It is so vital these days to have external storage components for your computer that you can easily drop files on to if you are on the run. Certainly USB keys and external Hard drives are great but sometimes you need an external DVD-RW for powerpoint presentations or to watch DVD’s and that expensive ultra-portable laptop of yours may just not have one. Well StarTech.com has resolved that issue with the Infosafe, a very slim and portable external DVD +/- RW drive.

Specs
The Infosafe is an external Slim USB 2.0 DVD +/- RW Dual Layer Drive which can read CD-ROM’s at 24x and DVD-ROM at 8X. It will also burn CD-R’s at up tp 24X, CD-RW’s at 16X, DVD-RW’s at 6X, and DVD-R’s at 8X. The infosafe will also support mini CD’s which is great because many Laptop drives don’t. The tray opens and closes with a push of a button. The design of the Infosafe seems very durable as well as sleek. It only weighs about 13 ounces and measuring 5.31 inches in width, and being just a tad thicker than two cd cases stacked on top of one another, the Infosafe is small enough to quickly slip into your messenger or laptop bag. It’s buffer memory is 2MB and and the optical drive works with both PC and Mac. If you have an older operating system, a CD is included for Windows 98 and SE support because the drive isn’t picked up automatically. Overall the design and concept make it very portable and versatile.

Installation/Setup
Installing the Infosafe was a breeze. I had two free USB ports available and I just plugged in the connectors. The Infosafe has two USB female connectors that need to be plugged in to fully power and work the drive. That is a similar requirement among other portable DVD + / – RW’s as well, you need to have 2 USB ports available on your machine to power them. If for some reason you don’t have two USB ports available and only one, then you have to use the AC adapter included to juice up your drive. I found that a downside – it’s enough that I have to lug around a portable DVD-RW along with it’s USB cable but do I have to carry with me an AC adapter too?! Most laptops only have 2 or three USB ports available so this could be a problem… Moving on, once I attached it to my Mac it picked it up immediately and I sat back and watched a few minutes of Beverly Hills 90210. Don’t judge me! The DVD ran smoothly without any hiccups.
I then burned a quick Music CD which was very simple and fast as well. Nero 7 is also included to help with burning CD’s or DVD’s. I then disconnected it and plugged it into a Windows XP PC Laptop and it was also picked up immediately and played and burned a DVD-R quickly and quietly.

Overall, Startech’s Infosafe proved to be a very good and stable portable drive. I carried it around with my laptop in my bag for a few days to see if it really impacted the weight of my bag which it didn’t. So if you are looking for a sleek portable external DVD-R+/- drive for your ultra-portable laptop that doesn’t have an internal DVD +/- RW drive, I highly suggest this one. The StarTech Infosafe retails at Startech.com for $149.99, however you can find it for as low as $112 at Buy.com.

Conclusion:

The Good: Lightweight, compact, and sleek design. Easily portable.

The Bad: Requires two available USB ports or the AC adapter to work to its full potential.