CD Drive Accuracy 2019

[ripcd]

My experience has been that most external drives are not very good. Besides accuracy problems, most are slow. When ripping to my laptop, I use an "internal" drive with an external SATA power supply and a SATA to USB converter. Works well.

Does this mean that you are better off with a laptop that has an internal drive (preferably Bluray-capable?) rather than buying an external drive?

[schmidj]

No, the built in internal laptop drives are, in most cases no better than the external ones. The good drives, in my experience, are the "internal" 5 1/4 full height desktop drives. Use them with a USB to SATA or IDE adapter as appropriate for that drive, and an external power supply with a USB port on your laptop. You don't need an external case, just treat the connectors on the back with reasonable care. Hunt around for used drives salvaged from desktop computers that have been retired. With an assortment of drives, you'll find which ones read damaged CDs the best.

Unfortunately, the variety of DVD drives is rapidly shrinking. My (limited) experience with Bluray burning drives has been that they aren't particularly good at reading scratched or otherwise damaged CDs. I had better luck with DVD drives.

[ripcd]

This is the one I have: https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-BDR-X...1397602&sr=8-8

I noticed that the original post lists a few Pioneer drives in the good drives category, but mine is a bluray and that worries me that it's not going to be good at reading damaged discs.

[808beats]

I'm considering buying a new DVD/CD Writer. Any idea when the 2020 list will be released please?