Sony's new portable DVD writer was very easy to install. Thanks to its USB 2.0 interface, the entire installation process took only a matter of minutes. With no jumpers to worry about, it was as simple as connecting the two USB cables. Once connected to our test computer, it took only a matter of seconds for plug and play to install the necessary drivers. After making sure that the drive was recognized correctly in the Device Manager, I was ready to start installing the software.
Software Installation:
As I mentioned earlier, the DRX-S90U comes with a CD full of software from Nero. If you have autorun enabled on your computer, the menu shown below will appear when you insert the disc. As you can see, the software and documentation is available in a number of different languages.
After selecting your preferred language, you'll be given a short list of options. From here you can choose to install the bundled software, check out the manual or visit Sony's user support web page.
By default the setup program will install the entire Nero 10 Essentials suite onto your computer. If you don't want to install everything, select the custom installation. From here you can choose the components you want.
Documentation:
Most of the DRX-S90U's documentation is located in the "Operating Instructions." While a bit short on words, this small, fold out guide contains information on the drive's specifications, system requirements and package contents as well as a few diagrams showing how to hook it up to your computer. The "User's Guide" on the software CD contains a lot of the same information. However, it covers a few additional topics including the basic operation and physical features of the DRX-S90U.
Like the other Sony drives we've reviewed, the DRX-S90U was very easy to install. I had no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working. If you need help for some reason, the documentation Sony has provided is more than sufficient. With this in mind, the DRX-S90U scores a solid 9 out of 10 for the installation portion of this review.
