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Make an internal DVD drive portable?

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dpauley55

Junior Member
I have an optical HP DVD drive that's only a 4.7gb but is still good. It's PATA interface. I'm thinking I would like to make it portable so I could move it between computers. If I had a PATA to USB converter card, would it also need a power connector. Doesn't USB have it's own power. Does an optical drive need as much power as a hard drive. I would use an external hard drive for most backups but I'd feel safer with some thing that can't be erased or be corrupted itself. This is mostly because my kids keep getting a virus on their computer. I thinking it would be easier to reload from a DVD after incident. I don't see the 5.25 inch external enclosures like the 3.5" ones for hard drives. Maybe that's because what I'm trying to do is stupid...Tell me what would be best...Thanks
 
USB power isn't anywhere near sufficient for a fullsize DVD drive. These draw up to 20 watts when spinning, USB is limited to 2.5W.

Thus, just buy a 5.25" enclosure that has a USB-IDE interface board inside. These do exist, plenty choices in fact.
 
you sure about the 20 watt thing? Not saying you're wrong, but I use to have a slim external DVD drive that was powered by USB. I know a full sized DVD would use more, but that much more? interested, I figured a full sized DVD would use about 2x and could be powered by one of those dual USB plug connectors that pulls power from 2 usb ports.
 
Slim drives are not only slimmer, but also substantially slower - exactly because they need to be power efficient. The 20W figure is measured.
 
Check places like svc.com, directron, et. al.

There are external USB / USB+firewire 5.25" enclosures like ones from BYTECC et. al. that work well.

They typically have their own AC input power supply and a small fan in the chassis.

Ones like the ME320-U2 et. al. or better can sometimes be found in the $14 - $30 range.

 
Yes ... if (some of) your PCs have FireWire ports, then going with a USB/FW enclosure may be a good idea. 16x and faster burners hit the speed ceiling on USB, while FW gives a little more headroom.
 
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