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Even though digital storage media such as Pen Drives and SD-cards have dominated the market, one form of optical media has still prevailed. Blue-Ray media has not wavered in position as the most prominent form of optical storage when it comes to 2021. Everything from movies to video games now come packed into this massive optical archive on your hand. In this article we will be looking at the best external blu ray drives in the market. If you want to burn your own blu ray disk then this feature on the best Blu Ray drive USB will be of great use.
What is a Blu Ray drive USB?
A Blu-Ray drive is not something that you would find on a traditional computer. The presence of optical drives have vanished from computers since the past few years. This is because the capacity of other digital storage has trumped optical storage with little to no competition. Blu-Ray being the only popular surviving form on optical media still has not gotten included in PC or laptop designs. We believe it is because the design of all PCs and laptops are becoming slimmer and more contact .Therefore adding an Blu-Ray drive might be a hindrance to their primary motive.
But this is where external drives come in. As the name suggests these are external drives which means you can store them away after use without it being a part of your system. Our selection of the best bluray external drive models can make quick work of the task at hand. They can burn new disks and read disks with unmatched speed. Just plug them in and you are good to go.
What to look for when picking a Blu Ray drive USB?
In this section we will discuss the factors that you should consider when buying a Blu Ray drive USB. Take a good read before making your pick as these factors should heavily influence your decision.
Speed
The most decisive factor when it comes to Blu Ray drives is the speed. The speed of writing and reading decides how much time will be spent for a specific task. The reading speed of the Blu Ray drive comes into play when you are reading intensive programs such as modern day video games. Having a high reading speed is not a must when it comes to everyday activities such as watching a movie on a blu ray disk. Because any external Blu ray drive is capable of reading Blu Ray disks at sufficient speeds to watch a movie. But for writing speeds it is not the same. Considering how large the capacity is, having high write speeds could save you a lot of time in the long run. If burning Blu Ray disks is going to be a regular activity for you, prioritise it above everything else.
At the moment, the highest writing speeds possible on external Blu Ray drives range between 12x to 2x. For BD-R discs that are single layered and double layered BD-R DL discs, the speeds vary between 2x to 12x. For rewritable discs the speeds are much slower, and hover between 3x and 2x. Even though higher burning often increases the chances of data corruption, if you are somone that burns multiple dics a day, then this becomes very important.
The power supply
Connectivity and power supply for external Blu Ray drives go hand in hand. Not all models can work through the power that is supplied through the USB hub. Certain external drives will require a separate power source to function. If you are looking for portability then it is best to go with a model that can function purely off the USB power output.
When it comes to connectivity, we recommend USB 3.0 over USB 2.0. The speed of a USB 3.0 port is close to 10 times faster than a USB 2.0 port. While speed generally depends on the external drive, it is best to make sure that your PC is not capping the process at any given time during the procedure.
The design
The design of the external drive decides how portable it can be. Generally there are two basic designs, the vertical drives and the horizontal drives. If you value portability then you must pay attention to the drives mounting type.
Blu Ray drive USB – Top Picks
This section includes all the top choices in the market for you. To make things more diverse for our readers, we have added a few models that suit different operating systems that our readers might use. We focused mainly on mac OS and Windows.
Asus External Blu Ray drive USB
This is the most powerful model on our list. If you are willing to sacrifice some amounts of portability for power then we recommend it. The Asus external Blu Ray drive USB has some of the fastest write speeds on our list. The drive features a writing speed of 16x. This is the fastest Blu Ray drive on the market hands down.
The model also has BDXL support. This means it supports data storage upto 128 GB. With the speeds that this drive is capable of meeting, you can write over 25 GBs of data in under 10 minutes. How impressive is that. Backing up large amounts of data will take only a fraction of its estimated time.
The USB drive also supports USB 3.0 which is over 10 times faster than USB 2.0. This model is all about speed and power. Even though it lacks a bit in portability, it is still our number 1 pick for speed and power. The ASUS drive supports all versions of Mac and Windows in the market. Therefore you will have no issues with compatibility.
The external Blu Ray Drive USB also comes with a few security features that make this a top class choice. It comes with a fully functional power software known as Cyberlink Power2Go 8 which makes burning a simple task. It even has encryption protocols in place to provide you with security. On top of everything, the drive supports Android devices for backup procedures.
| PROS | CONS |
| Fast | Quite heavy(2.5 Pounds) |
| Easy to use burning procedure | |
| Encryption protocols | |
| Supports Android and tablets for backups | |
| BDXL support |
We give this External Blu Ray drive USB a full 5 out of 5. Other than its above average weight, this is the perfect model. But as always nothing good comes without a compromise in the tech world.
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
Archgon Premium
This is the best Blu Ray drive for 4k UHD lovers. In fact the drive was designed with 4K UHD users in mind. The external drive supports M-Disc BD-R.
Archgon Premium comes with an aluminum body that is sleek and smooth to touch. You have to be careful with it as it has the potential to slip off surfaces. It is not heavy at all and can easily be carried around. We found this to be a worthy factor that may benefit Vloggers out there.
The drive supports burning and reading of all regular Blu-Ray disks. The user just needs to have the proper software installed on their PC and they are good to go. However if you are attempting to work with UHD sources, then it is best to go with CyberLink Power DVD as it is the only reliable software out there for UHD playback. This means that Mac users are at a disadvantage considering that CyberLink is not available on Mac. Therefore Mac users may experience some difficulty.
| PROS | CONS |
| Supports UHD 4K | Not many softwares supported UHD playback and burning. |
| Lower weight | |
| Great portability |
We give this 4.5 out of 5. We cannot give it a full 5 out of 5 due to the issue with the lack of software for 4K UHD playback.
5.0 out of 5.0 stars
Pioneer BDR-XD05B
This is the most portable model on our list of the best external Blu Ray drives. It is slower than some models out there but we listed this for its portability and discrete nature.
Most external Blu-Ray drives create a lot of noise during writing and reading. But the Pioneer BDR-XD05B is an exception. This model is known for its discrete operation. In fact no one would even know that you have an external Blu-Drive with you. Couple this up with its low weight and you got something that you can take anywhere for any occasion.
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The external drive offers a speed of 6X when burning a BD-R disc. It is also backwards compatible with every other optical disk to date. The Pioneer is capable of burning DVDs at 8X, which means a 4GB HD movie can get written in about 15 minutes. For a Blu-Ray burning session, it takes about 30 minutes running on maximum burn speed.
The drive works off of a USB power output and needs only a single port to function. As always it is best to pair it with a USB 3.0 port rather than a USB 2.0. The best part of it is that the model is completely plug and play. Therefore you just need to plug in the external drive and you are good to go. No need to install any extra softwares to make ti functional.
| PROS | CONS |
| Light weight | slower |
| Slim design | |
| Works off the USB power output | |
| Plug and play |
We give this a 4 out of 5. This suits people that love mobility over speed. The drive is not the fastest in the market and it can lengthen the time of a writing session considerably. However, it is very easy to carry around and works well without any hassle.
0.0 out of 5.0 stars
MthsTec
We added the MthsTec into our list of the best blu ray external drives due to its stylish design. If you are someone that focuses on the outside as much as what is inside, then the MthsTec will be a great choice to go with.
In terms of performance it is quite average but the main factor to take into consideration is how well it is built. The futuristic looking blu ray drive is an absolute treat to pop out and use. The device has hundreds of positive reviews across a number of e-markets showing how much its users loved it. The drive even has a blue coloured ambient light that gives it a fancy look.
It does not need any additional power sources to function. It is also completely plug and play based. Therefore you just need to plug it in and you are good to go. The drive supports both Mac and Windows, therefore you will have no issues with compatibility. The burning speed of the drive is 6X for Blu-Ray and 8X for DVDs.
| PROS | CONS |
| Stylish | Average speed |
| Ambient Light | |
| Loved by users across multiple E-markets |
We give this drive a 4 out of 5. The speed is not something that we would class as “impressive”. However, it is still the best looking model on our list of the best external blu ray drives.
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
Special mentions
We added this section to add in a special mention. If you could not pick a model off from our initial list then we recommend you to go with a drive from this section.
LG BP50NB40
Another slim choice that we added onto our list of the best Blu Ray external drive models. The LG BPN50NB40 is pretty old and does not support Bluetooth 3.0. This is one of the main reasons why we added it onto our list of special mentions.
But this is a great all-rounder. It comes with everything the average user needs. A big problem with most choices in our list of the best Blu Ray external drive models is that it lacks proper software. Without appropriate software it becomes a hassle to use. Luckily the LG external blu-ray drive comes with its software. Unlike most other softwares, this actually works pretty well and it’s free. If you want extra features you can always upgrade the free version to a paid alternative but it’s entirely up to you.
For the average user this is a great choice to go with. We give this a 3 out of 5.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Did you make your pick?
Please read through our buying guide with care as it will help you immensely in the process of making a choice from the list. If you liked this feature you might like our latest ventures into the world of DVD players for cars and for home-use. Give it a read!
