With the wide array of different DBEM devices available, there exists also a substantial number of different drives available for each format.

This legend corresponds to the Height column in the tables below.

5.25 inch drive bays come in two heights; full-height and half-height. Full-height bays — seen primarily in much older computer devices — measure 5-3⁄4 inches (146.1 mm) wide and 3-1⁄4 inches (82.6 mm) tall. Half-height bays are still present in many modern computer systems, have the same width as their counterparts, but are only 1-5⁄8 inches (41.3 mm) tall. Many computer cases that have two or more half-height bays available can accommodate full-height drives, although this is not always the case.

3.5 inch drive bays also have two height standards. Full-height bays measure 4 inches (101.6 mm) wide and 1-5⁄8 inches (41.3 mm) tall, the same height as half-height 5.25 inch drive bays. Slim-height bays are the same width, but are shorter at 1.028 inches (26.1 mm)¹⁾.

The below drives all support the 3.5 inch MO format.

These drives are all 5.25 inch, magneto-optical units.

• While many external drives are simply internal drives in an enclosure, some are more customized or are missing the front bezel that would be present on a standard internal drive. Keep this in mind if purchasing an external drive in order to shuck the inner drive from it.
• Special attention should be paid to the Pinnacle Micro Vertex and Apex drives as they are the only drives that support OMDR disks²⁾.
• Many models of Maxoptix drives are difficult to find images of, so some data has been collected from auction listings, old sales lists, and other sources³⁾.
• The Star model variants of some Maxoptix drives seem to have improved caching and other reliability features⁴⁾.
• The Maxoptix T7-9100 appears visually similar to and may be a rebadged Sony SMO-F561.