<SOLVED> External DVD Drive

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rbeltz48
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<SOLVED> External DVD Drive

Post by rbeltz48 »

Can anyone recommend an external DVD drive which is compatible with a Lenovo Thinkpad laptop? Thanks.
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kukamuumuka

Re: External DVD Drive

Post by kukamuumuka »

All what I have used are worked. I have not met unworkable external DVD drive. :wink:
phd21
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Re: External DVD Drive

Post by phd21 »

Hi rbeltz48,

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

Fortunately, DVD/CD burner writers are low-cost $20-$25us or less in some cases even USB external drives are around $25us and work very well. Read descriptions and user comments, if they specifically state only work with MS Windows or Mac, then maybe they will not work with Linux, but most will. You can even get Blu-Ray burner writers for around $50-$100. I recommend getting a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray burner that supports "m-disc".

I have an older LG USB external DVD/CD burner that still works well with all regular DVD/CD discs but unfortunately does support "m-disc" discs which I want.

Might want to read this post
cd burner for mint 19 - Linux Mint Forums
viewtopic.php?f=90&t=279918&hilit=regionset

Amazon.com: LG Electronics 8X USB 2.0 Super Multi Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer Drive +/-RW External Drive with M-DISC Support (Black) GP65NB60 $25us
https://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-P ... ref=sr_1_4

Amazon.com: usb external dvd drive burner
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=usb+external ... _sb_noss_2

Amazon.com: usb external blu-ray drive burner
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss ... ive+burner

Hope this helps ...
Phd21: Mint 20 Cinnamon & xKDE (Mint Xfce + Kubuntu KDE) & KDE Neon 64-bit (new based on Ubuntu 20.04) Awesome OS's, Dell Inspiron I5 7000 (7573) 2 in 1 touch screen, Dell OptiPlex 780 Core2Duo E8400 3GHz,4gb Ram, Intel 4 Graphics.
rbeltz48
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Re: External DVD Drive

Post by rbeltz48 »

The reason I'm asking is because of recent bad experiences with trying to burn .iso images in Mint 17.3 and 18.3 with Brasero, K3b or Xfburn. I don't know if my old Thinkpad T400 and T420 internal drives are shot or it's the Verbatim DVD+RW discs I recently bought. I have been getting tons of errors with them and have had to trash some of them. I didn't get this many errors with Sony DVD-RWs in the past. I am thinking of going back to Sony discs, switching to Memorex or simply buying a new external DVD drive, since I haven't been able to pin down the problem. I haven't been able to find new drives for old Thinkpads - just used ones on eBay. Then I may not know what I'm getting. I also just installed libk3b6-extracodecs, ubuntu-restricted-extras, ubuntu-restricted-addons and udftools. Perhaps that will help?
phd21
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Re: External DVD Drive

Post by phd21 »

Hi rbeltz48,

You are welcome...

If you have another computer with a DVD burner or know anyone else with a DVD burner you can test the discs. Verbatim discs have always worked well for me. All mechanical drives like DVD/CD/Blu-Ray and hard disks will wear out eventually. I have had to replace DVD/CD drives many times over the years. Although rare in my experience, you can sometimes get bad discs as well which you may be able to return, so always try another disc.

Installing the software packages I recommended in my link cannot hurt and I know they can help. As for the permission commands, those may only be necessary for Linux Mint 19.x systems, but if you are having problems you can try those in Linux Mint 18.x too. My favorite Linux DVD/CD application has always been "K3b" because of all the features and it works great, but "xfburn" also works well and may be easier for some to use. A lot of people have complained about Brasero.

You can buy laptop internal DVD/CD burners that should fit the Thinkpad series for decent prices as well. The USB external drives are literally plug-n-play and work well. It can not hurt to have more than one DVD/CD burner either for copying discs or for playing specific region encoded movie disks (one drive for one region and another drive for another region).

Amazon.com: laptop internal DVD/CD burner drive thinkpad
* I do not know that any of these support m-disc discs, but they should work for regular DVD/CD discs.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss ... e+thinkpad

More specifically
Amazon.com: laptop internal dvd burner thinkpad t400
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss ... nkpad+t400


Amazon.com: Lenovo ThinkPad Ultrabay Slim Drive (43N3214): Computers & Accessories
https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad- ... nkpad+t400

Hope this helps ...
Phd21: Mint 20 Cinnamon & xKDE (Mint Xfce + Kubuntu KDE) & KDE Neon 64-bit (new based on Ubuntu 20.04) Awesome OS's, Dell Inspiron I5 7000 (7573) 2 in 1 touch screen, Dell OptiPlex 780 Core2Duo E8400 3GHz,4gb Ram, Intel 4 Graphics.
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Flemur
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Re: External DVD Drive

Post by Flemur »

I got a Canon DVD-RW USB drive from Walmart ($30-some) that works fine reading and writing. I got another no-name Chinese DVD-RW drive at a garage sale for $1 that reads OK, haven't tried writing.

The only problem with the Canon USB drive was some linux DVD-writer software which wouldn't "see" the drive unless it was /dev/sr0 (or some such), whereas some other linux software would see the drive OK - so that was a linux software quirk, which are quite common, not a problem accessing the drive itself (two linux "DVD maker" programs, not just burners,I forget which is which, I don't use either any longer).

My free advice is to get a blue ray writing drive. I never heard of "m-drive" before, but the wiki article doesn't sound too enthused about it.
Please edit your original post title to include [SOLVED] if/when it is solved!
Your data and OS are backed up....right?
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AndyMH
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Re: External DVD Drive

Post by AndyMH »

Mine's a samsung and it's plugged into my T430 right now. No idea how much it cost, got it from work.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
rbeltz48
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Re: External DVD Drive

Post by rbeltz48 »

Thanks for all your responses. I will probably buy an external DVD drive. Since installing the additional media programs I mentioned above I will also try burning a couple more .iso files and see how it goes. I have 3 Thinkpads with DVD burners to test on. Thanks again.
phd21
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Re: External DVD Drive

Post by phd21 »

Hi rbeltz48,

You are welcome from all of us that replied...

Another nice thing about having a USB external DVD/CD/Blu-Ray burner is that you can get one drive and use it with multiple computers.

With some applications, you may have to go into the settings to tell that application what the optical drive designation is which in Linux Mint is "/dev/sr0" for the first optical drive, "/dev/sr1" for the second optical drive, etc...


FYI: M-Disc optical media reviewed: Your data, good for a thousand years | PCWorld
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2933478 ... years.html

Use regular discs and rewriteable discs for normal DVD/CD/Blu-Ray stuff, but for permanent archiving use the m-disc.

Amazon.com: Verbatim M-Disc DVD-R 4.7GB 4X with Branded Surface - 25pk Spindle - 98908
https://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-M-Disc- ... 9XNTT3VTWG

Amazon.com: Optical Quantum OQBDR06LT-50 6X 25GB BD-R Single Layer Blu-Ray Recordable Blank Media Logo Top, 50-Disc Spindle: Electronics
https://www.amazon.com/Optical-Quantum- ... -disc+disc


Hope this helps ...
Phd21: Mint 20 Cinnamon & xKDE (Mint Xfce + Kubuntu KDE) & KDE Neon 64-bit (new based on Ubuntu 20.04) Awesome OS's, Dell Inspiron I5 7000 (7573) 2 in 1 touch screen, Dell OptiPlex 780 Core2Duo E8400 3GHz,4gb Ram, Intel 4 Graphics.
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AndyMH
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Re: <SOLVED> External DVD Drive

Post by AndyMH »

I have 3 Thinkpads with DVD burners to test on
Someone else with good taste :D
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
rbeltz48
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Re: <SOLVED> External DVD Drive

Post by rbeltz48 »

YES!! The Thinkpads have always been built for business. But unfortunately, since Lenovo took over they have fallen in quality. My T61 and T400 weigh about twice as much as my T420 and my wife's T410. Starting with the T430 the Thinkpad line has a cheap chicklet keyboard instead of the great keyboard Thinkpads had for years. Next time I may look at some Dell Latitude 64xx series laptops on eBay where I buy all my laptops. Thanks again for all replies concerning the DVD burner.
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Re: <SOLVED> External DVD Drive

Post by AndyMH »

I had dell latitudes from work, I'll stick with thinkpads. The dell keyboards are certainly not better than the thinkpad, even the later ones.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
rbeltz48
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Re: <SOLVED> External DVD Drive

Post by rbeltz48 »

I bought the LG Electronics 8X USB 2.0 Super Multi Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer Drive on Amazon. Works like a charm! It appears that the internal DVD drives on two of my Thinkpads are on their last legs. Thanks again for all the advice! :D
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Re: <SOLVED> External DVD Drive

Post by phd21 »

HI rbeltz48,

You are welcome from all of us that replied...

That's a nice drive at a nice price and also has m-disc support as well. I have an older LG USB external DVD/CD burner writer that is still working after years of use, but unfortunately does not support "m-disc.
Phd21: Mint 20 Cinnamon & xKDE (Mint Xfce + Kubuntu KDE) & KDE Neon 64-bit (new based on Ubuntu 20.04) Awesome OS's, Dell Inspiron I5 7000 (7573) 2 in 1 touch screen, Dell OptiPlex 780 Core2Duo E8400 3GHz,4gb Ram, Intel 4 Graphics.
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