Yes, I am in a similar dilemma, however mine is strictly a power issue, not related to what "speed" can be achieved. Aside from storage drives, almost any port capable of 1x or higher speeds is at least workable with any optical drive including the blue ray drive I'm trying to use. I think my problem stems from the rotational write speeds and the fact that this unit uses dual lasers, whereas your super multi cd/dvd drive does not.
Typically dual USB power connectors is only needed with external enclosures that are incorporating normally internal hard drives, which use a lot more power than smaller 2.5" drives, so they need the additional power. I'm not sure why your drive comes with a Y power cable but I've never seen any other external DVD drive that required one and I suspect (And am ALMOST certain) that you would be fine with a single USB 3.0 type A cable of whatever connector on the other end that matches your drive. It's likely that in YOUR case, the drive was intended to potentially be compatible with systems that only had USB 2.0 ports, which have a much lower overall power capability and in that case two ports would probably be necessary to supply the needed power. A single 3.0 cable can supply more power safely.
While many will argue they are the same, due to both adhering to the USB power delivery specification, it is equally true that the specifications for the cables themselves, and what they can handle without becoming a hazard due to the actual power delivery, are often not the same.
What are the differences between USB 2.0 cables and USB 3.0 cables?
USB 3.0 cables facilitate the faster transfer rates of 4.8Gbps as well as the additional power transfer of 900 mA by doubling the amount of wires within the cable from 4 in the 2.0 cables to 8 in the 3.0 cables. USB 2.0 cables transfer data at 480 Mbps and provide power up to 500 mA.
USB 3.0 cables also have different connectors (typically blue on the inside) as can be seen in the image below alongside the 2.0 counterpart connectors. This means that any device that uses the different connectors cannot use the 2.0 equivalent cables. In addition while the 2.0 B connectors physically fit into the 3.0 B ports the different wiring configuration does not allow proper data transfer. The A connectors still work properly so any 2.0 device with a 2.0 cable can be used with 3.0 ports or hubs.
I cannot tell you for certain that this is a complete answer to your question but I believe that it is likely that your device will work fine with a single USB 3.0 cable used on a 3.0/3.1 port. It might even do so on a 2.0 port since the port spec itself has to adhere to the same standard, but I would feel better using the newer port myself whether there is any actual evidence to support that or not.
Probably this will work even though your device is a 2.0 device because I believe that while a 2.0 cable will not work with a 3.0 device, due to differences in the arrangement of the data pins, 3.0 cables and ports are required to be backwards compatible with with 2.0 devices. There might be something else I'm not seeing here and clearly you'd be better off overall with a newer 3.0 compatible device, but unless somebody is seeing something in this that I am not, theoretically it should work. My appologies if I've missed something as I am actually on my way out the door.
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