14 DAY TRIAL // I-O Data has delivered more than a few storage devices over the years, optical disk drive included, and it looks like this very sort of drive is what the BRD-U8S really is, although it has yet to actually become available.
The market for storage devices has grown quite diverse over the past decade, what with so many technological advancements.
While, at once point, hard drives and floppy disks were the only types available, new methods and devices appeared, like the CD (now obsolete), DVD, flash drive, external drives etc.
In fact, the segment of external and/or portable drives has grown a lot and incorporated different technologies.
NAND Flash memory is used in flash drives, solid state drives, etc., while even extenal HDDs of 2.5-inch or 1.8-inch form factors have been presented.
The newest product that I-O Data developed fits into this category as well, although it is an optical disk drive.
More specifically, it is an external ODD, with 4 MB of buffer, that can write data onto not just CDs and DVDs, but also on Blu-ray disks, standard ones anyway.
While the 100 GB/128 GB BDXL format is not supported, BD-R and BD-RE can be written onto at up to 8x.
A faster rate would have been achievable if the SuperSpeed UB 3.0 standard had been implemented, but I-O Data settled for USB 2.0, meaning that the price will be more readily accessible to the masses.
All in all, the BRD-U8S measures 158 (W) x 220 (D) x 50 (H) mm, has a weight of 1.2 kilograms and is coated black.
Finally, one can place it horizontally or vertically on any surface. Sales have not yet started, but the product should become available for order, in Japan at least, next month (June, 2011).
Prospective buyers can drop by this page if they want to get a closer look at everything known so far, including 3D playback support, among other things.