Compare the Best Optical Disc DrivesJanuary 2020

Optical disk drives cover a wide range of internal and external devices meant to both read and write a variety of removable media. This means they can be used to both read data from discs (i.e - playing a movie DVD or Blu Ray) and also writing or ‘burning’ data (i.e - creating a music CD from individual mp3s, or permanently writing files to a disk for distribution).

While most computers used to house CD and DVD drives as standard, drastically smaller devices and a move towards cloud-based streaming mean that disc drives are being used less and less. Indeed many modern laptops and desktops no longer contain a disc drive at all.

This means that even though it is legacy tech, it’s still worth keeping a drive handy for those times you want to read the data from an old DVD, burn a disc for a friend, or watch a movie when you don’t have access to Netflix. This guide will explain the major points of consideration when choosing an optical disk drive.

Mounting & Portability

The first important consideration is what type of drive you want to get. While all our drives read and write disks, there are 2 main types - internal and external. It’s important to note that generally speaking internal drives can’t be used outside of computers, and external drives have to be powered via USB, and can’t be mounted inside a desktop or laptop.

Internal drives: These are meant to be placed into the computer body itself and wired directly into the system for power and data. They are used mostly for either replacements, or if you are building your own computer from scratch. Because these drives have to fit into a specific bay, it’s important to make sure you get one that is the right measurements and compatible with your computer. This also includes the correct mounting for the machine you’re wanting to install the drive into.

External drives: These drives are meant to be plugged into a computer (usually via USB) to serve as a temporary drive when one is needed. These drives tend to be more expensive than internal drives, but can be used with any computer. They are especially useful for laptops, since the current trend in ultra-thin laptops mean that most modern models don’t have a drive built in. Because external drives are removable, they can be easily stowed away until needed, making them helpful if you only need to read a CD/DVD occasionally. They are also very portable, making them good for watching movies or accessing data on journeys where you may not have access to a stable net connection.

Media Support

There are 3 main types of optical media supported by the disc drives on our site - CD, DVD and Blu Ray:

CD: Traditionally used for music, and while rather a legacy format, there are so many CDs in circulation that you are bound to need to access one at some point. All disc drives will read and write CDs, but the downside is they hold the least information of the 3 types.

DVD: DVDs are generally used for movies, since they are higher density, so can hold far more data than CDs. DVDs are still widely used for movies and video games, and can also hold a large amount of information, making them useful for backing up lots of files. Nearly all of our drives support both CD and DVD read writing.

Blu-Ray: The newest and highest density of optical media on the market, Blu-Ray discs can hold an enormous amount of data in a single disc. They are primarily used for very high-quality movies. However because they are a new format, Blu-Ray writers are far more expensive than CD or DVD-compatible models. Moreover, not all drives support Blu-Ray reading or writing, meaning that you may find other users are not able to read the data on the disc.

Read/Write Speedas

Finally, read & write speeds measure how quickly data can be written from & to the disc. This is measures in bytes per second - the higher the speed, the faster large files (such as movies) will be burnt to the disc, or read from the drive. The read-write speeds are also affected by the USB version supported - USB 3.0 supported drives allow far higher transfer rates than USB 2 drives, so it is worth seeking out the newest drive you can for the fastest data transfer speeds.

Cd Writer Prices

Dvd burners range in price from $16 to $128 and in total we found prices for 34 dvd burners. A new cd (re)writer costs on average $61 and 80% of cd burners are priced between $29 and $88. The cheapest cd rewriter that we found is the Lite-On IHAS12414 at only $17, and the most expensive is the HP 652241-B21 at $128.

Cd (Re)Writer Brands - Price Range

Intel cd burners start at $83 and their most expensive cd writer costs $83. The average price of Intel cd burners is $83 which is the highest average price of all cd writer brands.

The second highest average dvd rewriter price out of all brands is Transcend cd (re)writers with an average price of $41. Transcend cd (re)writers range in price from $41 to $41.

The average price of Verbatim dvd writers is $40 which is the third highest average price of all cd (re)writer brands. Verbatim dvd writers start at $0 and their most expensive cd (re)writer costs $88.

Cd (Re)Writer Brands - Average Ratings

We have checked 20 expert reviews and 3,444 user reviews for cd burners and used these reviews to calculate the average rating for each brand of cd (re)writer.

Biggest Dvd (Re)Writer Retailers

The biggest dvd rewriter retailer by number of products currently for sale is eBay. We found 4 current dvd rewriter offers from eBay.

How Fast Do Dvd (Re)Writer Prices Drop After Release?

New dvd (re)writers drop in price by an average of 6% in the first 6 months after they were first released.

If you are prepared to wait then you could save an average of $1 on a typical $14 new cd (re)writer by waiting 6 months before buying.

Disc Loading Types

The disc loading type refers to the mechanism by which the optical disc is loaded into the drive. Normally this is by placing the disc in a tray or by inserting it into a slot.

Amongst new dvd (re)writers, the most common disc loading type is tray. We found 112 dvd (re)writers that are dvd rewriters that have a tray loading. Slot is the second most popular disc loading type amongst new dvd rewriters. We found 29 dvd rewriters that are dvd burners that have a slot loading.

Type

Type denotes whether the disc drive is meant to be placed internally into a computer, or used externally via USB.

The most frequently found type amongst new dvd writers is internal. We found 82 dvd writers that are internal cd (re)writers. We found 51 cd (re)writers that are external dvd writers, making this the second most popular type amongst new cd (re)writers.

Optical Drive Types

The drive type denotes what type of disc (CD, DVD,etc) the drive is capable of reading.

Amongst new cd rewriters, the most common optical drive type is dvd. We found 114 cd rewriters that are cd (re)writers that have a dvd Optical drive type. The second most common optical drive type amongst new dvd burners is blu-ray. We found 27 dvd burners that are optical disc drives that have a blu-ray Optical drive type.

Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Dvd Rewriters?

The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying dvd rewriters. For each retailer it shows the total number of dvd rewriters where they currently have a market leading price. The chart below helps you decide which retailer is normally cheapest for buying optical disc drives. For each retailer we took all of their prices and looked at what proportion of those prices where the cheapest on the market. The cheapest retailer that we found was eBay. 3 of their cd writer prices were the cheapest that could be found anywhere.

Proportion of Cd Burners for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?

Assessing how cheap each retailer is for cd writers by counting the number of cheapest prices for that retailer, makes the retailers that offer the greatest number of cd burner prices more likely to offer the greatest number of cheapest prices. The chart below considers the proportion of each retailer's cd burner prices that are the cheapest compared to other retailers.