SuperDrive on it and am wondering if I should cancel that or not.

I've seen a couple of slim external drives but depending on the make some seem to require 2 USB ports to power them. That's not ideal to be honest and the thought of carrying around another power adapter sends shivers down my spine!

 

[dhartung02]

I have the super drive and i have been pretty happy with its use and performance.

 

[toxicnerve]

Yeah, I've got no issues with the SuperDrive as it were but I was just thinking would I be better off getting a 3rd party model that has Blu-Ray capabilities.

Even passing on the Blu-Ray functionality there are much cheaper 3rd party DVDRWs out there. What makes the SuperDrive worth £65???

 

[waw74]

I was thinking more for bootable Windows discs etc.

the lion install disk in on a separate partition on your internal drive, you can do a clean install, or fix your existing instillation. It will come that way from Apple.