Tongfamily (Richtong.com Sync)

OK, I thought I could get away without an optical drive, but it is pretty clear that PC games are still delivered this way, so I still need some way to read them. Not everything is on Steam or downloadable yet (when will that be???). You do have to suffer with things like EA’s Origin and there is the problem of old games that weren’t digital. The main solution would seem to be copying them as an ISO, but the problem is that many games implement copy protection so you can’t just copy them or back them up for that matter.
A quick review shows that an external USB 2.0 drive isn’t a bad option. I can move it around and while internals are cheaper at $60, when you are submerging a PC there really isn’t anywhere to put an internal drive 🙂
Looking through reviews, they are few, but PC Magazine seems to liek the Samsung SE-506 and the Newegg reviews are decent. It’s $90. It’s a burner too. I can’t think of when I’d want to blow $10 blowing a Blu-ray, but what the heck, a small premium for that. They also like the Pioneer BDR-XD04 which is super slim but at $120, it doesn’t seem worth it.