Are all external hard drives the same?

Thank you all so much! I want to put Blu-ray, DVD, CD, lossless on the drive. What is the best way?
Thanks
Greg

Since I backup the music files on my PC anyway, I use the USB external drive hooked to the USB input on my BDP-95. I presume the hard drive is controlled by the OPPO. Does this make it effectivly asynchronus? If not, what is it called? Can someone explain to me what might be the benefit (at the cost of increased noise in the room) to drive the asynchronus USB input on a BDP-105 directly from a PC?

Oldears, "asynchronous USB" refers to an interface between a computer and the USB input of a DAC. When the Oppo player is used to play files that are on an external hard drive that is connected directly to it via USB, the Oppo can be thought of as acting as the computer, with the computer-to-DAC interface being internal to the Oppo, and implemented in a different and more simplified manner than USB, asynchronous or otherwise.

As to how results would compare between playing a file from a computer into the BDP-105's USB DAC input, and playing the same file from a hard drive into a USB port on the BDP-105, that would be dependent on many design variables involving both the player and the computer, and perhaps even other parts of the system which might be affected by computer-generated RFI or digital noise. I doubt that the answer can be determined without trying it both ways in your particular setup.

Regards,
-- Al

Could I just buy a heavy duty external hard drive and get a Blu-Ray recorder card to put in my current computer? If I record on my current computer and put the data on the external hard drive, could I just unhook the external drive and hook it into my Oppo 95?
If so, what recorder card would you recommend? Could this be an external recorder / drive? I do not care to record blu-ray onto discs, I want to upload them to a hard drive.
Thanks
Greg

Greg, unfortunately I believe that it is not possible to transfer most commercially made Blu-Ray discs and DVD's to a computer hard drive, because of copy protection provisions they utilize.

Also, even if it were possible in some cases I believe that you would have to subsequently process the files with a video editing program to convert them to something that the player would recognize. Files on computer hard drives and on optically read discs are structured differently. And the process of "building" a video file using a video editing program, especially with high definition material that would be used on a Blu-Ray disc, would be likely to require several hours or more per hour of material for typical computers to do the necessary processing.

Not sure what you are referring to when you mentioned Blu-Ray recorder cards. If you mean Blu-Ray drives which can burn Blu-Ray discs, their "recording" function is intended for creation of Blu-Ray discs from one's own material, in conjunction with video editing or other software.

Re your question about putting CD material onto your hard drive, for some particularly knowledgeable suggestions about what software to use see this page at the Empirical Audio website. Steve N. of Empirical Audio is member "Audioengr" here at A'gon.

Regards,
-- Al