Sony DRX-840U 20x External Dual-Layer DVD Burner

by Sony

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 14.2 x 8.6 inches ; 3.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 pounds
• ASIN: B000SKWE9W
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,383 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 10, 2007

Product Description

External USB 2.0 DVD+R Double Layer, DVD-R Dual Layer/DVD+RW, DVD-RAM 12X DVD+R Double Layer (DL), 20X DVD+R, 8X DVD+RW, 12X DVD-R Dual Layer (DL), 20X DVD-R, 6X DVD-RW, 12X DVD-RAM 48X/32X/48X CD-RW, 16X DVD-ROM Buffer Underrun Protection Technology

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

194 of 197 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sony DRX840U 20x just simply works, October 16, 2007

By 

Bitflippper (Dallas, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony DRX-840U 20x External Dual-Layer DVD Burner (Personal Computers)

I have had an external burner for quite some time. With recent changes to my environment, I no longer had a Firewire port so I decided to switch to a USB 2.0 external burner. I had gone to Fry's, purchased another well known brand that was an 18x burner, brought it home, set it up, Windows XP Pro did its thing and all seemed right with the world. That was until I actually tried to use it. No matter what I did, Nero V7 and V8 saw it but refused to use either DVD+R or DVD-R media. I did the normal searching for solutions but none presented itself. After months of trying to get it to work, I finally gave up and decided to try another vendor.

In my searching on Amazon, I ran across this Sony drive and noticed it was one of the first to offer 20x burn speeds. The 20x burn speed, while certainly nice, was not what attracted me to this. Rather, it was the fact that, at 20x, this meant it was a relatively new design which meant it should work better. In my searching to resolve my previous external drive's problems, the Sony drives were always lauded by those that had used them. A combination of those two things gave me at least some confidence that this was a good drive.

When it arrived, I did the normal thing and Windows was happy with it. So the acid test: what would Nero think about it? As it turns out, Nero V8 was quite happy with it and worked flawlessly with the drive. I have burned DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-R DL and CD audio all at the rated speed, all without any problems, all with perfect burns.

Pros:
- It just works without any problems
- Nice case design
- It is happy both vertically and horizontally

Cons:
- Somewhat noisy when the CD/DVD is burning at full speed
- Slower burn speed on inside tracks but speeds up as it moves out

Bottom line: if I had to do it all over again, I would. The drive got me what I was looking for: something that works reliably and dependably. It certainly gets my recommendation.

95 of 96 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great DVD/CD Burner Replacement For Your iMac!, February 20, 2008

By 

Leonard Huang (Nanuet, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony DRX-840U 20x External Dual-Layer DVD Burner (Personal Computers)

After having ripped AND burned over 1000 discs, the SuperDrive on my two-year old iMac decided to die on me (thanks Apple for the longevity :). This Sony DVD Writer is a wonderful alternative to the pricey $250 replacement SuperDrive--and it works right out of the box with no software tinkering (just choose drive option when needed). Fully compatible with both Tiger and Leopard, this Sony Writer gets a HUGE thumbs up for all Apple Users in need of an extra burner or those with konked-out ones!

43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Works great with DVDShrink and Nero, January 27, 2008

By 

Jeffrey Heaton "Jeff Heaton" (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sony DRX-840U 20x External Dual-Layer DVD Burner (Personal Computers)

I bought this drive to use with a laptop that could not take an internal DVD-burner. I was a little afraid to buy an external burner, thinking that it could not keep up, resulting in many burn errors. The drive so far has worked flawlessly. The software includes a copy of nero essentials, which will accomplish most DVD tasks needed. It also works fine with DVDShrink.

The drive is somewhat large. This is really the only negative that I can think of.