LG Electronics GP60NB50 USB 3 0 Compatible Super-Multi Ultra Slim Portable DVD -RW External Drive for PC Windows

It seems to be working to above standards right out of the box, instantly loads dvds, all the ones my dvd drive won't load this one doe's so I can keep upgrading my Vudu account. It seems to play them just fine without loading any of the software that came with the unit, so I just tucked away the software so if needed I have it. I haven't played a whole movie yet but it opens under fifteen seconds or way quicker and plays it then since I'm just uploading to Vudu I stop it and do my thing, but the picture is pulled up on screen for intro so I can tell it's playing the dvds. One cable seems to be more than strong enough using HP CQ 60 usb port. It's kind of light and flimsy but not bendable flimsy. Expect the unit to be moving all arround while taking in and out discs, it's think just a half an inch high, so I finally ended up wedging it under the usb plug in and that seems to hold in a good place and keep it from moving all around, now I just need to find a shorter cable in my bag of cables to make it pretty, one that comes with it though has the magnet shield magnet on it so not sure if I should switch it out. Push the button on the front and it pops right open not a fancy one like an x box but more like the ones that come with lap tops, latch is released and spring pops it open. Makes some loud noises with some dvds and those were not properly pushed down enough so be careful of that. Still some are just louder even when rightly inserted. It's got a plastic sticker on top to make it look aluminum brushed, it's all plastic, so don't mistakingly try and peel it off as a clear protective sticker like the ones found all over unit when you get it like I did, didn't peel up at all but I was just lucky. As I said plug and play replaces immediately your internal drive once auto driver finds right driver to communicate with unit, I'm using Windows 7. Expect it to be smudgy on top from holding the unit down while closing it each time. No fancy lights or anything just one blue or green activity light on front and one button on front to open it. I think that covers it, as I said brand new and haven't played an entire disc, but very pleased on it's lightning speed of opening all my dvds when my drive would just click for minutes and still not open them. Write me for questions, spend the thirty and be satisfied, I'm now an LG customer. I have it running off a plain usb not 2.0 or anything, at least I'm pretty sure it's just a plain usb. Read more

I purchased this external DVD drive because my mid 2010 era iMac with iDVD (version 7.1.2) would not burn DVDs using the internal drive. Good news is that this external DVD drive works and I can create DVDs again with iDVD! The box says drive is Mac compatible. In the box is the cable, installation disk for Windows, warranty, and Quick Set-up Guide. All I did was plug into a USB port, start iDVD and it recognized that I had two DVD drives. The choices were in terms that made absolutely no sense because there were letters and numbers that did not clarify which drive was which. I picked the wrong one first (labeled: OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H) and nothing happened. I repeated that step with the other choice (labeled: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GP60NS50) and bingo the external drive came to life and I made my DVD! Additional notes for Mac folks: my internal DVD drive has been acting up for months and all diagnostics tests did not reveal a problem. Apple Care helped run some tests that did not reveal any problem with the DVD. I even took my iMac to the Simply Mac, Apple affiliated, store and their test says it was OK too. I also looked on the Apple Community for help and lots of folks were dealing with “Why does iDVD not burn a disk due to ????” The questions are all over the ballpark as to the probable cause like updating OS, iDVD is obsolete and no longer supported, and hardware issues/questions. The solutions were equally scattered. I was torn between iDVD, hardware, and recently updating to Yosemite as probable cause(s). So I had too many moving parts and it all did not make logical sense that the internal DVD tested as OK but I could not produce a DVD. Clarity settled in when I priced a new internal DVD….”you must be kidding!” is all I can say about that figure (1/3 the cost of the computer!). In addition, I was also told I could not trade in my iMac UNTIL I fixed the internal DVD! Also, the Apple external drive that they sell for the new iMac is not compatible with my vintage iMac so that was not an option either! So this was a gamble purchase that worked! Read more