Converting an external usb cd-rw drive to an internal drive

[fshanda]

Has anyone converted an external USB CD-RW drive to an internal drive connected to an IDE connector. I bought a Sony Supressa CRX 100/EX external drive with a USB interface for an older computer with no available drive bays. Now I have plenty of room in my new case and would love to set it inside and loose the USB connection. I wanted to know if this was possible before I went and took apart the drive and possibly screwing up a properly functioning drive.

Fshanda

[Dovaka]

ive never done this with a cdburner but i did do it with a usb hard drive that a friend gave me and it works fine now most of the external drives out there are just internal ones with a usb controller card on them

[CMonster]

I recant (somewhat) my earlier statement where I said it was likely you would screw up the drive -which could still happen.

I have been looking for your model on several search engines -so far without any luck. Personally, I would recommend against the conversion (if at all possible) for the following reasons:


The drive is designed to use USB, which you could do internally, but converting to IDE -if even remotely possible- would rob performance by adding traffic to the already-slower-than-USB IDE controller. Not to mention that IDE will eat more system resources - which are probably in shorter supply than the extra room you have in your case.


Cooling on two fronts can become an issue: the drive will dump extra heat into your case, and the drive may have been designed with certain cooling considerations -namely that it was intended to be external.


In the end you loose the most coveted benefit of all: portability


No offense intended - but I don't think it would be a wise thing to do. Why not sell the drive and buy an internal IDE drive?




[This message has been edited by CMonster (edited 01-01-2001).]

[Roy]

Peek inside and see if it hooks up just like an internal IDE device. "External" usually just adds a power supply and interface. I don't think you can easily screw it up by opening the case. Just keep track of where the screws belong.

[fshanda]

No offence taken CMonster just want to clean up my system and not have another component just sitting on top of my computer. I'm not concerned with portability, I only went external because I had to. I also like taking things apart to see just what's going on inside. I just don't want to destroy an expensive drive in the process.I was also trying to solve a problem. I cant leave the drive on if I have to reboot my system. After I reboot, my system slows down considerably and my pointer switches between an hourglass and pointer until I turn off the drive and turn it back on. Just a little annoyance I'd like to get rid of. Now let me get my tools and see what's inside.

Fshanda

[This message has been edited by fshanda (edited 01-01-2001).]

[Andy_L]

Right now my wife has a ex-parallel burner planted on the secondary IDE controller, look inside, if the drive is using an ide connector, there you go.

[fshanda]

Just what I thought, a standard drive plugged into a USB interface with a built in powersupply. Everything came out fine but I did manage to take a good size chunk of skin off of my middle finger in the process. I have never installed a second drive to an IDE cable. Do I just need to set the jumper on the back of the drive to slave and plug it into the second connector on the cable? I would use another IDE channel but my CUSL2 only has one standard IDE channel. Also, will I be able to use the same drivers that came with the drive.

Thanks for all the help
Fshanda

[This message has been edited by fshanda (edited 01-01-2001).]

[Roy]

Correct on setting the jumper to Slave. You also should check the HDD for jumpers. WD, for example, has a different "neutral" setting for when there is no slave, and a Master setting for when there is.

I'm not sure on the driver question. Try what you have, and check the manufacturer's site for an alternative if it doesn't work.

BTW ~ Putting together computers isn't any fun if you don't bleed a little. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[fshanda]

Thanks Roy, I'm going to install the drive when my Alpha cooler shows up. Hopefully that will be tomorrow and I can install both at the same time. I'm going to set the CD-RW as the slave to my CD drive. My hard drive is an ATA100 on another IDE channel for Ultra ATA devices.
If bleeding is fun, I had a whole lot of fun today.

Fshanda

[Roy]

I set up both CDs on the same channel on a machine last Saturday. I went to copy a disc and the software (Nero) "strongly recommended" moving one to the other IDE channel. I'm sure this speeds things up and helps prevent buffer under-runs.

There should be no problem putting an ATA33 device on the ATA100 channel.

BTW ~ It's a good practice to make only one change at a time. That way you'll know where to look first if there's a problem.

[This message has been edited by Roy (edited 01-01-2001).]

[fshanda]

I'm still a little new to some things and want to make sure I understand you. Is a CD-RW drive considered an ATA33 device. This may be a stupid question but I have to ask. I'll never learn anything if I'm afraid to ask a stupid questions once in a while. My CUSL2 motherboard only has 2 IDE connectors. This is the only thing I don't like about this otherwise great board.

Fshanda

[Dave_Whittle]

What is on the two ide channels?

ATA 100 Drives in my experience are best left on their own or with another ATA100 device

I would stick the cdr-w as a master and the cd-rom as a slave on the secondary channel.I know its not convension but ive built shed loads of systems with that sort of setup.

[fshanda]

ATA100 drive on the primary controller and now I have the cd drive setup as master and the burner setup as slave on the secondary controller. Everything went smooth and both drives work fine. The manual for the CUSL2 said not to connect any other devices as slave on the primary IDE channel that were not also ATA100 devices. Thanks for the help everyone.

Fshanda

[CMonster]

fshanda - glad it all worked out.

Well, I guess I wasn't much help - I learn something new every day.

I think I would take breaking the skin to what just happened when I installed my new CDRW: For my B-day (Dec. 30) I got a new Yamaha 8x4x24 SCSI CDRW - that I promptly installed into my T-bird/A7V system...however, I ran into a little problem - unbeknownst to me my stupid case did not provide enough space between the back of the drive in the desired slot and the motherboard, by a mere 1/4" - so thinking that the drive was hung up on the plastic on the front of the case I gave it a firm push with both thumbs.... I heard a little "dook" sound from inside the case and looked to see a 1000uF 6.3V capacitor near the CMOS battery was busted off its leg! &*^*!! New Years day I went to Fry's Electronics and now the baord has a 1000uF 16V capacitor and continues to work fine.