Samsung SE-S084C, External USB 2.0 Slimline 8X DVD Writer, Black

Gadget Fan

at 12:44 am

I bought this after buying an LG drive which would not work as it was not compatible.

I have got a MacBook Pro (2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo) with two usb ports.

This has got Mac compatible plastered all over it but still it does not work. Occasionally it will work and then tell me it is drawing too much power and shut down. The drive comes with a USB cable with two usb connectors at one end (I presume because it requires a bit of power) and a mini usb at the other to plug into the DVD drive. The problem is that the supplied USB lead is too short to be able to plug in both USB ends on a Mac (as they are either side of the keyboard), so you need a USB extension cable to connect both (which I have).

So I plugged both ends in, the other to the DVD drive and thought simple! The brand new “Office for Mac” disk just went round and round and would not do anything. So i tried again, re-insert disk and got the same result. I like to think I’m not completely incompetent, although I suspected I was doing something wrong. So I tried plugging the USB leads via every imaginable variation with three different USB extension leads. Always the same result. I then tried plugging both of the USB ends into a USB hub, but again it would not work. I tried various disks, including Software and DVDs in various connection combinations and nothing would work.

I then looked on the box and re-read the specs: Mac OSX 10.4.6 – I’m running 10.5.8 (and if this would allow me would load 10.6!)

The one thing it does say is that “normal operation is not guaranteed when using a usb hub or unspecified cables”. This renders it useless for a MacBook Pro with only one USB connection per side and a supplied cable that cannot reach both.

Avoid and perhaps try to find one with it’s own power source?
Rating: 1 / 5

Mr. A. Stathopoulos

at 2:14 am

Fully portable and very practical. The only problem is the increased power consuption especially when it is plugged on netbooks.
Rating: 5 / 5

Steve

at 4:00 am

Only had this for a few hours, but it looks great, is built well enough, nice and quite, and most importantly works just via USB power, no external power required, which was very important for me as I wanted it to be really portable to go with my netbook.
Rating: 5 / 5