Hitachi-LG GP60 External DVD Drive, Slim Portable DVD Burner/Writer/Player for Laptop, Windows and Mac OS Compatible, USB 2.0, 8x Read/Write Speed - Black

I've just bought a lovely gaming PC but it never crossed my mind that they don't tend to come with CD/DVD drives anymore. This would be a problem as I like to import my CDs into iTunes so I purchased this drive for what was a low price from a reliable brand. It plugs it via a standard USB (no need for additional power) and works effectively and in relative silence. When not in use, I simply put it into storage. Does a great job and much easier (and cleaner on the looks) than putting a drive into my actual gaming PC.

Item arrived quickly but it was sent in the original box with no protection. I was immediately annoyed because it just happens this is for me but imagine if I wanted to give this as a present to someone. Box is completely battered from the postage and travel.It comes with a cyberlink suite disc but I've not used it as I have my own DVD CD burner software. The device worked straight from the box and is very light weight with a decent connector cable. It's looks slimmer than other devices I had before.I connected to my HP envy laptop with windows 11 and it worked immediately. At the time of writing this review I managed to write 8 music CDs of my own production and it's taken less than 20 minutes.The instructions are useless but with a bit of intuition we can get around any issues.The device doesn't say anywhere that it's a DVD CD writer so I'm going to have to stick a label.The box states it can connect to a TV and be used as a DVD player but that is not true. My TV wouldn't even recognise it.So far it's working ok and it's not damaged any CD like the other burner I was using before.It not very noisy but it's makes a noticeable fan noise which is typical to CD burners.I'll update when I use the cyberlink media suite that comes with it and when I try to burn DVDs too.

I'm very pleased that I bought this as it works! I had a slightly cheaper and I just could not get it to play pre-recorded discs reliably.This Hitachi comes with some software which is a bonus. The actual unit is reasonably sturdy and functions as it should.I would have no hesitation in recommending this product.

If you need one, get this one.

After weeks of trying to find the right external drive for a new laptop I was about to give up (too many 1-star reviews mostly) when I found this little beauty. It installed on Win10 in about 5 seconds, and was working without installing anything else. It comes with the Cyberlink Media Suite but I already have perfectly good software to cover these functions so have not bothered with installing it.It is very, very quiet; closes without the usual struggle to get it to latch; accesses the disc very fast and is extremely well constructed (especially: the drawer does not flap about when open).Like all such drives it is a little delicate - the penalty for being light enough to carry around in a laptop bag all day. Nothing indicates to me that this one is any weaker than the others, and may even be a bit less vulnerable on the top surface.I recommend without reservation. It may be a few pounds more expensive than most others, but that is money well spent.10 out of out 10.

Having looked at similar, slightly cheaper devices, I opted for this one because it was a more reputable brand. The other ones may work well for a while, but I was worried that they could fall apart after a few months! I am pretty happy with my choice. It looks nice, is sturdy and does the job. The only small criticism is that it is a little noisy. However, given the attractive price for the quality of the brand, I think that you’d be hard pushed to find a better value, more reliable device.

I use a Linux Operating System on my Dell Desktop. VLC is the default disc player.I have had several slimline external disc drives in the last few years, some of which were highly-rated in customer reviews. All have been slow to read discs, and failed to open VLC correctly.This Hitachi drive is superb, it is a top-quality unit. It is plug-and-play, no installation required. It opens with a reassuringly firm click on the small button on the front panel, and reads discs quickly (about 15-20 seconds, quick for an external unit in my experience) and opens vlc media player straight after.It is good value because it does everything right for a similar price to all the previous units I have owned. Hitachi is a well-known name, the others were all obscure, so there's a lesson.The unit has a layer of thin transparent protective tape, a couple of strips around the edges, and a layer on the top; they are fiddly to remove, you need long fingernails especially with the top layer.I've only had this for an hour, so I haven't done any disc burning yet, will update as and when.

Very slow (8-10MB/s) and noisy, not for sustained use. It does otherwise read CD's and DVD's. I have no intention of burning discs so can't comment on that feature.