Apricorn Ships Portable Combo Drive

Apricorn has released what may be the smallest external CD-R/RW/DVD combo drive yet: The EZ Writer Combo measures only 5 1/2-inches by 5 1/2 inches by 3/4 inch, and weighs 12 ounces. The $220 drive reads CDs and DVDs, and writes to CD-R and -RW discs.

By the end of July, Apricorn expects to ship the EZ Writer DVD, which is the same size and weight as the EZ Writer Combo but adds DVD-R/RW (but not DVD+R) capabilities. The EZ Writer DVD will list for $430.

(Mostly) Plug and Play

The small size and weight will make these drives tempting choices for anyone who values portability. If you want a better drive than the one that came with your notebook, and want to take the drive along when you hit the road, the smaller the drive the better. A smaller drive is also useful if you need to share it between two PCs, such as one at home and one at work.

To ease the moving back and forth, the EZ Writer drives are hot swappable, so you can plug them in without rebooting. They connect via your USB port (2.0 is recommended, but the drives also support USB 1.1), and the port may supply enough electricity to power the drive. If your system doesn't provide enough juice, you'll have to plug in the included AC adaptor.

Whether you'll need to install configuration software will depend on what applications are already on your system, and how you plan to use the drive. If you just want an extra CD-ROM drive, and you've got Windows 2000 or XP, you won't even need to install drivers. You'll need to install drivers if you're running Windows 98 or ME, however.

Speeds and Details

If you plan to write to CDs or DVDs, you'll need application software. The EZ Writer drives come with Ahead Nero Express and CyberLink Power DVD XP (which, despite the name, doesn't require Windows XP). It should also work with other CD and DVD authoring software, including the basic capabilities built into Windows XP.

Speed-wise, these drives do about what you'd expect from engines that have to manage CD and DVD capabilities. The EZ Writer Combo clocks in at an unexceptional 24x/12x/24x for CDs, and reads DVDs at 8x. The EZ Writer DVD handles CDs at a slower 16x/4x/24x, and DVDs at 2x/1x/8x.

If Apricorn's drives are the smallest such drives available, they aren't by much--and won't be for long. Addonics is among the competitors with similar drives available or in development, at only slightly larger sizes.