Blu-ray drive - internal or external?

[Mobe1969]

Originally Posted by JohnForbes

Seeking some advice. In 2019 I bought a Pioneer 6X BDR-XS06 Slim Portable Blu-ray Burner on Amazon. I only used it to play DVDs and Blu-rays on my iMac and upload CDs to my iTunes. I never burned a disc. Not once. I played BDs on this drive once or twice a month. After 3 years and 10 months, the drive still works with DVDs and CDs, but after spinning and making noise it just spits out the BD without ever mounting. This unit has sat on the same desk next to my iMac since purchased. It has not been mishandled, dropped, or exposed to anything but ordinary use. I'm not sure about you, but I expect my electronics to last longer than 4 years. I still have A/V equipment that is still going strong 2 decades later. When I contacted Pioneer Customer Support, after a few back-and-forth messages, I got the following response: "Our products are designed and manufactured to last, but I do recognize that does not seem to be the case in this circumstance. I really do apologize for the inconvenience here. As much as I'd like to provide some sort of offer, our warranty policy only covers one year of warranty."

Can anyone recommend a durable external BD drive for my iMac? Hopefully I'll get more life out of this one. Thanks.

The neatest option for a laptop I think is the LG BU50N and put that in a USB caddy. They can be made UHD friendly. You can get the Samsung ones, the full size ones, and put them in a bigger enclosure caddy, but they need a separate power supply.