Fastest USB DVD drive

[pneumatic]

Hello, newbie here.

Could anyone recommend a fast USB drive for ripping DVDs with MakeMKV?

Preferably region free, but it seems MakeMKV and DVD Decrypter can bypass region restriction (is that normal? Is it reliable or should I expect to flash the firmware?).

I've been using a couple of cheap laptop grade USB drives from Dell and HP and they work ok but are quite slow at 4MB/sec, which is slower than internet and amounts to 30 minutes per 8.7GB disc. After buying a couple of series on DVD -- 60 discs total -- I've calculated this will take 32.5 hours @ 4MB/sec

Basically I want speed. Speed, speed, speed! What is a good speed for a DVD drive these days? What is a realistic expectation?

Thanks in advance and especially thank you to the author(s?) of MakeMKV!

[dcoke22]

MakeMKV can use more than one drive at the same time. Turn on 'Ask for single drive mode' in MakeMKV's preferences. That's the fastest way to rip to a bunch of discs.

[pneumatic]

MakeMKV can use more than one drive at the same time. Turn on 'Ask for single drive mode' in MakeMKV's preferences. That's the fastest way to rip to a bunch of discs.

Ok thanks, I will try that.

After some searching I got the impression that USB drives won't be as fast due to power limits or whatever, so I'll try a full size internal SATA drive instead.

Ordered Asus DRW-24D5MT for very cheap, so nothing to lose



I saw there is also LG GH24NSD1:



and Lite-On iHAS124


I couldn't find any complaints about speed on the Asus so went for that one. Hopefully no "riplock" thingy.

I am anticipating 12x (16.6MB/sec) for dual layer DVD-ROM according to the product spec. We shall see how close to that it gets, but if it does then it should be around four times as fast as what I am using currently (Dell DW316) and this should save me 6 days of disc processing time, plus I can run the Dell in tandem and boost the speed by a further 25%.

I remembered in 2005 I bought my first DVD drive - Pioneer DVR-108 and was ripping discs with DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink. I am kind of annoyed that I threw it away but it probably would need an IDE to SATA adapter and not sure how that affects speed. I'm guessing it's probably fine but the cost of a new drive is about the same as the adapter anyway so.. . A little strange finding myself enthusiastically researching & shopping for the same product 20 years later

[pneumatic]

Did some discs with the Asus DRW-24D5MT.

A typical dual layer DVD takes about 11 minutes to dump and has a speed profile like this according to DVD Decrypter:




I was expecting it to stay at max speed once it reached it, but for some reason it always gets slower again towards the end of the disc. Is this normal? Shouldn't it get faster due to the longer circumference?

At one point I thought I was getting thermal throttling as it seemed to be stuck at 4MB/sec after a few discs. Not sure what happened but it seems to be ok now - I'll report back if it becomes an issue again.

I tried dumping one of my trouble discs and it handled it fine although at reduced speed (4MB/sec) when it hit the trouble sectors, which I was expecting.

Sadly the drive is region coded. MakeMKV and DVD Decrypter can work around that, although it's possible you could get a disc that wouldn't play nice, so I'm keen to know if there is a region free firmware patch for this drive.

Miscellaneous:

• The noise levels are average, not obnoxiously loud but not super quiet either. During DVD playback it's definitely nowhere near as quiet as a typical DVD player, so I wouldn't use it for that purpose. I haven't tried installing the E-Green utility, maybe that has some low power/noise mode. I searched for a Windows driver but there isn't one, so just using Microsoft's generic driver that comes with Windows 7 (I presume the firmware handles all the advanced stuff anyway).

• The OEM version has no ASUS logo printed on the front of the drive door, it's just plain black except for the M-Disc logo.

• The drive door mechanism on my unit appears faulty - it opens about 90% of the way and then meets some extra resistance where it doesn't want to open the final 10%. Sounds like the motor is struggling to push it that extra 10% but can't. I can pull it out the final 10% by hand and there isn't any extra resistance that I can feel. Took the drive apart to see if it was fixable but couldn't find anything rubbing or misaligned after 30 minutes of tinkering. Cleaned the laser with isopropyl while I had it apart. Tip: eject the tray before trying to take the metal case off, it's so much easier.

Well, there you go. A little disappointing that it can't maintain 16MB/sec through the second half of the disc, but still 3 times faster than what I was previously using (laptop & portable USB drive). Still willing to spend more on a drive that can maintain 16MB/sec as I'll be doing lots of discs. Then I can probably get 2 of the fast ones going at once. Perhaps I'll try the Lite-On as I still have an extra 5.25" bay to spare. These drives are so cheap there isn't much to lose.

[pneumatic]

According to photo comparisons and anecdotes, it seems Asus DRW-24D5MT and LG GH24NSD1 may be using the same internal hardware. In that case I have ordered a LiteOn iHAS324 which should be different hardware. I'm not confident it will be any faster than the 12MB/sec average of the Asus, but it's worth a shot.

I'd be curious to know if the Bluray drives are any faster than 12MB/sec average, if anyone can comment on that.

[dcoke22]

I was expecting it to stay at max speed once it reached it, but for some reason it always gets slower again towards the end of the disc. Is this normal? Shouldn't it get faster due to the longer circumference?

On dual layer discs, the second layer starts at the outside of the disc and spirals towards the inner ring. Hence the read speed slows down as the laser head moves back towards the middle.

[pneumatic]

On dual layer discs, the second layer starts at the outside of the disc and spirals towards the inner ring. Hence the read speed slows down as the laser head moves back towards the middle.

D'oh, how did I not realise that

While I'm here I might as well mention the speeds I've been getting on the Asus drive have been pleasantly consistent - 12MB/sec average on all discs, no thermal throttling. Even with just the 1 drive I'm finding I can power through quite a lot of discs @ 11mins/disc, and this is making a noticeable productivity difference vs the 30-35mins/disc on the laptop/external drives. I noticed after about 5 discs the door starts opening fully again - I'm guessing the heat buildup is loosening things up in the gear mechanism or something. Can't be bothered RMA'ing it as the door still opens far enough to get a disc in, and if it gets worse I can still open it by putting a paperclip in the little hole.

[pneumatic]

I have ordered a LiteOn iHAS324 which should be different hardware. I'm not confident it will be any faster than the 12MB/sec average of the Asus, but it's worth a shot.

I'd be curious to know if the Bluray drives are any faster than 12MB/sec average, if anyone can comment on that.

Just saw this...

Due to the slightly lower data density of dual layer DVDs (4.25 GB instead of 4.7 GB per layer), the required rotation speed is around 10% faster for the same data rate, which means that the same angular speed rating equals a 10% higher physical angular rotation speed. For that reason, the increase of reading speeds of dual layer media has stagnated at 12× (constant angular velocity) for half-height optical drives released since around 2005

So that rules out DVD drives - can anyone with a Bluray drive comment on what speeds they are getting for DL DVD-ROMs?

[pneumatic]

Did some discs with the LiteOn iHAS324.

As expected the speed is the same as the Asus, and that is fine.

It is definitely not using the same hardware as the Asus. The most noticeable thing is that it's quieter, so I'd pick it over the Asus if I had to choose one.
In practice it's probably best to have one of each in case of trouble discs.

I experienced the same issue that I had with the Asus where the read rate got stuck at 4MB/sec and then resolved itself after a reset. Not sure what's going on, I think if you play the disc as a DVD video the firmware decides to stay in slow quiet mode until either a power on/off or new disc is inserted.

[pneumatic]

After doing some more discs I'm finding the Asus is more reliable at hitting full speed. Had a couple discs now which the Liteon could only read at half speed. In one case a wipe with a damp tissue brought it to full speed again, but on another disc that didn't work and I had to eject the disc and reinsert it several times before Liteon would agree to read it at max speed. I can hear the drive trying to spin up to faster speed but then it stops and goes back to slow mode again, as if the firmware is deciding "nope, the data stream has too many errors at this speed, I've got to go slower". These were all brand new discs that didn't really need cleaning, unless there is some invisible factory residue on them or something.

[dcoke22]

These were all brand new discs that didn't really need cleaning, unless there is some invisible factory residue on them or something.

That's more common than you think. Also, sometimes, the plastic case can off-gas and deposit 'stuff' on the disc.

I think MakeMKV can work with up to 16 drives at the same time, so if you really have a big pile of discs to rip, multiple readers is the way to go.

[pneumatic]

These were all brand new discs that didn't really need cleaning, unless there is some invisible factory residue on them or something.

That's more common than you think. Also, sometimes, the plastic case can off-gas and deposit 'stuff' on the disc.

Yes, I think there is definitely truth to that as I observed the same phenomenon with the Dell portable USB drive as well. However the Asus doesn't seem to suffer from it at all. Or maybe it was because I cleaned its lens with isopropyl alcohol? I just did the same for the Liteon now and will be doing another 100 discs so I'll report back whether that improves it - so far so good:



(top = Liteon, bottom = Asus)

[pneumatic]

will be doing another 100 discs so I'll report back whether that improves it

Having the issue again with the LiteOn. Instead of cleaning the disc I just reposition it in the tray slightly and reload it, and it goes back to full speed. Is it possible the spindle inside the drive has some asymmetry to it?

[pneumatic]

Fascinating observation, I've a DVD-ROM DL disc with 8 episodes on it where 2 of the episodes cannot be read with either LiteOn or Asus (brand new 5.25" current model drives). It always gets to a certain sector and gets unrecoverable read errors at that spot. I suspect the disc is damaged by a scratch as it was only pressed in 2021 so it's probably not "disc rot" (do pressed discs even get that?). Anyway, the fascinating thing is the Dell DW316 USB drive reads it just fine.

Moral of the story: hardware diversity is desirable. I'd be missing 2 episodes if it wasn't for the Dell so I am very grateful for that. I thought maybe it was due to the Dell being a "mobile" form factor drive but my laptop's internal drive (TS-L633N) cannot read those episodes either. I guess the Dell just has the better hardware - too bad it's slow.

edit: photo of the scratch which I suspect is the culprit

[dcoke22]

I have 3 different drives. They often produce different results… by that I mean a disc that won't rip in one of the drives will rip in a different drive.

Lots of folks on this forum have similar experiences. One user occasionally mentions an ancient drive he sometimes presses into duty that has been able to read some discs that nothing else in his fleet can.

I agree that hardware diversity is desirable. I think several others here would as well. One of these days I'll probably add a BU40N to my stack of drives to give me one more good option.