Sony AD-7280S-0B 24x SATA Internal DVD+/-RW Drive (Black)

I bought this DVD drive for my new computer build. I didn't want Blu-Ray; I just needed a basic DVD drive to install software and make the occasional backup. This drive has SATA power and data, it's from Sony, and it's your basic DVD +/- RW drive. It works very well, no problems.Best feature for me: the fact that it has no white branding on the drawer front. It's perfectly black and unobtrusive (yes, there is some molded branding, but no huge white lettering as with other DVD drives in this price range). It suits my needs perfectly. It also has a large rectangular eject button, which I personally like better than a small round button.Being a bare-bones drive, be aware that it comes with NOTHING else but the drive. No cables, no software, no screws include. You will need to supply your own SATA cables (power from your computer's PSU and data) and screws, if your case needs them. The drive doesn't need any drivers or software to work--Windows takes care of that automatically. (I am using Windows 7 Pro 64-bit).The drive I received came in a small box with foam buffers at each end and the drive suspended in the middle, then packed within a larger box with air cushioning for shipping. It arrived in perfect condition.Overall, I'm giving this drive 5-stars because it just does what it's supposed to do, nothing more nothing less, with kudos to Sony for using no obtrusive branding.

When my old burner died recently I was debating on whether to take two buses 14 miles to Micro-Center and back or just order one online. I opted for the latter. When it arrived from Amazon I opened up my drive to install only to discover that its connections were different from my previous burner. My old one's IDE, my new one's SATA. Amazon states that this burner is "Windows 7 compatible"; well, my computer is Windows XP. I was ready to send it back based on this bit of information but before doing so I went ahead and picked up a SATA to IDE converter/adapter, thinking I'll at least give it a try. Well, it worked. And let me say that it's a nice piece of equipment, so far so good. MUCH faster than my old burner, and quieter too. Too soon to tell as to how long this burner will last but I'm certainly happy for now. Giving it four stars as opposed to five only because of my trial-and-error ordeal, aside from that this item receives the highest recommendation from me, at least for the time being.

The name is a clue: 'OptiArc' is short for 'optimized for archiving'. Sony has discontinued the product line, so don't expect warranty service, but these drives still do their job very well. There are tradeoffs in designing something for a specific purpose. Don't expect it to be just like every other CD/DVD writer.Average drives turn out readable discs nearly every time, but in some situations 99% is not good enough. Storing important data for a very long time is a bit more demanding than sending a copy of your vacation pictures to friends. Legal documents and design files need to be readable years later, on different computers. Same goes for user manuals and software on disc which get sent to customers around the world.To insure reliable discs, this drive has more a more powerful spindle motor and head position servo. These both make above-average noise, but insure that every bit written to the disc is very precisely located. If the drive doesn't trust the quality of the blank discs you use, it will ignore the speed setting you have selected and drop to a slower writing speed. But the discs it kicks out will be readable for decades, and on virtually any machine. Even your fussy video disc player will like them. Just expect some slower writes and more noise.

After messing around with this thing for 2 weeks or so, I actually got this to work. But let me tell you, that was 2 weeks of torture :PI assumed from the beginning that it was missing some drivers, but after looking, you'll find out that this drive doesn't require drivers (updates).I honestly don't even know what happened, but it started working a few days ago. When you get it working, it works just fine. But getting it working is so frustrating, that I'd honestly consider look elsewhere first.Good luck if you do pick this one though :/

My older Compaq computer died, and along with it, went my "trusty" 2X CD/DVD RW burner. A friend of mine sent me his older Toshiba laptop which had a CD/DVD RW that could burn at 8X. After finding a "new" used computer here on Amazon, I decided to replace the CD RW-DVD ROM that came with it with this Sony. At frist, I thought I'd have to send it back as it had an IDE connector, but when I took a trip to a local computer store, they put in the necessary cables and adapter (7 bucks total on both) to make it SATA compatible.I've viewed and put programs on CD-DVD into my computer using this device and have had no problems. I used the DVD burner last night and was totally amazed at how fast it did what it had to do (I used ImgBurn program...you can find it on filehippo.com). The drive (to me) is a bit noisy, but it's not totally deafening and is something I can live with.VERY good piece of hardware for the price. Totally satisfied with it(so far).

Reliable, I haven't owned it for too long, but I've already put it too good use backing up a ton of photos onto CDs. The little guy reads and writes pretty fast, which is great, I hate slow things.You can tell it's sturdy and well built just by holding it, it has a lot more weight compared to a 8.99-15.99 drive and just feels better. It's slightly larger over other drives though, so if you're not running a proper sized case you may have compatibility issues with size.Also, this sweet little kicker doesn't burn or read blu-ray so if you're looking for a PC to double up as a blu-ray player, turn your head to a different model.