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Opinions wanted: Bus powered USB 2.0 slim CD-RW/DVD combos

PostPosted: Sat Jan 03, 2004 10:24 pm
by jaded
Hey all,

I'm about to get a nice thin IBM X31 laptop, and I'm now looking for a bus powered, USB 2.0, portable CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive, preferably around 24/12/24/8 speeds. I know I could get the media slice and combo drive for the laptop, but that adds a lot of weight and space.

The Asus SCB-2408-D would have been perfect, but the review said it's not bus powered. Here are some drives I've found, and I'm looking to see if anyone here has used any of them:

STORIX USB 2.0 Slim DVD/CDRW Drive
BUSLINK D-RWD8-U2
Addonics Pocket DVD/CDRW II (AEPDVRWII824)

I don't know for sure that any of these drive are actually capable of being powered w/o an external adapter... the Storix page says "No External Power Necessary*". What's that asterisk for? No idea... can't find the disclaimer it points to. The Addonics site says "Power directly from USB port*" and this asterisk points to something saying that they've only successfully tested other drives in that line with bus power. Hmm. The Buslink drive doesn't say anything at all about power, though it doesn't look promising as it comes with an A/C adapter (and it's heavy at 2lbs).

I've seen a Sony product, but that uses a rechargable battery and is expensive. Also, Archos apparently discontinued one which was part of their MiniCD/MiniDVD line (though if they would just introduce one of their Cesar products with DVD-ROM support, that'd be heaven.

Anyway, any tips any of you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!