I regularly format shift my content from physical Blurays that I purchase to DRM-Free digital to my own personal Plex server. I have an old chonky, but reliable 4K Bluray drive in a Sata enclosure that I keep in a drawer. It does a perfectly fine job, it's just a pain to find room on my desk and connect. Enter this slim little BluRay drive; I can keep it hooked up and it doesn't take up much room. I used clear 3M VHB to adhere it to the underside of my glass monitor stand, so it takes up no room at all! When you first get it, you'll have to upgrade the firmware, as out-of-the-box, all functions are not supported (including 4k Bluray reading). Once that's done, you'll need to use the two-plugged USB-to-MicroUSB, connected with both plugs, as the power draw exceeds USB 2.0.. Disappointing that in 2023, devices are still sold with MicroUSB, but I digress. Most disks read just fine with the software I use, and it's quiet and adequately fast (about 1 hour to extract a full BluRay movie, DVDs take like 15 minutes). All in all, it meets my needs and doesn't take up a lot of space doing it... now to tackle this pile of disks.

I am digitizing and archiving thousands of precious family photos spanning close to 100 years. The safest, most durable, and longest lived media for storing digital media is presently the M-DISC. This particular drive can write to 100 GB M-DISC, allowing one to conveniently write large directories in one pass. It also allows multiple copies to be made and sent to other family members. At present I have purchased two of these drives, and plan to purchase more in the near future. I recommend this particular drive most highly.

This LG burner/player is a workhorse and a great addition to my wife's desktop. With the decline of internal burners, my wife wanted an external solution to help her digitize our CD collection, capture pictures from old DVDs and burn new picture DVDs. Setup was very easy and only requires two USB ports for the cable provided. Once the software provided was loaded using the player, ripping and burning was a breeze. If you are searching for a great external burner/player at a great price, then I certainly recommend this LG and it is currently on sale for $79.99.

Its great for viewing bluray movies, i didn't know you couldn't watch 4k uhd movies but as a standalone its does its job.

I like the fact that it is an external drive that operates through the USB port, because I have a DT that has only one slot for DVD drive (with another DVD). If some standard DVD dual layer media is written (video) in a BD writer, it won't play in a BD player, but will play in a standard DVD player. I don't know why, it's just the way it is. Out of about 15 BD discs written so far, only one has failed, which was likely due to a bad sector on trk 0 of the disc. I expect to enjoy the use of this drive for many years. Facts at hand: Rated for USB 2.0, not 3.0. Must use 2 USB slots (requires more power than a single slot rating), and includes the cable for it. Uses USB type C connector at the other end, which seems a bit flimsy. Cable is only 22" long (excluding connectors). Comes with a software disc, but not needed, as the unit is plug & play. The software is essentially a demo version of Cyberlink.