WTB: 5.25" USB Optical Drive Enclosure!

Forums › Offers and Wanted › WTB: 5.25" USB Optical Drive Enclosure!

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# 261295 20-Nov-2019 11:24

I still have the occasional CD I want to rip from my old collection under the house and - very rarely - new ones that I buy if I can't buy a digital copy!

I don't have room or inclination to put my old LG drive in my shiny new PC, so looking for a decent USB enclosure with power so I can stop using my old external SATA Adaptor with its tangle of cables...

They got these on Amazon, but honestly don't want to pay that much for the number of times I will use it!

https://www.amazon.com/OWC-Mercury-Optical-External-Enclosure/dp/B06XRCCV44/ref=pd_sbs_504_t_0/130-7153653-5953519?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B06XRCCV44&pd_rd_r=ad62e35c-3b65-4ecb-853e-42fde1b735d3&pd_rd_w=VZZTu&pd_rd_wg=BWSXq&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=WMGPWWAD98T9NN12JPTF&psc=1&refRID=WMGPWWAD98T9NN12JPTF

Any offers or suggestions?

1024kb

322 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2357729 20-Nov-2019 11:29

Well that's an old-school requirement! Haven't seen a powered one of those since around the turn of the century.

If you're prepared to go pure USB, I've got an Apple Superdrive available.

Megabyte - so geek it megahertz

dimsim

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# 2357736 20-Nov-2019 11:41

I've got one of these if you are interested $25 inc shipping - although there seem to be plenty of usb powered external cd/dvd available on trademe.

cshaun

264 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2357738 20-Nov-2019 11:47

~US$15 for a USB 3.0 slim drive on Aliexpress.

richms

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# 2357744 20-Nov-2019 12:08

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000186647598.html ??? In saying that, I got a cheap slimline one and used the drive from an old useless laptop which does all I need which is read the panda small recordable CDs that come with Chinese aliexpress tat for drivers.

Richard rich.ms

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# 2357795 20-Nov-2019 12:30

Heh - thanks all, does sound like it might be cheaper and better to just buy a new USB external drive rather than a case for the existing one.

1024kb: Well that's an old-school requirement! Haven't seen a powered one of those since around the turn of the century.

If you're prepared to go pure USB, I've got an Apple Superdrive available.

Thanks - How old and how much?

dimsim:

I've got one of these if you are interested $25 inc shipping - although there seem to be plenty of usb powered external cd/dvd available on trademe.

Thanks for the offer - will put on the "consider" list with the above!

Does anyone know: Is there any benefit to USB-3 in an external drive or does the read speed of the media top out before the USB-2 bandwidth does? Assuming for BLuRay there would be, but perhaps not for CD/DVD...

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# 2357796 20-Nov-2019 12:31

cshaun:

~US$15 for a USB 3.0 slim drive on Aliexpress.

Any idea if these are junk or perfectly good? Would want something as reliable, accurate and fast as possible

1024kb

322 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2357892 20-Nov-2019 12:55

It's dated 2012, which is probably right around when I stopped using optical discs & why I can't remember using this drive any more than 10 times. Since then, it's been sitting in that big bin of stuff that might be useful one day.

$20 & postage or pickup downtown Auckland.

Megabyte - so geek it megahertz

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# 2357907 20-Nov-2019 13:05

1024kb: It's dated 2012, which is probably right around when I stopped using optical discs & why I can't remember using this drive any more than 10 times. Since then, it's been sitting in that big bin of stuff that might be useful one day.

$20 & postage or pickup downtown Auckland.

Thanks mate - think I will probably pass on that for now...

I have thought about the fact that a fair few of my discs are in less than stellar condition and a quick scan of various nerd sites and tests suggests that the super drive can struggle a bit when compared to others when it comes to reading abused CDs!

Cheers

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# 2357968 20-Nov-2019 14:00

Also noting that a lot of these newer "slim" models actually only have 24x speed on read/write for CDs whereas the older ones and the 5.25" seem to be 48x which is more useful for my purposes...

Will have to check the specs of my current one as well

cshaun

264 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2358147 20-Nov-2019 18:11

Item:
cshaun:

~US$15 for a USB 3.0 slim drive on Aliexpress.

Any idea if these are junk or perfectly good? Would want something as reliable, accurate and fast as possible

I haven't used one. Just looked at it as an option for myself. I haven't had an optical drive in any of my PC's for years. But I still have a few discs lying around. Might never need/use one again.

The main advantage of USB 3 is a single cable for power delivery.

neb

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# 2358330 20-Nov-2019 22:44

Item:

They got these on Amazon, but honestly don't want to pay that much for the number of times I will use it!

You can buy an external USB CDROM drive for less than the cost of just the 5 1/4" enclosure, so it's not worth the effort.

If you're in Auckland, I've got a Dell USB CDROM you can have for $20, barely used.