VantecNexStar DX External Enclosure for LG WH14NS40 14X Blu-ray/DVD/CD Drive

From my research I already knew for a fact that the highly rated OWC Mercury enclosure had already gotten bad marks from disappointed users for only supporting installation of 7" (177.8mm) or shorter 5.25" optical drives. My objective was to install my 7.5" (192mm) Panasonic SW-5584 BluRay drive (that had previously been installed in a desktop PC that died and was replaced by a smaller machine that didn't have any 5.25" expansion bays) into an external enclosure.So I knew I couldn't use the OWC enclosure as the SW-5584 drive is about 192mm (7.55") long with the front bezel attached. I then found the Vantec enclosure which is a bit longer than the OWC.The Vantec NST-536S3-BK enclosure is actually 252mm in total length but the electronics and connecting SATA/power cable at the rear of the internal tray between the drive and the rear panel with USB and power connectors take up some of that total length. The documentation says the enclosure supports an optical drive 185mm (7.3") or shorter. That means the SW-5584 is about 1/4" longer than supposedly acceptable in the Vantec enclosure, but it might be too much. Or, it might just fit if I was really lucky.I called Vantec tech support to ask bout this and they thought it would just fit (depending on where the side fastening holes were on the drive relative to the rear of the drive where the SATA connectors live). The problem is not with a bit of the excess projection out the open front "nose" of the enclosure but rather how much clearance the rear of the drive (from the fastening holes on the side of the drive back to the rear end of the drive) consumes once the SATA power/data connector is attached and the drive must be slid back in the tray in order to be tightened down with screws.Worth a shot I decided.Well, it arrived today, and to my glee it JUST BARELY FIT! No extra room to spare, but nothing broken either. It works!Yes, I had to carefully push the drive back into the tray after attaching the drive to the SATA connector in order to fasten the drive to the tray with the four screws, to be sure to not do any damage to the short SATA power and data cables. These had to be curved up in a short loop to allow the tray to be pushed all the way back, without getting damaged or breaking any solders to the electronics in order for the drive to be slid back far enough so that the fastening holes of the drive were now just visible through the fastening slots on the tray.Miraculous. It was just barely enough. Not one piece of extra room left. Inside the rear of the enclosure the tray was now backed all the way to where the SATA cable actually meets the electronics it's soldered to. It's as far back as it can go, and all four fastening screws are tightened cleanly between tray and drive. Then I the completed tray+drive assembly into the metal enclosure, fastened the rear-end black plastic cover with two screws to now hold the tray+drive securely inside the enclosure so that it's all one unit now, and I'm done. All black stealth.The front black bezel of the SW-5584 peeks out of the open front "nose" of the enclosure by maybe 1/4" but the enclosure itself is also all black as is the SW-5584 so that you would never even know it's probably supposed to be flush on the front . Looks perfect, with the small protrusion of some of the bezel actually looking very attractive.And it works perfectly as well. The drive tray opens and closes perfectly, and the unit is handled perfectly by Windows. I hope there's no unnecessary stress on the SATA cable solders caused by the U-shaped curve I had to impose on it in order to slide the tray all the way back, but I think it'll be just fine.Case closed. Surgery a success. Pressing the four small rubber feet pads (with sticky adhesive on one side) into the four indentations present on the enclosure's underside lets it sits horizontally on my black tabletop and be very decorative, and functional as well (its top surface can be used for anything, as there's no heat generated). The black bezel of the SW-5584 looks straight ahead and the tray opens/closes easily and perfectly It's a very attractive all-black desktop addition, and the curved blue light that shows USB-active/drive-ready is also sleek.Excellent product. I couldn't have gotten away with this install if my drive had been 8" long (as some Sony drives are), but I was able to successfully install my SW-5584 which I measured to be around 7.5" with the bezel on.Highly recommended.

I purchased this in 2018 to continue use of the Blu-ray drive from a 2011 PC build. In 2022 I'm still using it regularly with no issues. Works fast and reliably in every system I've ever plugged it into.

Can flash a BU40N drive in this enclosure. Used to hold my BU40N to use with MakeMKV.

The case is metal and plastic end caps. Everything is included but the USB cable that comes with it is short. This might be ok for you but for me, I wanted my UHD drive to sit on my desk about a foot away from the tower. Other than buying a longer USB 3 cable I can say this was easy to get a drive into and once everything was plugged in and the switch was flipped Windows found it right away. One thing to note, this runs on independent power so you will need to actually turn it off if you shut down your computer nightly. I mainly use my drive for backing up movies I purchase to my Plex server. Its just as fast at doing this as it was when it was connected via Sata in my old case.

Most of my software applications do not recognize if for writing to a disk (Windows 10). I have a gaming computer with no optical drive. I bought this so I could read and write CDs and DVDs. It's a great idea, but it does not work in Windows 10.Follow-up 8/19/2022I originally gave it one star, primarily because it would not play movie DVDs. It would show me the files on the disk, but it would not play the movie. I solved the problem by downloading and installing VLC Media Player (free software). Now it works fine. Also, I was able to burn an iso image file to a Blu-ray disk. My first try at installing VLC media player failed. On the second try, I downed the installation file from the VLC web site, and everything went smoothly.

Great support. Very smooth and fast operation. Good price.

I just received this enclosure and installed a BRD drive that I removed from a previous computer that I owned. I was very impressed with the quality of this package. Solid aluminum. Easy to install and it works great. I can highly recommend this enclosure.

This was a great purchase. PC died, but I wanted to salvage the Blu-Ray/DVD burner that had served me so long and so well. Removed drive from dead PC and installed it in this enclosure...easy instructions, and the drive fit perfectly and now plays nicely with the new PC.

The holes where you screw in to the enclosure to secure it are misaligned, the screws don't sit flush with the case because of this.Other than the misalignment, everything else is working fine.

small and very fiddly screws "not good", there is no reason the screws cannot have bigger heads on them.

great

Very happy!Comes with one USB, for bus powered and another USB for fast transfer for a good use of the Sata optical driver.Thanks

If you have a bluray/DVD OEM drive then this is the best item to use OEM drives externally.The case is very hard steel or some type of metal and is very heavy.The case is very easy to install your OEM drive, only 6 screws and your done basically.This works with any OEM drive and I have had no issues what so ever.The price might be a bit too high but trust me its very very good quality and well worth the money.1 problem for Australians is that they have to buy an Australian power connector to an American one as the power plug for this item was made in America.