Tray vs slot loading external optical drives?

The Optical drive on my iMac no longer works. I am going to buy an external optical drive that will read ( play) and write CD's and DVD's . A while ago I read that the slot optical drives go bad more often then the tray loading external drives . Is this still true?
Also what external Optical drive is recommended for my iMac. I am running Snow Leopard OS-X 10.6.8 and have 4 GB of ram . If this is not the correct section for this question feel free to move it . Thank you

Externals are invariably external. A Samsung SE-208 is cheap and has a good name. Is bus powered which means does not require mains plugs.

Stick with any good quality tray loader. I have used Sony and Samsung tray loaders and never had a problem with either one. The latest one I'm using now is a Samsung I picked up on sale at Best Buy for $29.95. Works great.

chscag said:

Stick with any good quality tray loader. I have used Sony and Samsung tray loaders and never had a problem with either one. The latest one I'm using now is a Samsung I picked up on sale at Best Buy for $29.95. Works great.

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Shows how much prices have dropped. I have a couple of external drives salvaged from old computers. About two years ago I thought the drive in myMacBook Pro was starting to go so I put one of the drives into a case. I spent more on the case than you did on that drive.

Thank you. I saw a couple of Samsung's on Amazon that had good reviews and reasonable prices .
My computer is 6 years old so I will not spend the money to have the internal slot Optical drive repaired . I figure in a couple of years I will need a new computer .

Another question. I have a few CD's that I burned on a PC when I had one. At the time I was running Windows XP. ( Now I have Snow Leopard .)
Will an external Optical drive open and read those ? Or do I need some special software to open those ?
Thanks again
Barbara

Depends what program was used to burn the CD's. bHopefully you used Nero, which is made by the same company that makes Toast for Macs. You may be looking at purchasing software, if it is important enough.

I didn't buy any special program to burn the CD's. I used what came with my computer and Microsoft XP .

After I get the external Optical drive I will see which CD's will or won't open and take it from there

Thanks

'' A Samsung SE-208 is cheap and has a good name ''

I'll second that: I bought one new, off ebay for £20 including delivery to install some software on my Mac Mini. It connects via USB flawlessly and although a bit flimsy, for £20 I have no complaints: it reads and writes discs without any issues.

Barbara Jay said:

I didn't buy any special program to burn the CD's. I used what came with my computer and Microsoft XP .

After I get the external Optical drive I will see which CD's will or won't open and take it from there

Thanks

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A CD burned on a PC can be read on a Mac. About the only thing I've run across that cant be read are data Cd's burned in Ubuntu. They use a different file system.

Sly, I also bought an external case and paid twice what he paid for that drive. And this case was from Newegg who are pretty cheap. Next time it's a trip to BestBuy.