Sony DRX840U 20x External Dual-Layer DVD Burner
See it at Amazon.com for $75.00Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First
(5 out of 5)Sony DRX840U 20x just simply works
I have had an external burner for quite some time. With recent changes to my environment, I no longer had a Firewire port so I decided to switch to a USB 2.0 external burner. I had gone to Fry's, purchased another well known brand that was an 18x burner, brought it home, set it up, Windows XP Pro did its thing and all seemed right with the world. That was until I actually tried to use it. No matter what I did, Nero V7 and V8 saw it but refused to use either DVD+R or DVD-R media. I did the normal searching for solutions but none presented itself. After months of trying to get it to work, I finally gave up and decided to try another vendor.
In my searching on Amazon, I ran across this Sony drive and noticed it was one of the first to offer 20x burn speeds. The 20x burn speed, while certainly nice, was not what attracted me to this. Rather, it was the fact that, at 20x, this meant it was a relatively new design which meant it should work better. In my searching to resolve my previous external drive's problems, the Sony drives were always lauded by those that had used them. A combination of those two things gave me at least some confidence that this was a good drive.
When it arrived, I did the normal thing and Windows was happy with it. So the acid test: what would Nero think about it? As it turns out, Nero V8 was quite happy with it and worked flawlessly with the drive. I have burned DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-R DL and CD audio all at the rated speed, all without any problems, all with perfect burns.
Pros:
- It just works without any problems
- Nice case design
- It is happy both vertically and horizontally
Cons:
- Somewhat noisy when the CD/DVD is burning at full speed
- Slower burn speed on inside tracks but speeds up as it moves out
Bottom line: if I had to do it all over again, I would. The drive got me what I was looking for: something that works reliably and dependably. It certainly gets my recommendation.
(5 out of 5)A Great DVD/CD Burner Replacement For Your iMac!
After having ripped AND burned over 1000 discs, the SuperDrive on my two-year old iMac decided to die on me (thanks Apple for the longevity :). This Sony DVD Writer is a wonderful alternative to the pricey $250 replacement SuperDrive--and it works right out of the box with no software tinkering (just choose drive option when needed). Fully compatible with both Tiger and Leopard, this Sony Writer gets a HUGE thumbs up for all Apple Users in need of an extra burner or those with konked-out ones!
(5 out of 5)Works great with DVDShrink and Nero
I bought this drive to use with a laptop that could not take an internal DVD-burner. I was a little afraid to buy an external burner, thinking that it could not keep up, resulting in many burn errors. The drive so far has worked flawlessly. The software includes a copy of nero essentials, which will accomplish most DVD tasks needed. It also works fine with DVDShrink.
The drive is somewhat large. This is really the only negative that I can think of.
(5 out of 5)Best "add on" technology
Of all the external devices I've added to my computer, the Sony DRX840U 20x External Dual-Layer DVD Burner is the best. Some people say the unit is noisy. All I can say is, with any external unit you can expect it to emit sound. This unit produces a gentle hum which I find comforting, knowing that it is actually working. The installation is simple. The Nero software that comes with it is lame, and takes up a lot of disk space. It would not work at first, and an e-mail to their Tech. Support people went unanswered for a week, and then gave vague instructions. It also only gives you a short "trial period" for use, and then requires that you purchase it. I purchased "Record Now!" instead, which is a great, easy to use product to burn/copy CD's and DVD's...and it uses a small footprint. I then deleted Nero. The Sony works very well, and burns at a reasonable speed. As for the accompanying Nero software...."forget about it!"
If you want an excellent external CD/DVD burner, that looks decent also, this is the unit you want. Highly reccommended.
(5 out of 5)Great DVD burner
I've burned about a dozen dual-layer DVDs now without a problem. And it burns faster than I expected. The included Nero software has an intuitive user interface and offers all the flexibility I need.