ASUS USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive SDRW-08D1S-U

The Asus external DVD burner just arrived today. It was very nice looking and lightweight. Goes well with my black Asus EEE PC 900HA. Simple plug and play installation. However, I did not install the Cyberlink Power2go 6 software that was included in the package. The Y cable is about 20-21 inches long which is good enough for me since it is neither too short or too long. Underneath the dvd burner, there is rubbery panel that is removable and it is where you hook up the stand.

Anyway, I wanted to test how fast the drive can burn. So I plugged it into my old Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop and I used Nero 7 Ultra Edition software to burn 4.16 gigs of stuff in under 21 minutes (with verify disc option turned on). It is really fast and consistent (speed top out at 7.8X on a number of occasions). My Phillips burner in my Dell never came close to that speed (at most 6X). The noise isn’t that noticeable either (or made just as much noise as the Phillips burner).

Overall, I’m quite pleased and surprised by the performance and looks of the Asus external DVD burner.

Additional notes: I used 2 USB ports (one on the laptop and one on Antec notebook cooler which was also connected to laptop) during the burning process and it didn’t seem to have affected the performance.

Also, I ran some discs using only 1 USB port and they played fine.

Like the EEE PC, the drive can be a dust and finger-print magnet.
Rating: 5 / 5

Purchased this to go with my eee PC 10005HAP, partly in case I needed to load software from CD or DVD, but mostly so I could use the eee PC as a travel DVD-player.

It works for both purposes. In the case of playing DVD videos, I was a little surprised that it didn’t come with software for that purpose (and Windows Media Player didn’t have the right codec) but it was simple to find free software online–I chose VLC Media Player, and that works fine. Most importantly, using the eee PC on battery power supplied enough power to the DVD drive that I could use it for watching DVDs without plugging the computer in.

However, in the case of one bit of software I loaded from CD, I found I did have to plug in the computer to get the installation to run without error. Since I don’t expect to do much of this and expect to have a power outlet handy when I do, this isn’t a problem.

I haven’t yet used the drive for burning CDs or DVDs, so can’t comment regarding that, but given the above I won’t be relying on battery power to do so.

As others have said, it doesn’t seem too stable when mounted in the provided stand. I have no particular need to have it stand up vertically, so it’s not a problem for me, but does make me wonder why ASUS even bothered with that stand.

Also, I find the button for opening the drive to be a little difficult to use. The drive itself is so light that pushing the button results in pushing the whole drive, so it can be tricky–I often find I need to hold on to the drive with one hand, while pushing the button with the other. Kind of annoying, but not a showstopper.
Rating: 4 / 5

This ASUS external DVD only arrived today, but it works like a charm. We bought it so we can watch movies on our ASUS 901 Linux. Simple plug and play operation, and able to watch movies on it with no added software. Extremely pleased with this product. No plans to write to it, just watch movies.
Rating: 5 / 5

I had never owned an Asus branded optical drive before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this has turned out to be the best travel drive I’ve owned so far. I think the pictures are a bit deceptive, because in reality this drive is MUCH thinner than the product images would lead you to believe, and also much sleeker and very attractive. The stand that comes with it is, of course, optional and I don’t personally use it. In order to attach the stand, there is a rubber piece on the bottom of the drive which must be removed to reveal a slot, and then the stand snaps securely into that slot, holding the drive up on it’s side in a very stable position. If you opt not to use it, as I have done, the rubber piece stays in and sits flush against the bottom. Using it lying flat isn’t a problem, because there are four rubber feet on the bottom that prevent it from sliding around and the rubber slot cover acts as a fifth foot helping to make it that much more stable. There are a couple of huge pluses that need to be mentioned about this drive. I previously owned a similar travel drive from another well known manufacturer, and while it was reasonably small, it also required an external power source of it’s own meaning you had an extra cable to carry with you. That is not the case with this drive. It is powered entirely via the USB connector and has so far been extremely reliable. The drive I owned previously was a little picky about defects in CDs and other optical discs, and I don’t know if it is the firmware in the Asus drive or the reading mechanism itself, but the error correction in reading discs is far better than it was with my old drive and therefore much more forgiving when I’m ripping some of my older CDs that have seen better days to my hard drive (I primarily use it with Sound Juicer in Ubuntu Linux). I have burned close to 100 ISO images to CDR discs with this drive using Brasero and only had one coaster, and that was probably my fault as I had put a label on the disc that was off center and also had a crease in it before I tried to burn it, so it’s kind of hard to blame the drive for that as the disc itself was most probably off balance. I’ve also had to use it as a boot drive a couple of times and it was always recognized by the BIOS on my Eee PC 1000HA on startup. Read and write speeds are also very similar to my old drive as well.

So if you’re looking for a compact, reliable and attractive travel drive in this price range, you can pretty much stop looking right now. This drive has just about everything you could ask for from a portability standpoint. I have no complaints whatsoever about this drive or it’s performance. It’s taken nearly everything I’ve fed it so far without issue, and I have no qualms whatsoever about giving it five stars. Surprisingly great product.
Rating: 5 / 5

Along with my Asus 1000 HA netbook purchase I also bought the Asus SDRW external DVDRW optical drive. The drive gets its power from the 2 usb ports. I was a bit skeptical about the drive getting ample power from the netbook.

To my amazement the optical drive booted up with no power problems. The low price was also a factor in purchasing the optical drive. It’s a small unit that does not take up any more space than the small Asus netbook itself.
Rating: 5 / 5