Apparently Hewlett Packard saw fit to include a date timer in the firmware for its Samsung/Toshiba TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H552L drive. Several hundred of them magically quit working the same week. It wouldn't be so irritating except that Toshiba & Samsung refuse to support it & HP refers everyone to Toshiba & Samsung.
Worth the hassle? No. It's a cheap drive. But shoddy business practices.<