I've got a slightly older external HP USB drive. It's really handy for using in more than one location.
Obviously, the speed with a USB drive isn't going to be fantastic, but it can be adequate. My drive is 4x, I haven't really had any problems with it, using it to burn data, copy discs, and make music CDs.
I've made some coasters, but those were mainly due to some error on my part in the settings or something.