Blu-ray Drive for Media Backup

[rv8000]

Looking for suggestions on a reliable external drive that’s not going to break the bank. My friend and I are going to backup a bunch of his collection and while very little of the media is 4k or or even 1080 (lots of early 2000s DVDs) it would be nice to have something capable of properly storing 4k media.

There seem to be a lot of weird no-name brands which make me skeptical of reliability in the long term, and or decent speed when backing up media. Top of the price point is around $200, would be nice to spend considerably less as we have a bunch of storage to purchase as well.

 

[Whitestar]

Bit of a late answer, but I'm looking into this myself and this Verbatim burner (model 43888) seems to do the trick: Ultra HD 4K External Slimline Blu-ray Writer | Blu-ray Writer | Verbatim Online Shop.

I'm also considering getting this software: EaseFab Video Converter Ultimate: All-in-one Video, DVD and Blu-ray Solution for Windows (Windows 11/10 included) | OFFICIAL.
Because to use MakeMKV now it seems that you need to firmware-flash the drive to get it to read 4K Blu-rays. I want to avoid all that hassle.

 

[Hardcore Games]

I used USB DVD/BD/UHD drives as internal drives long ago disappeared. DVD drives are inexpensive and BD drives are less expensive. UHD drives are less common.

 

[BlindZenDriver]

Not long ago I was also on a quest for how to backup lots of data, then intent being both backup and also being able to not run as many hard drives only my search came to nothing when it comes to backup storage usable/affordable in a private setting. Or to put it differently - I found nothing that can match the price/capacity of hard drives.

The problem seems to be that with high res video the amount of data has outrun media like tapes and discs, so instead I am resorting to having multiple big discs of which some I store off site. Buying a bunch of 20 TB discs is about the sweet spot and then use them with a USB3-SATA interface.

 

[Arkz]

Why not just backup onto HDDs? Far more storage for the costs, far far quicker to do as well.

 

[Hardcore Games]

I import DVD, BD and UHD as I have high capacity disks which can hold movies galore.

 

[rv8000]

Why not just backup onto HDDs? Far more storage for the costs, far far quicker to do as well.

If it wasn’t clear, I’m not looking for external storage media (hdd/sdd), I’m trying to find a decent blue-ray drive that can do 4k backups to a NAS, that isn’t needlessly expensive.

 

[gurusmi]

Just get a normal external USB BluRay drive and encode using MakeMKV. I did the same with my collection of 300+ DVD and BluRay's.

 

[rv8000]

Just get a normal external USB BluRay drive and encode using MakeMKV. I did the same with my collection of 300+ DVD and BluRay's.

The plan was to use makemkv, it’s just there so many off brand drives around with very little information on whats actually decent and not going to keel over. It ranges from $30 no-name stuff to $150+ sony drives. Thread purpose was to gauge/get potential opinions on drives people may already have.

 

[gurusmi]

The plan was to use makemkv, it’s just there so many off brand drives around with very little information on whats actually decent and not going to keel over. It ranges from $30 no-name stuff to $150+ sony drives. Thread purpose was to gauge/get potential opinions on drives people may already have.

I got the slower Pioneer drive and a separate 5,25" case. In general i prefer the more high end than the ultra cheap goods. Already my grandma told me that people buying cheap things by them twice.

 

[Harlow]

The plan was to use makemkv, it’s just there so many off brand drives around with very little information on whats actually decent and not going to keel over.

You'll probably want to buy a LibreDrive if you intend ripping 4K/UHD content. Either flash your own drive or pay a premium and buy a pre-flashed drive. Not all drives are compatible.
https://forum.makemkv.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=19

 

[ir_cow]

Flashing your own drive is really easy and takes 30 seconds. Done it to 3 LG drives now.

All information can be found of MakeMKV forums

 

[1freedude]

Flashing your own drive is really easy and takes 30 seconds. Done it to 3 LG drives now.

All information can be found of MakeMKV forums

Exactly.

Look here for the drive I recommend:

What's your latest tech purchase?

I hope its better then the 120 version, i just ditched it becorse it kept writing double letters. i bought the K100 corsair instead, 90$ cheaper then the original price. 2yrs warranty IIRC so I hope that this lasts..

www.techpowerup.com

Edit, skipped right over the part where op said external. So, I recommend using internal instead.