Review - The Home made 5.25" external USB DVD writter casing for Notebook and Desktop

Quick look at 5.25″ external USB DVD writter casing for Notebook and Desktop

27 Apr, 2008 Hardware

As usual, this post is also inspired by the questions I have received via emails.

Many of us have bought Notebook just an year ago and many of them have increased the warranty of their product for another 2 years. With warranty or without it, a notebook bought just an year ago would have good configuration to run Windows XP and basic office and home entertainment applications for another year or 2 at-least.

But there is one major draw back with any mid range of entry level notebook bought a year or year and a half ago. That is, a missing DVD writer. Most of these notebooks come with Combo drive which means support for reading DVD only.

A Combo drive is a type of optical drive that combines CD-R/CD-RW recording capability with the ability to read (but not write) DVD media.

With ever increasing size of our personal pictures taken from high megapixel digital camera and needs to convert a video taken on a handy cam to DVD or burning your favorite videos to DVD would require a DVD writer. Unfortunately a laptop / notebook internal DVD writer or as some call it RAMBO would cost Rs. 7500 or higher when taken from computer vendors like, Dell / HP / Acer / Lenovo.

So the question comes up, is there any portable but external solution available which may do the job without affecting the warranty ? Once again, available options like, an External USB DVD writer would cost you more or less the same amount as a internal optical drive !!

However there is one low-tech solution available for this, which is making an internal 5.25″ desktop DVD writer to work with your notebook.

Let us take a quick look at available 5.25″ casing for external DVD writer.

Product Name

5.25″ DVD writer casing for IDE desktop DVD writers !!

Price

Rs. 550/- including all TAX

Specifications

Compatible with IDE interface
Plug and play with Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / 2008.
External Power supply.
USB Interface
Internal FAN for heat dissipation.

The Product at a glance

$The 5.25\$

$5.25\$

Test Setup

What did I use for testing purpose ?

For hardware front,

50 Blank LaserTras DVDs (4.7 GB) / 10 Verbatim DVD RWs (DVD 4.7 GB)
10 Dual Layer Blank DVDs (8.5 GB)
4.7 GB DVD RW / 8.5 GB DVD RW
Samsung miniDV Handy Cam
Acer 4720 / Lenovo 3000 N200 / Compaq C702TU / Acer 4100 series (Pentium Mobile 1.6 GHz)
Samsung / Sony / Asus / Liteon, 5.25″ internal DVD RW drives

For software front,

Windows 2000 Professional SP4
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 (Both x64 / x86)
Windows XP Professional SP2 (Both x64 / x86)
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition R2 SP2 (Both x64 / x86)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition (Both x64 / x86)
Nero 7 / Nero 8
Ashampoo 7
Uled Video Studio 10

Assembling it

The top cover is completely removable which is secured by 4 screws, as you may see in the bellow image, that once you get the top cove out, you may simply place the DVD RW drive in side it.

Tighten up the side screws and connect the cables (IDE and Power) which is visible in this bellow image !! Now you may place the top cover and attach the top 4 screw.

$External DVD RW 5.25\$

Thats it, pretty easy to assemble and you are now all set to use it.

Real world performance and operation testing

BIOS immediately detects the hardware and reports it as a bootable option under the boot devices.

Same with Windows XP, as you plug the device, windows XP is quick to detect and install automatically, you can see the task bar pop up displaying the installation process.

The drive is listed as a optical drive under device manager also,

$The 5.25\$

and the properties view of the drive under Windows XP

$The 5.25\$

Identical plug and play result under Windows Vista as well, simple plug and play installation

$The 5.25\$

Device Manager under Windows Vista listing it as optical drive with USB interface.

$Windows Vista drive properties for 5.25\$

Also you get the option to stop the device just like any other USB removable device.

$Removing the external USB 5.25\$

What about reading performance ??

It supports and works under DMA, therefore you get the full speed operation and speeds as fast as your internal DVD RW drive. Bellow screen shot is one from many copy test I have run after burning the disk via the external DVD writer itself. Speeds are really great when you copy the data to any SSD based drives compare to slower 5400 RPM disks.

$Copy data from 5.25\$

How about the real thing, the burning performance !!

I have tested this device with different burning applications, such as Nero / Ashampoo / Windows Vista default recording / Ulead Video Studio (for miviDV to DVD) and it performs as satisfactory as any internal drive !!

I have tested with different media like cheapest 4.7 GB blanks (50 of them in one go for load and heat test in hot weather without AC) to best of the lot the verbatim media also with 8.5 GB dual layer as well as the both form of RW media, now do note, more than casing, the support for different type of media is dependent on the drive it self, therefore I have used different drives from Sony / ASUS / LG / Liteon and found they run as good as any internal drive !!

Nero application detecting the external drive as a option to burn data using it,

Burning a 4.7 DVD using nero at top speed possible with the media.

You can also use the feature copy on fly to use your combo drive to copy a DVD and burn it directly on a disk using the external drive !!

$Copy on fly under Nero using 5.25\$

same with ashampoo, as in bellow screen shot you may see Ashampoo works with it as just like an internal DVD RW,

$Burning via Ashampoo using 5.25\$

Many of us own a miniDV handy cam now, one use full feature of which is using applications like ulead video studio to directly burn a miniDV recorded data from cam to a DVD. This external drives works fine in this test also. Please note, the time which takes to complete this process is dependent over the configuration of the configuration of your system.

Doesn’t it have any negative point ?

Sure it does, well a couple of them, biggest would be as its external powered one therefore if power goes off, or there is some voltage fluctuation the device would restart and if you are in process of burning would mean loss of the media as burn process would fail in middle of it.

Second most important is the reliability. This is a cheap local product, though your DVD drive mau come with warranty but the casing wont have any such. So if the power adapter fails or you have any other problem with the casing would mean buying a new one.

The device is pretty reliable once you get the 1st day passed. I have burnt almost 70 DVDs while in testing and found problem with just 2 that too one because of power problem another is possible error in the media it self.

Last but not the least would be the fact that its bulky compare to your laptop usage !!

It bulky
No protection from Power cut or voltage fluctuation
No warranty support

Verdict

No doubt, it has its own problems but device is reliable enough, performance is as good as any internal drive and price is almost 4 time less than a internal notebook drive or an external branded drive !! So if you are looking to add DVD writing support for your notebook, this would be a better option than an costly internal drive !!

Convert an Internal PATA IDE (Desktop) 3.5″ Hard disk to External USB Hard Disk
Most of us upgrade our PC in every 2 to 3 years... When we do so we find we may have few extra full ...
ATi XGP - External graphics card for NoteBooks / Laptop
A couple of years back, ASUS announced the XG station. Which was meant as an external heavy duty...
Quick look (Review) at View Sonic vx1945wm 19″ HD WideScreen with ViewDOCK
The View Sonic vx1945wm, 19" HD WideScreen TFT Once again I find my self testing another vx ser...
Acer launching new series of desktop replacement large screen portable Notebooks
Zune New Firmware Version 2.3

10 Comments so far »

vasudev said

am April 28 2008 @ 12:57 am

Hello chotocheeta, I have few queries,
>I had seen TechCom Make casing, how’s it?
>What was the brand of the casing you were using? DOes it have a years’ warranty/service?
>Can the same casing be used for External HDD ?
>Is the fan necessary or there are casing without fans also?
>As you said, this can also be used as FIRST BOOT DEVICE. If someone does not have USB device as BOOT option in their BIOS, what to do? Anything possible to upgrade BIOS to get the option?
>Does this support USB 1.1? What does the instruction booklet (if provided)say ?
>One more general Q, Which is the best DVD writer at present, Presently people are having problem with Sony. Which one you recommend? I am using LG , what’s your Opinion. May be a DVD Drive shootout in your future post could be nice.

Such a casing is best also for increasing your HD capacity. Get such a casing and regular internal HD , so within 3K you can get these.
Even 3.5″ Bays comes specially for Notebooks.
But this 5.25″ bays is also good , only thing is one has to handle the HD inside it carefully.

Nice review, choto, If you could add these answers it’ll answers many more peoples queries.
Choto Cheeta said

am April 28 2008 @ 8:02 pm

Hey Vasu,

Thanks for the comment though, Important questions which you have asked…

Let me go through them one by one…

Whats the bet DVD RW drive ??

Dont be disappointed, but the answer is NONE, I have tested and used them all abut quite frankly, what can i expect in Rs. 1100. ??

Sony / LG / Samsung / Liteon / HP / ASUS, you name it… Burn 2000 to 2500 DVDs and thats it all of them starts giving problem…

As a domestic user youmy never burn 2500 DVD in a year, where as in my case in our cafes due to the commercial burning (Copying DVDs of marriage or office presentation or any such) many of your DVD writers cross this limit which i have calculated and once they do, all f them starts giving problems, problems like DVDs burn in ASUS would be read by ASUS drives only or same with any other brand and then they starts giving burn errors and needs to be sent to the service center !!

So really, my suggestion, buy what ever is cheap and your dealer says would provide a faster warranty…

Techcom Casing ??

Not bad I have few of those in HDD segment !!

What was the brand of the casing you were using? DOes it have a years’ warranty/service?

Techcom / Frontech / Enter what ever I find, and only brand which comes with warranty is Trascend but al most double the cost of the local ones

Can the same casing be used for External HDD ?

Theoretically yes, but a a 5.25″ casing ownt be good to hold a 3.5″ drive !!!

I have already written about dedicated casings of 3.5″ IDE drives

Convert an Internal PATA IDE (Desktop) 3.5? Hard disk to external USB Hard Disk

bellow is few images of 2.5″ casing and laptop 5400 160 GB HDD and 3.5″ casing with 320 GB HDD, these 3.5″ and 2.5″ casings come in both SATA and IDE interface !!

Does this support USB 1.1? What does the instruction booklet (if provided)say ?

well Booklet said hell lot of a stuff in many language expect English or Indian regionals :p so unable to read them !!!

Now it does support USB interface 1.1 but operations are too slow with 1.1 burning takes ages and buffering is too low with such speeds !!! I have tested USB 1.
1 with 810 chipset motherboards running P-III :D.

As you said, this can also be used as FIRST BOOT DEVICE. If someone does not have USB device as BOOT option in their BIOS, what to do? Anything possible to upgrade BIOS to get the option?

Sorry, completely depends on the BIOS whether to have booing support from USB or not, unless some one know how to write BIOS and include drives under BIOS ROM, I dont think would be possible to make this a boot device with BIOS which doesn’t have native USB boot feature !!!

Lst but not the list, FAN is not important for all, those would would be in cooler climate but in Kolkata, that internal FAN is very much needed in hotter environment when you burn 10 or 15 DVDs straight or play a DVD movie using it !!

I hope this may clear the doubts of reads who would be looking for these answers

thank you..
vasudev said

am April 29 2008 @ 1:26 am

Thanks chotocheeta for all the answers.
Because you are a heavy burner, I thought of who else to ask for the DVD writers, you will be the best person to answer. Thanks for the answer, yes one brand or the other each has its own + and - . Somehow I prefer LG for burners. Had a better experience with CD and DVD burners.
sid said

am May 2 2008 @ 11:57 am

dude ,,, nice post ,, can u tell me , where are the Cases
available in mumbai …..
Acer-Pacer » Blog Archive » Re: Was ist los mit Euch?!? - Acer erwirbt PalmOS-Lizenz said

am May 2 2008 @ 5:04 pm

[...] unter > > Linux. > Dir ist bekannt, dass es Linux-Versionen gibt, die man von einer > Diskette booten kann? > Meine ersten Linux-Installationen hatte ich auf einem 486 mit 8MB Hi, Linux ist bestimmt [...]
Anindya said

am May 7 2008 @ 6:58 pm

Burning 70 dvds including dual layers is an achievment in it self!
santanu said

am May 8 2008 @ 10:15 am

what an innovation 4 <2k!!!
gr8!
david said

am May 23 2008 @ 1:46 pm

great article, i am about to buy one very soon
Baishali Biswas said

am September 30 2008 @ 8:27 am

I bought a 5.25″ external casing for my dvd writer, now what i am confused about is the power cable that connects to the adapter on one end but the other end has 3 pins, (its a male plug), the earth pin looks like it goes into a regualr plug but the other two are just bars with two little holes in them at the end, i am not sure where i have to plug these in because it will definitely not go into a regular wall socket, it also doesnt seem to me like it would go behind a ups (definitely not in my ups, i have already checked)..can you please help choto?
Choto Cheeta said

am October 3 2008 @ 7:02 am

Hello Baishali,

Sorry for late reply. Here are some details for you.

These are the sockets which wold be available in the device’s power adapter.

“A” goes in to “C”. “D” is what, which gets attached to the casing it self. Now doubt is with “B” which gets attached to your home wall socket “E”.

As I understand that the doubt is with the fact that “A” and “C” having 3 pic where as the “B” is only having 2 pins.

There wont be any problem till you have earthing of your home wiring alright. Now when some one have a faulty earthing with their home wiring, then some problem may come up as like the device metal casing becoming live and giving you little shock

So dont warry and use the device (”B” going in to wall socket “E”)

Thanks.