Transcend 8K Extra Slim Portable DVD Writer Optical Drive (TS8XDVDS-W)

This drive works as intended, and is easy to use - just plug & play. My one major gripe with it, however, is the fact that both USBs need to be plugged into your computer in order for it to work - and the cable is very short. Since I don't have two USB ports right next to each other on my laptop (one on the right, one on the left, and one in the back), I ended up having to buy a USB extension to make this drive work for me. I imagine this won't be an issue for most people as most computers have two adjacent USB ports. However, for my Acer Aspire V5, no two ports are within reaching distance of this cable. I like having the USB extension I bought as a result of this so no major loss, but had I known this would be an issue I probably would not have purchased this drive.

I was pleasantly surprised with this item! I had been searching for a portable dvd drive for my macbook air and didn't know which one to go with. I borrowed my father's a few times before (he has one by Transcend in black). The one I received is thinner than the one my father has which I love because it's not as bulky! It is extremely lightweight and looks lovely with my macbook air :) Many people mentioned the drive only works if you plug in both USB cables. Based on those reviews, I would not have made a purchase, but since I had borrowed my father's in the past, I knew this was not true. I don't know if it has to do with the macbook model, but i have the 11'' macbook air and it works perfectly when I plug in the longer usb!The only disappointment with this item was that the usb wiring is black, not white - but that's obviously not a deal breaker, just me being particular!Besides that, everything works as advertised!! I definitely recommend this product!!

My new laptop has no cd drive and I had backed up info on cd that I needed on my new machine. This drive was plug and play. Did just what I needed without a problem. I have not tried to write to it, I hope it will be just as easy.

It's small and plugs into the laptop. Comes with the cable and works great. The laptop has difficulty recognizing from time to time and I have to restart the laptop for it to see it.

A bit expensive, though I suppose supply is rather low these days if you want a name-brand and not something Chinese.Works as expected.

I bought this for my sister because I use one at work. It is small and sleek and works great.

August 27, 2014 changes:I lowered this drive to 4 stars. I have 2 of these. One of them lasted 31 days -- Amazon let me return it, even though it was one day over the 30-day limit. It simply stopped reading discs. I checked everything, cables, install, ports, etc. (and since I have two of these, it was easy to check what worked) and it was simply "dead." For the price, I still think it is a good product. The second drive is still working okay. Next time, I will add a square trade or other warranty. The manufacturer's warranty is 2 years, but I don't know how reliable it is.Original Review: (Four Stars)See below for why I bought this drive in the first place. **Let me start by saying that this drive requires 2 USB connections. It has a split cable -- presumably it uses one for power and the other for communication. (They don't really tell you this or show you in any of the photos.) It isn't a problem for me, because it also works well with a USB extension device -- a powered one. I haven't tried it with a passive USB extender. Many devices won't work with them.This drive does everything it says it can do. It is very thin. I am using it on a desktop, but it would be great to carry around for a laptop. If it is connected directly to your USB port it is very fast. As it happens, I am using it on an older system. I am able to use it with a powered USB extender, and it works great -- except it burns discs a little bit slower. It works like a charm, however.I ended up buying 2 of these drives -- the first one worked so well and the price was so good I figured, why not?**Why I bought this drive:When my desktop's internal CD/DVD burner drive failed -- the belt snapped -- (hot inside a computer and it just wore out) -- I pried open the drive and the belt snapped out and hit me in the nose! -- I opened up the case and found that I would have to just about completely disassemble the computer to get to the drive so I could replace it with a new one. I am way too lazy to do that. Plus, my theory with computers is that as they age -- and the elements heat up with use -- the solders and connectors become somewhat brittle and will break when the computer is moved around too much. I have experienced this "phenomenon" since my first IBM AT computer in 1989.I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a older system. As I am now retired, I can't afford to be an "early adopter" ore replace old with new as often as I would like. Hence, the "repair" instead of a new system.

Product comes with two USB connectors, but my computer only has one. The purpose of the second connector is to provide additional power to the unit. With one USB connected it will read and write files, but it will not play a DVD movie.

This Transcend CD drive is 'plug and play', so any drivers needed are installed automatically. The CD drive shows in the Computer window as another DVD RW drive icon, and behaves in exactly the same way as an internal CD drive. It is supplied with a USB 'Y' lead. The length of the flexible sections are 380mm for the main lead and 150mm for the supplementary lead. I used the drive with an Acer Aspire 5733 Windows 7 laptop, and with Verbatim 43147 CD-RW's. I only needed to have the USB main lead connected in order to be able to write, read and erase files. I used ImgBurn to burn a 436 MB ISO file to CD-RW. I erased files using both Windows and ImgBurn. I formatted a CD-RW in Windows for use 'Like a USB flash drive'. Everything works, so this drive receives a 5-star rating.

I got a new PC and knew there would be no disk drive to load all software I needed to and wanted something cheap but would do the job.Pros:Cheap and does the jobSlim and easy to use (plug in and use no software needed)Cons:1) You need to plug into two USB ports for it to work2) Cables are not long enough as usual3) My PC was acting up and is in for repairs but trying to fix this, using this device was a problem, I am hoping it was the PC, (I had to do some installs a few times) otherwise this equipment is acting up after a little over a year of being used.4) You have to take a little care of taking disks out.Bought this in June 2015 for £21.59 and was £13.95 in September 2016

So far I am really happy with this CD/ DVD drive. I have had to load some legacy software and import some photo CDs to a new computer and this has proved itself well.I have not used it to burn a disk and it is likely I won't but it is good to know that I still can if need be.

So far so good. I bought two of these to be used with Macbook Air. Now it needs two USB ports one for the data flow and the other for its power supply. While the MBAir does have two USB ports but the lead provided is not long enough to reach the other side…so I used the power provided by a USB Charger (tested this with Easy ACC as well as Anker 25Ws) and it worked perfectly well. This option does limit the portability. To make it truly portable with a MBAir one might have to use a thunderbolt to USB adapter and possibly make it work that way. But at this price (£19) it is very good value for money.I may provide an update in a couple of months as to how my experience with this has been.

I was slightly concerned whilst purchasing this due to the reviews. Must say that it worked straight out of the box without any issues. It also works directly when plugged into the projector using the USB cable. Wonder why anyone should pay for high cost of lenovo drives.