www.makemkv.com

Hello all, firstly, apologies if this has been asked a million times before in some form or another, I just cannot seem to find the answer I need.

I want to digitize my cd/dvd/blu ray library collection but have no idea what external drive to purchase and do not want to get some cheap one that ends up scratching my collection. I swear these external cd/etc. readers were all cheaper but now they are expensive and somehow hard to find.

I know I have read on here that the "Pioneer Optical Drive Slim BDRW/DVDRW BDR-XD08B Blu-ray Disc Writer" is likely the one to go (if I can get one) but I also found a "OWC Mercury Pro 16X Super-Multi Blu-ray/DVD/CD Burner/Reader External Optical Drive" (that just went up in price, I should have bought it earlier, especially as they are all selling out too!). I do not care for any upscaling and have not 100% looked into who it would take for the movie download side though, but I know the ability can be purchased (or discussed) through here though. Is it down to these two that I should purchase? Or because I do not care for any sort of upscaling are there more budget friendly options?

Also, side note, why are all these external drives selling out?!

Thanks for any help!

There are a bunch of threads on the forum on this topic. Here's a recent one.

With OEMs LG and Pioneer No Longer Manufacturing Drives

dcoke22 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 26, 2026 9:47 pm

There are a bunch of threads on the forum on this topic. Here's a recent one.

With OEMs LG and Pioneer No Longer Manufacturing Drives

Great, so now I know that part of the (sad) news. Thank you. Sounds like I better purchase the one I found.

Do I need these expensive ones for sure or am I fine with some cheap model if I do not care about upscaling or anything like that?

MakeMKV only tries to make an exact copy of what's on a disc. There's no upscaling or conversion or any of that. There are plenty of other programs that can take the output from MakeMKV and do that sort of stuff.

Generally speaking, Pioneer drives are considered the best at reading discs.

If you rip enough discs you'll eventually find a disc that your drive can't read. Personally, I have multiple drives and when I have trouble with a disc in my default optical drive I find it often works in one of my other drives. A couple of my drives are Pioneer drives and in general I've found that if none of my drives can read a disc, especially after cleaning the disc, the disc needs to be replaced.

At this point, I'd suggest trying to get the best drive you can. You might not be able to get one at all in the future.

dcoke22 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:48 pm

MakeMKV only tries to make an exact copy of what's on a disc. There's no upscaling or conversion or any of that. There are plenty of other programs that can take the output from MakeMKV and do that sort of stuff.

Generally speaking, Pioneer drives are considered the best at reading discs.

If you rip enough discs you'll eventually find a disc that your drive can't read. Personally, I have multiple drives and when I have trouble with a disc in my default optical drive I find it often works in one of my other drives. A couple of my drives are Pioneer drives and in general I've found that if none of my drives can read a disc, especially after cleaning the disc, the disc needs to be replaced.

At this point, I'd suggest trying to get the best drive you can. You might not be able to get one at all in the future.

Great. Thank you!