I bought this drive on Amazon through Buffalo Technology to use on my Mac mini (the internal DVD drive had failed on it).I have had this drive for around two months and have burned about 50 CDs and about 60 DVDs with it so far. I have also played a few CDs and watched a few DVDs on it too. It works with just one USB power cable on both my 2009 Mac mini (model 3,1) and my 2008 13in MacBook (model 4,1). The other USB cable wraps neatly under the DVD drive and is unnoticeable.
The drive has a low profile and makes a minimal amount of noise. There is an LED that shines through the top back slit in the case. A blue light (which is just bright enough and quite slick looking in my opinion) indicates that it has sufficient power, but red means that you need to use the second USB cable for additional power.
Of note, once there is a DVD in the drive, I can only eject it by ejecting it by clicking "eject" on my computer (the button on the DVD drive itself is non-responsive with a DVD in it). This has in no way been a problem for me. It only caused a bit of confusion when I first used it.
It works just as I expected it to and is more aesthetically pleasing than I thought it would be. Overall, I am very satisfied with the price (I paid $37.88 ), quality, functionality, and convenience of this product, and I highly recommend it.
the drive has been recognized by the MAC running OS X 10.7.1 (Lion) without any problem.
Its been detected & configured automatically with VM-Ware Fusion Version 4 as well to be used by Windows 7 pro.
Pros:
-short USB cables to be connected to both sides of the MACBOOK AiR 11" & you don't need to purchase any USB extension cable for it but for my connivance I attached a RETRAK retractable USB 2.0 Cable (a $13 multi adapter cable) so I can put the Drive next to my MAC instead of under it!
-light weighted
-Compact
-Usb cable is detachable (T shape not Y)
-Easy to carry (both USB cable heads snap to the chassis of the drive for easy mobility)
Cons:
-I don't like the shape and color of the LED indicator for power supply stability on top !
-you need to plug both USB cables always
Addition:
-there is a plug for a 5 volt external adaptor that can be helpful instead of using Dual USB.
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It's been 6 years since I bought a laptop with an optical drive, so a good external disc drive is pretty important. I had been using a feature rich LG Lightscribe for the last 4 years, but it finally gave up the ghost and left me without a reliable method to read or write CD's.For my next drive I wanted something smaller, as there was nothing portable about the old LG. Enter the Buffalo MediaStation. I haven't had it very long, but I can report one 3 important facts.
1. You can run it off one USB port. The drive has two USB cables wrapped around the side and on the undercarriage. Whether or not you can run this off a single port depends entirely on your computer. The drive does make this easy for you by lighting up red or blue depending on your power needs. If it's blue you're golden; red and you're going to need that second USB port.
2. The drive is pretty fast for a bus-powered external. On a 1.3ghz Intel Dual Core 2 laptop with 4gb of RAM, iTunes encoded 160 kbps MP3's at 20x.
3. The DVD drive can be noisy. There's not a lot of room for insulation in this device, so it's going to rattle around some.
I can't speak for longevity, but so far it's been an excellent buy.
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This product is clearly meant for use with laptops and is not a convenient solution for people looking for an external replacement drive for their home PCs. My USB ports are at the top of my tower and the cords are so short I can't even get the drive to sit on top of it. The cords are only 6 inches long!! I had to stack it on top of CD spindles, behind my computer, with my desk pulled out, merely to see if it had any redeeming qualities.I was considering trying USB extenders if the drive appeared to suit my needs otherwise, but the instructions recommend that "to minimize electromagnetic interference" you should "use only the supplied USB cable." Making matters worse, the USB cables are physically attached to the drive and cannot be replaced. Between folding them back into place for travel and the strain put on the cords by being so close to the hardware they are connected to, it's hard to imagine these USB cords having a very long life.
The drive would not play without stuttering using the USB ports on the front of my computer. It plays smooth and the video looks fine when connected to the back and because I am using it with a home pc and not a laptop it appeared to have no trouble getting enough power using only one usb cable.
Though this page does not make mention of it, the side of the box indicates that the drive can read or write dual-layer discs. It does appear to be able to read them but it does not recognize blank ones.
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PROS:
-It's lightweight
-Not bulky
-Reasonably aesthetically pleasing
-Inexpensive
-Playback quality appears fine when properly connected (Requiring USB 2.0 or higher USB Ports)
-Should be recognizable on Mac computers
CONS:
-Extremely short and irreplaceable (6 inch) cords
-May require 2 USB (2.0 or higher) ports, depending on your systems power configuration
-Unable to write dual-layer dvds
-Shiny surface is prone to fingerprints
-Software included will NOT function on Mac computers
-No playback software is provided for Mac or PC. You will have to find a free player you trust or one you consider worth purchasing.
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This drive may be a functional portable drive for casual laptop users. For the price it is really not a terrible device, but it has a lengthy list of flaws that should be examined by potential buyers. This was a disappointing purchase for me.
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Despite the two negative reviews about this DVD burner that claimed that this product does not work on Lion... it works very well on Lion. I am currently running version 10.7.4 on my 27" iMac and I did not encounter any problems with this device. I have just recently upgraded to Lion from Snow Leopard so I was wary at first that this may have been the issue that the two negative reviewers encountered. However, from the moment that I plugged it in, my system recognized the drive and I was able to burn DVDs with no problems at all. I didn't even have to download any additional drivers from the Buffalo website (Yes Buffalo offers this. I don't think that the person who went so far as to contact Apple Tech bothered to do any research at all. Perhaps they were not even running Lion).One possibility on why this drive didn't work for those two negative reviewers is that this drive may have not liked the brand of DVD that they were using. Over the years I've learned that some DVD drives can be finicky with what brand of DVDs that they prefer. My other external DVD burning drive (which is a Sony) refuses to use Fujifilm DVDs... this doesn't mean that the drive is defective (It works fine with Memorex and several other DVD brands). At the moment I am using TDK DVDs with this Buffalo drive. It may give me an error if I switch to another brand... but as of yet it's working perfectly fine.
I wanted to post this review because I almost didn't buy this DVD drive after reading that several people encountered problems because they were using OS Lion. This is a very good alternative to the more expensive DVD burners that are specifically made for Mac (MAC external superdrive which retails for almost 80.00 if bought directly through Amazon with Prime shipping). Since I am working on a newer iMac, the shortness of the USB cable was not an issue since it fits snugly under my monitor. As of right now I'm quite happy with my purchase and I'd gladly recommend it to anyone who is experiencing issues with the built in DVD Rom on iMac or similar products.
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