In short I need a cheap external disc drive and dont want to cough up the 20$ and buy online so thrift store it is. I cant really come up with a way to test these usually usb powered drives besides somehow setting up a computer or asking the workers for help (doubt they will). Does anyone have an idea to narrow down if a drive is defective or should i just take a chance and hopefully the store has a return policy?
You could try to plug them into a powerbank and put in a disk. See if it spins up normally. It is a bad sign if it repeatedly spins up or down.
I did not try if this works.
A disc you don’t need back. :)
Alrighty this might be plan B if the adapter idea doesnt work appreciate it