Pioneer continues to lead the way in optical disc technology with the launch of an external optical drive, which it claims as the "world's smallest and lightest portable Blu-ray burner."

The BDR-XD04T is a compact 14mm by 132mm by 132mm (HxWxD) and weighs only 240g. It features an easy to use, black clamshell design, as opposed to a slot or tray-loading mechanism.

The device has a USB 2.0 interface, and also draws power from the USB port on your computer — no mains power adapter is required, making it a truly lightweight portable to carry around with you.

Notebooks are becoming smaller and mostly without drives, so the BDR-XD04 is the ideal accessory thanks to its compact size and portability.  The BDR-XD04 fills the need for a lightweight and transportable drive capable of playing CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

The BDR-XD04T has a 6X write speed and can handle a series of disc formats: triple-layer 100GB BD-R, quad-layer 128GB BD-R, triple-layer 100GB BD-RE, DVDs, and CDs.

It features an auto quiet mode, which minimises noise by reducing rotation speeds; PureRead2+, which prevents clicking noises when there are minor disc scratches; and PowerRead, which improves playback when discs are slightly damaged.