Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 135
 why not? March 9, 2010
J. Shin (USA)
I don't see why you wouldn't purchase this product if you have a laptop with only one CD-R like me. I needed this because my collection of photos/videos of my toddler boy was getting out of hand. I used it to backup ALL of my over 50 gig of data into several DVD's. Not sure about its speed but it took me a while to get them all burned. But hey, I'm just glad that I now have those treasures all backed up! Just hook up both UDB ends to my Dynex external multi UDB ports, because my old dell laptop only offer two UDB ports and it works great like a champ! UDB and DVD are great things!
 Excellent for the price! March 9, 2010
Deborah Karaban (NE Pennsylvania)
This is excellent for the price. I use it solely for children's games and music. I couldn't be happier with my purchase!
 The Worst March 2, 2010
Sailor (NC)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is without a doubt the worst piece of junk I have ever purchased as an after market device for a computer. After repeated attempts to install on two computers, nothing. Will not even register on the device manager. So if you buy this be warned...it's trouble. Also, just try to reach the tech support people. What a joke. No responses. And finally when I first reached a person...I was told that a tech would call within an hour. It has now been two days. So, in another attempt to use this piece of junk, I called and did reach support. At that time he said there was nothing to the install. Then proceeded to give me a geek process to do it. Nothing of which is mentioned in the instructions sent with the device. So, it's going back to Amazon...buyer be warned. The entire ASUS bunch is a joke.
Amended, Edited Review, Re-Rated Also-This Is An XLNT External Optical Drive! March 1, 2010
Wavey Davey (Southern CA, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is one of those reviews that needs to be filed under the DOA Code, something like that. While it worked the drive was fast, worked well, gave me no problems, and then after using it for 3 days, on the 4th evening I put on a CD ROM to add some software to my new laptop, and BAM! Dead! Wouldn't read anything, wouldn't mount anything, just DEAD! I tried several CD's, a DVD-ROM, it didn't matter it was HISTORY!
Thus ends the story of my Asus DVD+/-RW optical drive in White...At least it happened in the first couple of days, and Amazon.com quickly shipped me a replacement, a BLACK one to match my new laptop this time, so we'll see how the black one performs and works. I'll rate it after I've had it for a month or two, and not before then...not after this experience anyway!
Wavey Davey - 3-01-2010
EDIT: March 3, 2010
I amended this review to 4-Stars, and it's only because the 1st unit DIED as above that I didn't/couldn't give the drive a 5-Star review...the 2nd unit that Amazon.com provided for me (quick, painless Next-Day Air shipment to replace the dead drive, the white original drive) is working fantastic! I wanted to post some initial impressions of the drive tonight, and I'll follow it up with more use/comments after I've had it for a month or two, but so far so good.
Contrary to some other reviews here, (especially one by a David Bailey who claimed the drive needed a "decoder" to play movies...that is so WRONG!) this optical drive plays DVD movies perfectly fine, without a 'decoder' being added to the computer, nothing of the sort is necessary it turns out. I had already installed the Cyberlink DVD Suite and the Power2Go Suite--which has Asus's name on it too (native software with my new notebook, apparently), and I don't know if this has anything to do with the drive playing movies.
I very simply opened up the "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" DVD movie, a Dolby THX Paramount Pictures/LucasFilm full-blown Hollywood movie with full commercial features, shorts, special features etc., and the drive very simply played the movie on native Windows 7's Windows Media Player in full, living color and Dolby-THX Sound, no issues, no problems, just played the movie perfectly! I was half-expecting the movie to halt, or not play at all, from the Baily review's "decoder" copy, but nothing of the sort happened, the movie just played onscreen no problem at all!
I wish I could be of some help to David Bailey with this problem, but I cannot other than to suggest that he also install the Cyberlink Suite and see if that helps his situation out, even though I don't know if it will do that...I hope it will fix the problem he encountered.
As far as the optical drive goes though, this new, Black Beauty seems to be just that, a "black beauty" of a drive that works fantastic with my new Asus UL30Vt-X1 notebook, with its nVidia G210-M 512MB dedicated, discrete graphics card...along with Intel GMA-4500 integrated graphics support (it has two different graphics engines, which are selectable, switchable one to the other by simply pushing a button on the keyboard), and to say the least it played that DVD movie beautifully.
I have not given this drive a workout with the Cyberlink Suite yet, either to burn a Data CD/DVD, or otherwise, and the suite has all kinds of special features to it, (a very comprehensive optical drive suite which I would encourage everyone to install since it's free with the drive) features that would suffice for any sort of data, music, RIPping, or DVD movie playing assignment. In addition there's two Asus Tools on board, the 'Asus Live Firmware Update' and the 'Asus Turbo Engine' which apparently works seamlessly with the drive to provide ultra-fast interface with the notebook, or any Asus product that the drive would be installed on.
I am excited and feeling good about the new drive, after it just played a full length DVD movie no problems, so that was good to find out after the bad press in the review I just mentioned. I love the 'size and form factor' of the drive also, as it is quite small, and thin, so that I can take it along with the notebook when using it remotely, aka out of my studio and home...it fits in the case I bought for the new notebook, a new Sumdex case just made for a 13.3" notebook with compartments for stowing the notebook's accessories. That was nice to discover also, so thus far I am loving the new drive a lot!
It is FAST too, plays music and DVD's easily and well, and the interface with the twin USB cables to the notebook looks to have xlnt throughput, and it doesn't apparently need a power brick, in fact is made without one in mind at all! That's a very nice thing, too! I've never owned a bus-powered optical drive, so this is a new experience for Wavey Davey! KUHL!
I may come back to the review and amend it further, as time goes along with the optical drive and the notebook as I use it for more and more things, and I can also report about it of course if something were to go amiss, but so far so good--this one seems like an xlnt drive all the way. I would give this one 5-Stars for its review rating, but for the failed white drive that happened so unexpectedly, but so be it, I have to call it as I see it--however the new drive has changed the rating from one star to four stars, a Big Improvement!
Again, thanks to Amazon.com for the quick replacement of the failed white optical drive, and for this nice, new and amazingly svelte, quick black optical drive that is working so well with the new notebook! Thanks, Amazon.com!
Wavey Davey - 3-03-2010
Exactly what I needed February 26, 2010
Quoad Toad (Chicago)
I selected the ASUS External Optical Drive, so I could install my Windows 7 upgrade on a laptop that does not have an optical drive. The ASUS worked perfectly and was easy to install, taking only a couple minutes from unboxing to using.
The ASUS receives its power supply from USB ports. The packages comes with a dual USB cable so you can plug the drive into two USB ports to receive extra power. Make sure your computer has two USB ports in close proximity since the cord to the two USB plugs is rather short. ASUS also sells a wall cable if your laptop does not provide enough power to the drive.
I am using the drive with an Acer Aspire AS1410-8414. The Acer recognized the drive immediately and it was almost instantly available for use.
The ASUS is also very quiet and small. The shiny black finish does have a tendency to pick up dust though, so I find myself wiping it off a lot.
Overall, this is a great choice for an external optical drive. It works well and is relatively inexpensive.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 135
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