Need external cd/dvd

You guys have helped me so much in the past I really appreciate this forum.

I just bought an Acer Aspire mini PC which has no CD/DVD reader. I love it for its size, small and capable. However I do need an external CD reader to install software.

I am thoroughly confused about the various devices so I am asking the following question.

What should I look for in an external CD/DVD device that is capable of reading data on the discs and also reading movies. It does not have to burn new discs. It does need to use a USB connection and I would hope only one USB port. I see things like DVD decoder, separate USB power cable, all kinds of types of discs, ..., ...

Help please. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Mike

 

Greetings, mdietz39...

Browse to your heart's content: newegg External CD/DVD/Blu-Ray Drives...

 

The other thing you can do is use USB flash drive sticks. Copy any CDs/DVDs to the flash drive when it's connected to your main computer then put the flash drive into a USB port on the mini and run the program/copy any files from the flash drive.
I just did that with a Foxconn nT435 mini. I have Win 7 on one flash stick, I copied the Foxconn driver CD to another flash drive and ran the install right from that. I always have a few 4 & 8 Gb flash drives around for just such purposes.

Sam