(Product Review) Novapolt USB 3.0 External DVD and CD Drive

I bought the Novapolt USB 3.0 External DVD and CD Drive to use with both my PC and my laptop. My laptop has a built in CD drive, but I really wanted the DVD drive to use with it too.

The external drive is small and lightweight so it is easy to carry it along in my laptop bag when traveling. I think the drive looks pretty sharp with the textured white plastic top against the black base. The cord is built into the external drive and tucks neatly into the bottom of the drive so that you always have it with you.

I wish that the cord was not attached though for a couple of reasons. First being that this type of cord should be replaceable since the cord may fail over time with repeated use, leaving you with no way to power your device. Second, the cord is too short to be practical for my computer.

I have USB ports in both the front and the back of my computer, but the placement in relationship to this cord is not convenient at all. If I plug this drive into the back of my computer I need to stand up and reach my hand into an awkward location just to get to the drive or move my computer to a new location where the rear of the computer is more easily accessible. This doesn't work for me.

The other option is to use the USB ports in the front of the computer. Because of the placement of the cable the drive must be either dangled from the cord (not good), aimed toward the rear of my computer so that I cannot see the front or load a disc, or set on an angle overhanging the side of the computer. I tried to aim it to the side but because the cord is stiff it will not allow it to sit flat when placed in any other angle. I chose to tilt the drive at an angle, although it was not easy to use it this way.

Once plugged into my computer, a bubble popped up telling me that a device had been detected. By the time I resituated the drive which looked as though it would fall, the bubble was gone and I had a hard time finding it again since it did not show up in my list of drives. After plugging and unplugging the device a few times I managed to find it.

When the drive was plugged in I heard it make a noise, letting me know that it was trying to spin the disc. I pressed the eject button on the front of the drive and it only opened a crack. I thought it was perhaps the angle that the drive was on so I tried holding the drive on a variety of angles and repeatedly pressing the eject button. It opened no more than about a forth of an inch on any of my attempts, but could be opened the rest of the way by hand, so that is what I did.

I inserted a CD into the drive and was able to burn a disc and to play an audio file from the drive. There were a couple of concerns between the cord and the drawer not opening properly, but still the drive was able to both read and write a disc so I feel that it is an OK burner for the money.

I will be testing this further on both my PC and my laptop over the next few days and will update if necessary. In the mean time, I can only give 3 of 5 stars because I had really hoped that this would work a bit better than it does. Hopefully it will work well with the laptop since this is where I needed it the most.

Although I was offered this product at a discount or received a complimentary sample in exchange for my fair and honest review, all thoughts and opinions on the products I review are always my own and have not been influenced by any discounts or samples which may have been provided to me for testing purposes. Questions and comments are welcomed.

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