Cheap external DVD writer

[You_are_a_cunt]

Since I don't actually need a DVD drive in my computer (and they're all ugly as hell), I was looking for some cheap external ones. Would like some input on these

 

LiteOn EBAU108-01 - $25

Transcend TS8XDVDS - $30

Samsung SE-208GB/RSLD - $30

LiteOn DS-8ABSH-32 - $30

 

 

 

Not really prepared to spend more than $30 (since that's pretty much my weekly spending on food & cigarettes).

 

I'd mostly want one so I could burn backups of photos, videos & other miscellaneous files that I don't really want floating around the intertubes (most are rather personal or just things that don't belong in any storage service). My home file server is getting pretty cluttered and I'm not keen on upgrading it, since it's a piece of junk P4 with some old, unreliable drives.

 

Wish I noticed my laptop's optical drive break before the warranty went poof =\

[Speedbird]

LiteOn is a reputable manufacturer of internal drives, their external should be good. There isn't really a difference.

EDIT: Don't use optical media for backups of personal files. Damage to the top layer with the label can result in corruption and/or data loss.

[nathphotographs]

When i built my PC i added one just because i have some old games (Sims 2, GTA IV and many others) that are only on CD and can't be downloaded. Mine was only like $15 and it works fine. 

[You_are_a_cunt]

LiteOn is a reputable manufacturer of internal drives, their external should be good. There isn't really a difference.

EDIT: Don't use optical media for backups of personal files. Damage to the top layer with the label can result in corruption and/or data loss.

It's more of a temporary solution until I can get a new storage server up and running, but as it is that'll take at least another couple of years (after I finally buy a place of my own)

[Speedbird]

It's more of a temporary solution until I can get a new storage server up and running, but as it is that'll take at least another couple of years (after I finally buy a place of my own)

Ah, okay. Fair enough. Keep those discs safe. Maybe you should consider an external hard drive instead as a temporary solution? A 2TB USB3 one will cost less than DVDs with that capacity, and is faster and reusable.

[You_are_a_cunt]

Ah, okay. Fair enough. Keep those discs safe. Maybe you should consider an external hard drive instead as a temporary solution? A 2TB USB3 one will cost less than DVDs with that capacity, and is faster and reusable.

I don't even have that kind of storage in my main rig (yet) and I already have about 700 DVDs I can literally burn (my dad uses ALOT of DVDs since he's converting all his old vinyls to uncompressed digital and he apparently ordered 1000 without thinking <_<)

 

Also, the discs will go into proper storage. No chance in hell they'll get scratched since they'll be individually packaged and won't be used until I'll move the data over to a new file server

[Speedbird]

I don't even have that kind of storage in my main rig (yet) and I already have about 700 DVDs I can literally burn (my dad uses ALOT of DVDs since he's converting all his old vinyls to uncompressed digital and he apparently ordered 1000 without thinking <_<)

 

Also, the discs will go into proper storage. No chance in hell they'll get scratched since they'll be individually packaged and won't be used until I'll move the data over to a new file server

That's about 3TB of storage. Very well, go for it.