Verbatim Blu-Ray DVD-Drive 43888 - External - Black

The **Verbatim Blu-Ray DVD-Drive 43888** is a compact, external optical drive designed to bring Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD playback/writing capabilities to modern laptops and ultrabooks that lack a built-in drive. It’s a versatile and powerful tool for data archiving, media consumption, and backup. --- ### ⭐ Key Features & Design * **Ultra-Slim and Portable:** With a sleek, black, often brushed-metal enclosure, the drive is barely larger than a Blu-ray disc itself. It's extremely lightweight (around 215g), making it ideal for travel and carrying in a laptop bag. * **Bus-Powered:** A major convenience, the drive is powered directly by the USB port (via a USB-C connection), eliminating the need for a bulky, separate AC power adapter. * **4K UHD Support:** It supports the playback of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, although note that **playback software is not included** and must be purchased separately. * **Connectivity:** It features a modern **USB-C 3.2 Gen 1** interface and includes both a USB-C to USB-A cable and a USB-A to USB-C adapter for maximum compatibility with various devices. * **M-DISC Archiving:** It is fully compliant with M-DISC technology, which is designed for archival-grade data storage with a life expectancy of hundreds of years. * **Bundled Software:** Includes the **Nero Burn & Archive software** (Windows only) for organizing, burning, and securing your files. ### 🚀 Performance (Read/Write Speeds) The Verbatim 43888 offers solid performance for an external slimline drive: | Media Type | Max Write Speed | Max Read Speed | Max Capacity | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | **BD-R DL** | 6x | 4x | 50GB | | **BDXL** | 4x | — | Up to 100GB | | **DVD-R** | 8x | 8x | 4.7GB | | **CD** | 24x | 24x | 700MB | ### 👍 The Good: Archiving Power in a Tiny Package * **Excellent Portability:** Its size and bus-powering make it a genuinely easy-to-use mobile accessory. * **High-End Capability:** The support for BDXL (up to 100GB) and M-DISC is fantastic for long-term, high-capacity data archiving. * **Internal Drive Quality:** This drive is frequently reported to contain a high-quality **Pioneer BDR-UD04** mechanism, which is often favored by advanced users for its reliability and compatibility (especially in the UHD ripping community). ### 👎 Areas for Caution * **4K Playback Software:** While it supports 4K UHD discs, the required playback software (like PowerDVD Ultra) is a separate, often costly, purchase. * **Mac Compatibility:** While listed as compatible with macOS, some users report occasional issues with Blu-ray discs (not CDs or DVDs) without third-party software or firmware adjustments. * **Mixed Longevity Reports:** Due to the nature of external slim drives and the bus-powered connection, occasional issues with power-hungry discs or long-term reliability have been noted by a small number of users. ### 🌟 Conclusion The **Verbatim 43888** is a top-tier choice for an external optical drive, particularly for those focused on **data archiving** (due to M-DISC support) and future-proofing their setup with **4K UHD** read capability. Its slim design and simple USB power connection make it a superior, highly practical alternative to internal drives. It stands out in the slimline category for often housing reliable Pioneer components. If your primary need is a portable, high-capacity burner for long-term data backup, this drive is a **highly recommended** investment.

A great compact, lightweight portable Blu-Ray drive. There's no additional power connector, only a single USB-C port on the back. Cable is supplied in the box. Not silent when running, but not particularly noisy. Getting the disc in and out is, not surprisingly, slightly more fiddly than a standard tray-loading drive, since you need to push the disc onto the central spindle. But that's unavoidable on such a small drive. Build quality seems good, and it works fine with my Windows 10 PC and various test discs. Works great so far, and seems to be good value for money. Note that this drive does not work with MakeMkv out-of-the-box. It seems it used to, but the manufacturer has revised the internals and changed the actual drive from a Pioneer one to LG. According to the diagnostics the internals are now a Hitachi-LG BU40N. You will definitely need to flash the firmware if you need it to work with MakeMkv. Happily, this can be done fairly easily and afterwards it works perfectly.

I needed a USB 4K/Blu-ray drive that could back up my growing collection of 4K UHD discs, and after a little research it appeared this one likely could - and it does! I’ve backed up dozens of 4K UHD Blu-rays using it, as well as regular Blu-rays, DVDs and even music CDs. It can play 4K UHD Blu-rays, standard Blu-rays, DVDs and CDs. What was most important to me, though, was that it could back up 4K UHD Blu-rays specifically using the right software. That’s not a common feature among drives (unlike regular Blu-ray and DVD backup), so this is something of a unicorn. This ability though depends on the drive’s firmware, mine came with the correct version, but that might not always be the case for everyone. For general use, it’s plug-and-play - instantly recognised on both Windows and Linux with no driver installs needed. It may come with software for burning discs (I never used it), and mine also included a blank Verbatim BD-R disc. It’s slim, light and well made - perfect if you need something portable. It isn’t silent when spinning at full speed, but for playback it’s perfectly fine. Purchased August 2024 for £90.49.

Bought this item back in April of 2023 and upon arrival, immediately used it as part of a pair of editing jobs. It worked great. I didn't have to work with physical media until this past October, six months after I bought the drive. Plugged it in, the light on the device lit up... then turned off. I tried multiple connections on my laptop (including multiple USB slots and even the Lightning connection) and multiple wires and then multiple laptops. Nothing could get the drive to power on. As I'm just outside of the six month post-purchase period I am not protected by UK law and am unable to pursue a refund or exchange from Amazon. Reaching out to Verbatim, I received shocking customer service where after a couple of exchanges I was told it's illegal to rip blu-rays in Europe, which was not something I made any reference to in my emails. Hard to do anything, let alone rip blu-rays, if the device won't turn on. Now I'm left with a £90 device that worked twice and unable to obtain a refund or exchange. Sorely disappointed.

It contains a HL-DT-ST BD-RE BU40N drive with v1.05 firmware. Works well and very compact. The supplied USB-C cable is very short and I had to source a longer one. Works on Windows 11 without installing any drivers, just plug in and go. I got it when it was discounted to £100.

Muy bueno. Ideal para flashear y respaldar tu información y videos hasta 4K. Lo compré en Amazon México.

Napęd sprawuje się bardzo dobrze, nie testowałem go jeszcze z płytami HD/UHD więc nie mogę się na ten temat wypowiedzieć. Używam go głównie do zgrywania płyt audio cd i tu spisuje się całkiem nieźle, w trybie secure kopiuje nośniki z którymi nie radziły sobie moje poprzednie napędy (dvd-rw Pioneer i Optiarc). Posiada natomiast pewien niespodziewany feler, otóż w trakcie zgrywania płyt napęd ze względu na swoją niewielką wagę "wędruje" po powierzchni na której leży. I nie pomaga tu podklejenie gumowymi podkładkami. Po prostu przesuwa się i trzeba uważać by nie położyć go blisko jakiejś krawędzi lub zapewnić mu jakąś przeszkodę na której się zatrzyma. Poza tym drobiazgiem nie widzę póki co wad. Egzemplarz który kupiłem ma w środku napęd Pioneer BDR-UD04, 1.14.

This Blu-Ray drive is tiny, yet feels robust and inspires confidence in its durability with its metal chassis and general build quality. It’s very lightweight, and it’s quite quiet as well. I used it to rip 4K UHD discs with MakeMKV and it worked perfectly (even though it required downgrading its firmware first, which was an easy and painless process). I was able to watch Alien in glorious 4K for the first time in my life thanks to this product. Highly recommend!

Bought this to play all disc types on a new PC. It's plug-and-play for CD and DVD. Very easy and very reliable. Occasionally an old disc won't read but I just eject and reinsert it and it usually works fine then. Unfortunately, Windows 11 doesn't have in-built 4k and bluray playing capability so even though the drive is perfectly capable of reading the discs you have to jump through hoops to get the PC and programs like VLC to cooperate with the drive. Once I did that, it was set for playing everything whenever I wanted and it's been brilliant, no issues. Feel like someone who wasn't confident with tech might be better off with a player for their TV though. Haven't tried writing anything with it though, just reading/playing.

TLDR: - LibreDrive, Out-of-the-box ohne Firmwareflash - Pioneer BDR-UD04 Laufwerk (Top Qualität und Zuverlässigkeit) - 1x USB-C, keine weiteren Anschlüsse vorhanden oder erforderlich - Extrem schlanke Bauweise, optisch ansprechend - Im Betrieb relativ leise, beim Einlegen laut Kontext: Es gibt viele Laufwerke, die als Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray und BDXL-Brenner verkauft werden. Von außen sieht man oft nur die x-beliebige Marke und den markeneigenen Produktnamen und man weiß eigentlich gar nicht, ob das vorliegende Produkt jetzt gut oder schlecht ist. Im Allgemeinen funktionieren alle verkauften Laufwerke natürlich wie beschrieben: Zur Ansicht der Medien mit der entsprechenden lizenzierten Software und zum Brennen. Im Gehäuse steckt das eigentliche Laufwerk in der Regel von LG Electronics, ASUS, Sony, Panasonic oder Pioneer. Laut Community-Meinungen sollen Pioneer-Laufwerke grundsätzlich die besten Laufwerke am Markt sein. Sie brennen am besten und sind von höchster Verlässlichkeit und Langlebigkeit. Was andere Laufwerke nicht lesen können, sei mit einem Pioneer in der Regel möglich. Es gibt User, die beispielsweise die gekauften Blu-rays mit einem beliebig gekauften Laufwerk „digitalisieren“, also eine Sicherungskopie für private Zwecke erzeugen möchten. Diese werden aber oft trotz Verwendung der richtigen Software mit der Wahrheit konfrontiert, dass das Laufwerk dazu nicht imstande ist – erst recht nicht, wenn es sich um Blu-rays oder gar 4K Blu-rays handelt. Das liegt in der Regel an der Firmware eines jeden Laufwerks, welche je nach Veröffentlichungsdatum bestimmten Restriktionen unterliegt und welche entscheidet, wie ein Laufwerk 4K Blu-rays lesen kann oder ob überhaupt. Um diese Restriktionen zu umgehen, versuchen User (wenn möglich) die Firmware zu flashen, um den Laufwerken mehr Funktionen zu geben. Laufwerke, die ohne Firmware-Restriktionen direkt auf die Disc zugreifen und diese ohne lizenzierte Spezialsoftware auslesen können, z. B. auch entspannt mit dem VLC Media Player ohne nervige Menüs, direkt in den Film, und das Ganze zusätzlich noch aufwärts bis UHD, nennt man „LibreDrive“. Und jetzt kommt der eigentliche Punkt: An LibreDrive-Laufwerke kommt man ohne Weiteres ganz schlecht dran. Praktisch alle Laufwerke von den originalen Herstellern sind mittlerweile mit einer Firmware ausgestattet, die den Betrieb als LibreDrive blockieren. Man kommt um ein Firmware-Flash meistens nicht herum. Und noch bescheidener ist die Tatsache, dass man die guten Pioneer-Laufwerke seit 2022 als Privatperson, aufgrund einer besonderen Verschlüsselung, eigentlich überhaupt nicht mehr flashen kann. Warum erzähle ich so viel? Das Verbatim 43888 (also das hier) kommt mit dem Pioneer BDR-UD04 Laufwerk und wird Out-of-the-box als LibreDrive erkannt. Man muss nichts tun, und das Ding liest ohne zu Mucken 4K Blu-rays aus und alles weitere, was man ihm zu fressen gibt. Verbatim ist wohl nicht verpflichtet, die Firmware zu verschlüsseln. Wenn man sonst in Deutschland an ein Pioneer-Laufwerk mit LibreDrive-Firmwareflash rankommen möchte, dann muss man das in der Regel von Hobby-Hackern aus der Community bestellen und bezahlt um die 170 Dollar plus Versand, plus Import aus dem Ausland, plus optional ein externes 5,25"-Gehäuse. In den USA gibt es das Verbatim mit dem Pioneer BDR-UD04 nicht, sondern nur mit dem UD03, und das ist wieder kein LibreDrive. Hier bei uns bekommt man ein Out-of-the-box LibreDrive im Slim-Format für aktuell 99€. Das ist schon wirklich ein richtiger Schnapper. Also das sollte alles als Erklärung genügen, warum das Verbatim 43888, beziehungsweise hier bezeichnet als „Verbatim Externer Slimline Blu-ray Writer Ultra HD 4K“, das perfekte Laufwerk ist. Der Preis ist unschlagbar und man bekommt ein restriktionsfreies Laufwerk.