Can I use an external DVD burner via USB 1.1?

[absinthe]

I've got a friend who does all his computing with a laptop, and now he wants to get an external DVD burner. I had him check his USB properties, and his laptop definitely is only equipped hardware-wise for USB 1.1.

Is it possible to use a USB 2.0 DVD burner hooked to a USB 1.1 port? I mean, will the burning software simply write only as fast as the connection permits without "erroring?"

I think of it this way: When I move a DVD's-worth of info. from my laptop to an external drive, it takes about an hour and a half (USB 1.1). I also have an add-on card to plug into my laptop for USB 2.0, and when I move DVD images to the external drive it only takes about 8 minutes.

So ... would burning a DVD via USB 1.1 take an hour and a half??

I told him I thought it would work, but I'd like to make sure. I guess he could just get himself a PCMCIA USB 2.0 buscard like I got (only $13.99 at Newegg!), but it's such a pain to have to connect/disconnect all the time ...

-abs

 

[ribbon13]

The burning would fail miserably on a USB1.1 I would imagine.
12Mbps is 1.5MBps

DVD burning at 1x is 1350kBps or 1.31MBps...

ouch... high risk of coaster

 

[fstime]

Yes, usb 2.0 will work with usb 1.1, if the PCMCIA card is only 13 bucks, I would get that since USB 2 has a data transfer of around 540 Mbs.

 

[ribbon13]

Try USB 2.0 Hi-Speed == 480 Mbps

And USB2 device are backwars compatible with USB1.1 ports... at USB1.1 speeds.

 

[absinthe]

DVD burning at 1x is 1350kBps or 1.31MBps...

ouch... high risk of coaster

Yeah, that's what I figured. Even if it did work ... an hour (or an hour and a half) is a loooooong time to wait for a DVD to burn.

-abs