View Full Version : 'External' DVD burner


Tom Christensen
August 16th, 2003, 12:26 AM
I have an ADS Pyro firewire drive kit that accepts IDE drives. Question is if I install a DVD burner into the firewire kit, will my DVD burning software (I have both Nero and EZ CD Creator) recognize the firewire drive as a target for DVD media.

Has anyone made this work? I'd like to know before I pull the drive out of my desktop.

Thanks,

Tom

Peter Moore
August 16th, 2003, 06:41 PM
I did the same thing with a USB CD-RW drive once before, and it worked perfectly will all the software that worked before. Since firewire is just the interface medium, and doesn't control how the device actually functions, it shouldn't make a difference as long as Windows accepts the drive.

I'd suggest trying it. Worst that happens is you have to reopen your computer. :)

Gints Klimanis
August 16th, 2003, 10:26 PM
I'd like to know this, too. I'm thinking about doing this with my Pioneer A04. An external box that does 3.5/5.25" drives and USB 2.0 + Firewire costs about $100.

Tom Christensen
August 17th, 2003, 11:25 AM
I'll let you know if it works.

Tom

Tom Christensen
August 18th, 2003, 11:10 PM
works like a charm. Recognized it as a DVDRW on pure plug and play. BTW here are the specs.

Dell Inspiron 5100 P4 2.4G notebook running XP
Built in firewire but I used a PCMCIA card (just didn't have the other cable)
DVD+RW from Verbatim (about a year old)
ADS Pyro Drive kit.

Tom

Imran Zaidi
August 18th, 2003, 11:29 PM
Just for the record, there is no difference between taking an internal drive and sticking it in a external enclosure, and what you normally purchase when buying a packaged external drive. This is true for both hard drives and cd/dvd drives.

For example, all Maxtor does when selling an external drive, is take one of their internal drives and put it in one of their own custom cases.

Buying pre-packaged external drives is ONLY beneficial if there is some specific feature on the case that you particularly like. For example, some external Maxtor drives have a programmable button. But chances are, it's still not worth the added cost.

As for external CD/DVD ROM/RAM drives, same thing. If it works inside your computer, it'll work outside your computer the same way. And the pre-packaged external DVD burners you buy are simply internal ones stuck in a custom case, with a premium charged for them doing the work for you and sticking it in a pretty box.

The greatest benefit of rolling your own external hardware is that you can pick the exact drive that you find to be the fastest, and stick it in the case that you think works or looks best.