Windows 10: Is an external CD-DVD/RW drive a complete replacement?

Is an external CD-DVD/RW drive a complete replacement for an internal drive?

I would like to replace my non-functioning internal CD-DVD/RW drive with an external drive, such as the Dell drive listed in the following link: https://www.amazon.com/Dell-DW316-Ex...M6040WGXPZNYW1


I'm particularly interested in burning and using bootable CD's needed for some app's, where CD's seem to work much better than flash drives.

An excellent example is my current attempt to create a Macrum Reflect Emergency Boot Disk, where a standard flash drive with a FAT 32 format is not suitable without special formatting first. My first formatting attempt resulted in a flash drive that was not recognized except in disk management.

Jim

:)

 

External DVD RW drive

Hi!

I installed an LG portable super multi drive some years ago when the built-in DVD+RW drive no longer functioned. It worked very satisfactorily but it now is showing signs of wearout and needs replacing. Unfortunately I upgraded to Windows 10 last year (?)
and as far as I can see none of the commonly available external RW drives are compatible with Windows 10! Does anyone have any experience in this area or have any suggestions?

Thanks in anticipation.

 

DVD RW Drive

Hi Julia,

Welcome and thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I understand that you are having a tough time working on the computer.

Please provide us the following information:

• 
  What is the make and model of the computer?
  
• 
  What is the exact\complete error message?
  

Step 1: Try updating the DVD\CD-ROM drives from device manager.

• Press Windows key + X and click on
  Device Manager.
• Expand DVD\CD-ROM drives .
• 
  Right click on the driver and select
  Update Driver Software.
  
• 
  Restart the computer.
  

Step 2: I suggest you to check and install if there is any latest firmware update for DVD drive from the computer manufacturer.

Hope it helps.

Do update us with the details, we are glad to assist you further.

 

SATA DVD-RW Drives

Hey Guys,

So, I finally just bought my new rig: EVGA A1 Mobo (w/ 6 SATA Slots), 2 WD Raptors (SATA - Gonna RAID 0 Boot), 4 Seagate 320GB Barracuda's (SATA - Gonna RAID 5 Storage).
However, I realized I also bought 2 DVD-RW drives, in SATA *Eek! not enough SATA ports on the mobo...

So a couple of questions follow:
1) Is SATA really faster for DVD-RW drives than IDE?
2) Is there anyway to Inline/Series the (2) SATA DVD-RW drives, kinda like you do with IDE (Master/Slave)?
3) Are there any SATA-->IDE reverse adaptors (not the opposite, I know those exist)?
4) Based on the above answers, should I:

• a) Get a PCI-E SATA RAID Card to Handle One of the RAID Arrays, and keep the DVD-RW drives as SATA? (although those are dang expensive, AND I don't know where that PCI Card is gonna fit - got an 8800gtx, PCI Slot-Cooler, Wifi card... an extra slot but no room down there)
• b) Return the DVD-RW SATA drives and get (2) IDE DVD-RW drives?
• Another option that won't require me spending a lot of money?

Eesh, I'm kinda stuck on my build if I don't have a CD Drive to read from for Windows Install(I don't have any extra ones sittin around - and I want to install my RAID 5 Storage array right away)

Suggestions?*Confused