Ripping CDs in FLAK

[audiogeek]

Just purchase a new laptop with plenty of SSD storage. Of course it does not have an optical drive and I will have to buy one of those cheesey looking external drives to rip my CD library on it.

So does anyone know if there is an external drive that has its own power adapter. I have been researching and many say that the 20 dollar external drives from China are all ok for ripping (using correct software) but the USB cord is like less the a foot long. They say it cant be long because it serves as the power for the drive as well as the data transfer.

I would not mind spending a little extra on something with more flexibility and a solid build. Any suggestions?

 

[kemmler3D]

I recently got one of these which seems to run fine over USB: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-8x-...cd-rw-supermulti-blade-drive-silver/1802033.p ... the cord isn't long but it's probably more than a foot? I'm sure that power can travel further than a foot over a USB cable, though...

It works well ripping. I got it because it's one of those slot loaders instead of a tray, but that might not be the best idea, idk.

 

[khensu]

I've also had issues with the reliability of those little self-powered drives. For CD ripping, I use an HP dvd1270, but I've had it for many years. I don't know what's available nowadays, but it shouldn't be that hard to find one. I see someone beat me to the punch and provided a link already.

 

[shuppatsu]

I can vouch for this LG drive, as I've used it at work. It's $27 well spent. I strongly recommend against the no-name brands. We bought one of those before the LG one, it only cost like $5 less but did not work. Construction was also clearly worse.

The LG uses a standard USB 2.0 mini-b plug (the old style), so it's easy to replace the cable with something longer. Reading about USB and power there doesn't seem to be any reason why the cable can't be 5m long.

 

[AlfaNovember]

You want a good quality full-size, full speed optical drive (LG, Samsung, Plextor) and a SATA to USB 12V adaptor, which includes a 12V wall-wart to power the adaptor and the optical drive. I don't bother with an enclosure for the whole mess, but I'm tolerant of a wiring rat's nest.

The USB-only optical drives are dreadfully slow, the USB bus is only 5V, whereas separate 12V/2A gives more watts to spin the drive much faster.

I have a Unitek model which is adequate to the task.

 

[Joachim Herbert]

Reading about USB and power there doesn't seem to be any reason why the cable can't be 5m long.

Agree with everything you wrote, except 3 meters are the maximum for reliable data transmission over USB 2. Better cut it short.

 

[voodooless]

This thing:

BW-16D1X-U - Tech Specs｜Optical Drives｜ASUS Global

Detailed specification of BW-16D1X-U Tech Specs，Color:BLACK、Color:BLACK、Read Speed (max):BD-ROM : 12X|BD-R(SL, M-DISC) : 12X|BD-RE : 10X|DVD-ROM : 16X|DVD+R : 16X|DVD-R : 16X|DVD+R(SL, M-DISC) : 12X|DVD+RW : 12X|DVD-RW : 12X|DVD+R(DL) : 12X|DVD-R(DL) : 12X|DVD-RAM : 5X|CD-ROM : 40X|CD-R ...

www.asus.com

Comes with an adapter, but is otherwise spec overkill for a bit of CD ripping. But it’s convenient if you want > 24x read speeds, yet 4x as expensive vs a simple USB 3 drive.

The foot-long cable maximum is nonsense. They can be much longer as others have stated.

 

[audiogeek]

This thing:

BW-16D1X-U - Tech Specs｜Optical Drives｜ASUS Global

Detailed specification of BW-16D1X-U Tech Specs，Color:BLACK、Color:BLACK、Read Speed (max):BD-ROM : 12X|BD-R(SL, M-DISC) : 12X|BD-RE : 10X|DVD-ROM : 16X|DVD+R : 16X|DVD-R : 16X|DVD+R(SL, M-DISC) : 12X|DVD+RW : 12X|DVD-RW : 12X|DVD+R(DL) : 12X|DVD-R(DL) : 12X|DVD-RAM : 5X|CD-ROM : 40X|CD-R ...

www.asus.com

Comes with an adapter, but is otherwise spec overkill for a bit of CD ripping. But it’s convenient if you want > 24x read speeds, yet 4x as expensive vs a simple USB 3 drive.

The foot-long cable maximum is nonsense. They can be much longer as others have stated.

I have ordered this today as it has the ac power adapter and USB 3.0 plus I can use it for blurays as well.

Thank you all for the advice and suggestions.