archgon Premium Aluminum External USB 3.0 UHD 4K Blu-Ray Writer Super Drive for PC and Mac

My first impression after receiving and opening the package is that the device itself felt sturdy, if not outright bulky despite its actual slimness, but it's well-built with a rather rough aluminum finish that seems to justify a product marketed as being 'premium'. It comes with a nice portable case that can fit the device and its cables, which is a nice addition to the product that I wasn't aware of when I initially ordered it. As my very first Blu-Ray drive, I am very satisfied with this item as it is capable of doing exactly what it says it can. I picked it over some other more reputable brands due to its affordable pricing and 4k support (although you need to patch its firmware first). By connecting it to my MacBook Air M2 (using the provided single type C cable, without needing an adapter or dual port connection like the Buffalo drive) and using the makemkv software, this drive can play (or rather when using this said app, extract) pretty much any Blu ray disc available - be it a regular 1080p BR, UHD (4K) BR, discs from any region or copy protection, bootleg discs, and afaik, even those with cinavia protection -at least in theory, as I haven't tried that many yet. They're also compatible with DVDs and CDs as well, and supports burning to all of these disc types. Since the app only does ripping and not playing, it is a good idea to have some external storage drives to keep these media for ease of access in the future. Despite being rather loud when in use and can be slow (up to 30 minutes or more when ring ripping a blu ray), I believe this Blu ray drive more than justifies its price. I've seen players twice the price that doesn't support half of these features (usually lacks 4k support and is fixed to a certain playback region/ has cinavia due to licensing requirements, etc.). Would recommend this external Blu ray drive for those who doesn't have any device to play 4k Blu ray discs yet (although cheaper/better alternatives exist for non 4k drives). It's affordable, does everything, and seems durable. The only ceveat is that there might be a lot to learn when getting started, especially when it comes to patching the firmware for 4k support and using makemkv - although this issue isn't specific to this brand/model, it's a generic software limitation for all such drives. However, many tutorials are available online and they are trivial to work with once you are familiar with it.

I haven't tried all the features yet, but I've been watching my DVDs with it for about a week. It seems to work quite well. You don't need external power for it. Just plug it into your computer. I like that it has an attached A and C adapter so you can plug it into USB A or USB C. It ran on USB 2.0 and USB 3.0, and USB C without any hiccups. Its got a metal casing that feels sturdy, not cheaply thrown together. Mine came with a carrying case, which I think was a nice touch.

If you're using this for UHD on Linux, you need firmware 1.0 (the latest is 1.3 and works fine on windows.) Hope this review finds you easier than it took for me to find the answer. I use it connected to a NAS I use for general backup and home media servers.

I bought this primarily for ripping my new UHD discs and making backup copies and throwing them up on my NAS drive for media playback back in June of 2019. While it did work for the most part after I flashed it back down to Firmware revision 1.00 I still had a ton of read errors with this drive and would constantly have to try and try again until I'd get a decent copy. It would read just about every standard BluRay I throw at it but it just had issues with UHD discs. Just recently I purchased Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection, The Hobbit: Trilogy and Lord of the Rings: Trilogy all on 4K UHD and just about every one of the discs it had issues reading and would not even register as a disc in the drive and I could hear it clicking try to read the discs. After a little research I came to the conclusion that this drive has issues reading Triple layered UHD discs the ones that are 100 GB in size. Well all of the movies I just purchased it would not read the discs because they were all on triple layered discs. After even more research come to find out just about all the slim external drives have this issue and so I started searching for a standard 5.25" UHD optical drive that I could house in a case since my computer is all tempered glass. Another thing to look out for is what type of case or connector to use on the standard sized drives since not all of them will allow you to flash the drive through them. If in the market look to the MakeMKV forums for info on what drives and cases are good to use for making backup copies. I wound up going for the LG WH16NS60 and a Unitek Y-1099 SATA adapter converter for output to USB both of which you can find here on Amazon. All in all it's a decent drive for backing up standard smaller sized 4K discs and your standard BluRay's but be warned that it will have severe issues reading triple layered 4K discs which a lot of the newer movies are releasing on and as more and more 4K movies start carrying supplementals on the disc you'll find that the disc is more than likely going to be a triple layered disc.