ASUS ZenDrive Black 13mm External 8X DVD Burner Drive -RW with M-Disc Support Compatible with Both Mac Windows

This ASUS LITE portable USB DVD burner is a fantastic product. It’s one of the few that are plug-in. Play with Windows 11. No drivers needed. This is my second of these ASUS burners. They just work so well! Read more

I wanted/needed a peripheral DVD/CD player for my Windows 11 laptops in order to rip and/or burn audio CDs. So far I've set this player up with two separate laptops running Win 11 and it's working perfectly. There is no setup wizard, or software you have to load. (The software included on the accompanying CD-ROM is just bloatware and should be avoided.) Another reviewer had a very helpful comment, namely that when you first connect the player via USB-C and absolutely nothing happens, don't worry. It comes to life once you insert a CD. From there, via File -> Open Audio CD, you can choose to play or rip audio. For the rip selection it gives you an option to specify settings for the rip. Really handy. So far the ripping has worked flawlessly with both laptops. I haven't yet attempted to burn any CDs, but I don't have reason to believe it will be an issue considering its performance so far. I'll probably update this review when I do, but so far a full five stars. BTW - the title of this review might leave the reader wondering if the unit works with Windows 10. The answer is I don't know as I no longer have any Windows 10 machines. I've read in the past that Windows 10 was not so compatible with external DVD/CD drives, thus I never bothered trying on those. Your mileage may vary with this unit on Win 10. One last comment. . . The unit is light and seems a little delicate. I'm not knocking it for that. Just don't drop it or bang it around as it's not built like a tank. If you treat it well, it will treat you well. ===================================== Feb 2026 Update. I switched to Linux after Windows 11 imploded with bloatware and privacy concerns. The great news is that this drive works extremely well with Linux Mint. I've probably burned about 20 CDs with this drive on Mint, and all but one were flawless. I had one problem finalizing a disc (using k3b software for all of them) and I'm not sure if it was the software or hardware. Some permission issue. I resolved it and it finally worked on that one too. Point is, every CD that was burned was absolutely perfect - no glitches, skips or other problems during playback. I actually bought a second drive as a backup as this thing is too good to be true. Highly recommended! Read more

FYI I wanted a basic CD writer to use with a recent mini-computer purchase. This has been working great for that use. It is somewhat "light weight" and I use a light touch when opening and closing it. Functionally it is working fine for the simple tasks I have used it for. Haven't had any issues writing or reading discs. It has a split cable so that you can use a second usb port for extra power. However, it has been working for me with only one usb port connected. The ~24" cable is rather short. I trusted the ASUS name and am happy so far with the drive for the price paid Read more

I work a lot with CDs, and this is one of the best external drives I’ve used so far. It reads discs very well and works great for ripping. The only issue I’ve run into is that it’s a bit small. If a CD or DVD is slightly bent, it can make a loud noise and won’t read properly. I’ve had to make sure discs are flattened before inserting them. Larger external drives don’t seem to have this issue as much. Read more

It works. Actually read a disk that has been unreadable for years that I had some childhood recordings on. Was well worth it. Read more

This thing is amazing. For how cheap it is, it does exactly everything I need. It copies my music CDs, it plays DVDs, and it requires no drivers. I have a 2025 MacBook Air M4 15”. People say it’s fragile, but it’s just like every other disc drive. I’ve been using disc players since 1992 and had the 1996 Magnavox portable CD player. It “feels” flimsy, because it cost $20. Having the hidden USB-C cord was an absolute gem of an idea. Noise levels: it’s as noisy as any other disc player I have ever used. It has no internal stabilizer or inertial dampen system. If you want all those bells and whistles, you going to spend $100+ of a disc driver. You might as well just buy their Blu-Ray burner at that price. For how tiny it is, it’s phenomenal. It’s thinner than my MacBook Air. I haven’t tried to burn CDs or DVDs yet, so I can’t speak on that parts. All I know is that it rips CDs without fail. Maybe if I get my music collection back I can make a meme CD and put it in a museum. Read more