With desktops and laptops now almost certain to eschew an optical drive in 2026, keeping a USB optical drive and docking solution around will help you retain access to your collection of old software and media for years and PC generations to come. With this in mind, we’ve spotted a few flexible solutions on sale at Amazon that have wacky and seriously useful, yet odd, features that we just have to share:
The External CD/DVD Drive for Laptop, DVD Player for Laptop, 8 in 1 USB 3.0 Ultra-Slim Portable at $28.79.
The External CD DVD Drive, Portable CD DVD Driver +/-RW Burner with 2.5-inch SATA, SD Card Reader and USB A Type C 2.0 Hub at just $33.83. This model adds the convenience of a SATA drive dock to the equation.
There’s also an External SUIDEK portable CD/DVD burner with USB hub and M.2 NVMe Dock for $39.99; this model swaps the SATA dock for an M.2 NVMe SSD dock, if you prefer.
The cheapest SUIDECK drive still gives you lots of media connectivity options. This attractive portable device, with a silver metallic and black honeycomb finish, can read and write optical media at CD 24X and DVD 8X speeds. That’s not all, as it also offers a USB 3.0 hub, 3x USB 2.0 ports, 1x USB 3.0 port, SD and TF card slot readers, and a USB-C port.
Compatibility of the SUIDEK External CD DVD Drive, USB 3.0 USB-C Portable CD DVD Drive for PC is also pretty extensive. For optical media, you can use CD±R/RW, CD-ROM, DVD±R/RW, DVD-RAM, VCD, and SVCD, the listing claims. Then, for systems/OS, you can plug this into Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, XP, Vista, Linux, and macOS 10.6 or above computers.
Those who feel that some SATA docking functionality will be useful might want to look more closely at this next SUIDECK optical drive and dock. For $33.83, you will have one portable device that can be used to read and write optical media at CD 24X and DVD 8X speeds. Again, there’s a basic USB hub built in with 2x USB 2.0 ports, a USB-C port, plus SD and TF card readers. Extra appeal comes from the SATA 2.5-inch slot on top, which can be used for quick access to your old laptop hard drives or SSDs in what was once a very popular form factor.
This product listing isn’t specific about things like DVD±R/RW or DVD-RAM support, but the exact same list of system/OS support is given: Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, XP, Vista, Linux, MacOS 10.6 or above.
All of the deals look like useful and bargain-a-licious Prime Day purchases. For $28.79, you can get the SUIDEK External CD DVD Drive, USB 3.0 USB-C Portable CD DVD Drive for PC, and it will read/write most of the common optical disks you will have lying around from the 2000s.
If your wants/needs expand to 2.5-inch SATA drive docking, then the $33.83 option gets the CD DVD Drive External, Portable CD DVD Driver +/-RW Burner with 2.5″ SATA, SD Card Reader and USB A Type C 2.0 Hub, which is going to be hard to resist.
If the requirements expand to an optical drive dock supporting the more common modern M.2 NVMe SSD storage standard, the SUIDECK portable CD/DVD burner with USB Hub and M.2 Dock for $39.99 is the ultimate Swiss Army knife of portable external optical drives. We’re also happy to see both brands’ peripherals score 4.3/5 or better on Amazon reviews, as we haven’t tested these ourselves.
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