Samsung se W164C/EUBN Dvd±rw Dual Layer Burner

This burner worked very nicely for about a year. Good compability with various media, an impressive amount of formats and satisfactory speed. I used it mainly for backup and for emptying my external drives when they filled up. For this purpose, it was really superior to the built-in dvd burner in my laptop. But one day, the tray simply refused to open. And since then, no amount of reinstalling or updating firmware, etc. has helped. Now, after extensive efforts, the tray opens, but the device does not recognize any media. The "automatic" firmware update service samsung provides does not recognize the device either. I was afraid i had somehow messed up and caused the failure myself, but some quick searching confirms that i am not the only one experiencing serious problems with this product range. Let us hope that samsung has managed to root out some of these issues in newer models. I really miss it, and will most likely get a new one as soon as i can get my hands on some money. Or perhaps one from another manufacturer..