Asus Blu-ray burner in the description is the latest and fastest in this category, was looking for one to use with my Surface-pro off and on, burn some music CDs for my car and keep all my work from UNI in one place as finishing degree end of November. This external Blu-ray burner seems to be cheapest so thought I should share this with my community.
Comes with USB 3.0 port for faster data transfer.
OK as if a blu-ray burner can reach any where near USB 3 speed.
Sure, but its going to be faster than the painfully slow usb2.
Also with a higher current some things may not need mains power if they are usb3.
Thanks edshays, it is typo. Sorry.
Note that internal blu-ray burners for desktop PCs are $80, so this is an expensive niche product for people who don't have access to a desktop PC and never will.
Also: I bought a blu-ray reader for $60 instead of the writer for $80 because I thought about it, and realised I will never, ever want to burn a blu-ray.
External hard drives are better for both backups and playing movie files on a TV, so think hard about whether you really need this, or not.
I know it's easier to backup onto hdd, but for most ppl it is good to keep a separate copy on disc media so you could store it offsite (as a redunancy). Also HDD dies easily…
Why not get 2 portable HDDs for that?
Portable HDDs are still faster than, and at least as reliable as, writeable optical discs. Writeable DVDs are pretty notorious for dying only a few years later, so I wouldn't trust blu-rays with backups. Everyone who did with CDs and DVDs got burnt.
Two 500GB portable HDDs is also much cheaper than buying one of these burners, not to mention larger in capacity than ten blu-rays… maybe even physically smaller.
How much do writeable blu-rays cost these days?
Blu rays have been cheap lately at MSY
As to the quality of them, no idea.
I too have a backup HDD for every primary HDD myself.
The only time when I ever had problems with backing up to DVD-R is only during burning because it was either a bad disc or a low grade burner. Once burnt, they have been pretty good since. As I said, all of my CD-R's from 1997 days are still working. I've got many many DVD-R's in spindles that still works fine whenever I do need access to them. The "DVDs pretty notorious for dying only a few years later" is almost a myth as far as I am concerned.
I paid $55 for my internal Blu-ray burner. $80 is a rip off.
Whilst Hard drives give quicker access AND higher capacities, there is still absolutely a place for Blu-Ray Burning. I use it to backup all of my family pictures, videos and personal documents. Yes, you can RAID disks, You can use USB disks for portability - but BD-R's are also super resilient that it will last 20+ years. Hell, my original CD-R's from 1997 still works. Cant say the same for my 2GB Quantum Bigfoot from then or the subsequent drives thereon.
USB 3 enclosure on eBay $20
6x notebook Bluray burner $65
This guy gets it
Why pay for performance / features you won't use very often?
AMEN! I love how people pay through the nose for something that can be fulfilled so easily by other means. Hell, I make my own external hard drives most of the time with a $5-10 ebay enclosure. Works for me.
I can't find any blu-ray burners for that price, only combo drives. Care to share a link?
sooo expensive.
MSY selling external Asus DVD writer for $19 at present, so how does and extra $194 sound just to burn bluray?
RIP!
Convenience comes into it - why not just burn to CD, or copy to floppy. The larger storage capacity of blu-ray/bluray/Blu-Ray media is helpful.
yes I agree, but not for an extra $194. Ripped.
Bought my Asus 6x USB External Slim Line Blu Ray Burner for MSY last weekend for $89. Its a retail version in a box with all the software. Its only USB 2.0, but is much more portable and light weight that the one above.
Agree. This deal is expensive given it is just a $60 5.25" Burner stuck in a USB 3.0 Case.
*blu-ray