Review on 💽 BUFFALO MediaStation Desktop BDXL Blu-Ray Writer (BRXL-16U3) - 16x Speed by David West

For a long time I had an external LG Blu-ray drive that could burn BDXL discs. It was a pretty good burning program, although it didn't always "work well" with Windows. I often had to unplug it, plug it back in, and even occasionally restart Windows for the OS to recognize the device. However, it has served me reasonably well for several years and was therefore "happy" with it. Without the hassle of course. And except for the moments when I thought about throwing it against a wall. Then, after several years of service, he finally gave himself up to me. Actually I wasn't too mad about it as it gave me a reason to buy a better and newer burner. But I needed to create recovery discs for a newly installed Surface Pro 6 - I think that was the model as it's my wife's new work PC which she only got in late 2018 - with Windows 7 Backup and Restore app built in , which is included with Windows 10. It's all Microsoft's fault. But no matter what I did, it failed on any type of disk. I first tried a 50GB dual layer Blu-ray and then a couple of 25GB single layer discs. I preferred Dual Layer for this computer because its C drive occupies about 50GB or more - don't blame me for not partitioning it - as I could of course get the entire recovery setup on one drive, plus one of course repair disk. No dice. Anyway, apart from my little tirade about the name "Windows 7 Backup and Restore" in Windows 10, I really like this application. When I set up a computer, I always erase all logical drives, reformat the C drive for the OS and applications and the D drive just for my personal files, and then install from the DVD I previously created with the new Windows OS I have ISO Creator 10 from Microsoft. . And as I install, I take a few snapshots of the install process so I can go back to simpler installs if needed. But I usually manage at least three hatshots during a clean install: Windows with drivers and updates installed, computer renamed and registered; previous snapshot plus licensed software - I use Office 2016 and Nero 2019 and while Nero is my favorite, their licensing scheme really stinks; and then the previous recording with other applications that do not require a license, such as B. printer software, dash cam software, etc. I think this is a great scheme and has never let me down. Well, unless Microsoft makes some horrible BIOS or UEFI changes that break my recovery discs, and this has happened a few times. Although I usually only install a new OS every year or so, of course it takes a bit longer due to the time it takes to create the snapshots, but I think it's worth it. If an app crashes, you get a virus, or something else bad happens to your computer, just pop in a Blu-ray disc and restore, and you'll be up and running in about 15 minutes, plus new updates since last image of the image. But of course, this strategy requires a good external Blu-ray burner. This is where the Buffalo Mediastation 16x Desktop BDXL Blu-Ray Recorder comes in. An external power supply is what your main recording device needs, at least for maximum speed, in my opinion - the Buffalo doesn't really turn on until you plug in the power cord and USB cable AND boot up your computer. The recorder doesn't seem to detect USB power, so it stays powered off. This is a real problem when trying to restore your computer from a disk image as you can't open the tray until power is present but you really want to put the repair disk in the FIRST place before booting so you can it can let the BIOS or UEFI ask you if you want to boot from the hard drive. This means you need to connect the Buffalo drive to power, connect the USB cable to your computer, boot it up, insert the disc into the drive, and then reboot to allow the device to boot from the external drive. Ugh Well, all is not lost. Luckily this should be a fairly rare use case so it's not too bad as I only do it maybe 2 or 3 times a year maybe for a PC upgrade. But after using the drive for a while, I realized that this is actually the right way to power an external recording device. Why? Now, what I did with my old LG drive: Whenever I turned off my computer, I unplugged my burner because I didn't want it to be left on without use for long periods of time. It's a waste of energy, but worse, the drive has to be stiff to keep it running. And plugging and unplugging AC cords is actually bad for that cord if done frequently. So, I think Buffalo got it right. Other reviewers have complained that the Buffalo is really just a case housing real recording equipment from another manufacturer. I don't really care if that's true - I haven't tested it yet. However, I noticed that after visiting the Buffalo website, there are no firmware updates available for this drive yet. I hope that in the future if I need to update the firmware, the Buffalo website can download this new firmware and I don't have to go to another company's website for this update. I'll keep my fingers crossed and it will lower my review score if that happens. But Buffalo has many things for a buyer to look forward to these days. It almost always works - check - it rarely fails on the disk, no matter whether I'm doing recovery on my PC or burning data discs with Nero more often - check - it works fine with Windows, at least with Windows 10 -- check -- it almost burns all major types of Blu-ray including BDXL -- check -- looks great -- check -- it runs very fast on any type of disc -- check -- and it's REALLY quiet -- - check-plus . When you burn a disc for the first time, you might think it won't work because it's so quiet. But that's really good as all the burners I've had in the past have made quite a bit of noise. Well today I'm going to go with a big Buffalo burner recommendation. It was one of the few I found currently in production that had an external power supply AND a pop up tray. Anyone who has used recording devices extensively probably knows that you want these features in your main recording device. I have another Pioneer recorder with a slot loader that is USB powered only. This is fine if you're on a plane or bus, for example, or if you're only using it as a secondary drive for copying discs. But for me, the slot-loader type isn't enough for my main recording device for a variety of reasons, and Buffalo doesn't have that "feature". Thank God.