Can a laptop optical drive run from USB 3.0?

zsombi0806

Reputable
Aug 1, 2016
25
0
4,540
I have a sony blu-ray drive salvaged from a laptop. If I get an adapter like this, will the drive run without external power? If not, can it draw enough power to run from another usb port, or do I need power from the wall socket.?
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


Yes, but those are made to be used externally. They're not coming from an existing machine. I've seen SATA to USB external cables and theoretically that could work, but I don't know if those are made anymore or not.
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


Yeah but needing a separate power supply kind of defeats the purpose of having an external. By the time you buy all the parts to make it work you could have just bought an external drive and been done with it. My LG drive that I bought was $42 and handles all the CD burning and DVD needs I will ever use it for.