I have an older laptop with a CD-RW drive, but I am now in need of
DVD-burner capability. I am hoping to find an external DVD drive that
is relatively small and light, that does not require an external power
transformer (because I don't want to have to carry it). I was thinking
it could be powered from the USB connector.

In a quick web search and looking in local stores, I can't find any
such thing. Most of them are sized as though they expect you to be at
a desktop, and even the small ones seem to have a power cord to a
"brick", then another power cord to the wall. (Or a few for which I
can't determine how they are powered.) Does anybody know of any models
that are powered over USB or some other way from the notebook? Or
suggestions for where to look?

Other considerations:
Win2K
USB 2.0 or FIrewire or PCCard
DVD+RW preferred

TIA,

Terry

You won't find it, the power requirements of a burner exceed what is
available from a USB port. There is only 5 volts available (burners
need +12 volts, as far as I know), and only 500ma, which is 2.5 watts,
which is too low for a burner.


Terry wrote:

Barry Watzman wrote:

Thanks.

Terry

Terry <no@email.invalid> wrote in message news:<3cjdd0heum151qktuq6d18nd9qenpuiclu@4ax.com>. ..
I must respectfully disagree!

Sony makes an external DVD burner which requires no external power.
However it is NOT USB! It is firewire (aka IEEE1394, aka iLink). I'm
not sure if it will work on standard firewire ports, though. It has
the mini plus (4-pin), but it also has an extra power plug which may
not be on every computer. It may very well be possible that it only
works on Sony computers; I'm just not sure.

If your older laptop is a Sony, I'd say you're all set. Except for the
price, that is (~$400-600)!!!

-G

G Tom wrote:

It's a Dell, not a Sony. It does have firewire, but sounds like
the extra plug will be a show-stopper. I'll look into it though, to be
sure. Do you happen to know a model number or anything?

The price is pretty outrageous. At that price, it might make more
sense to get a new laptop, with a burner built-in.

Thanks,

Terry

Sorry, but an "extra power plug" (which just happens to be Sony
proprietary) kind of violates the rules of the original inquiry.

My point was that a DVD burner can't run from the power available from a
USB port, which is true. I believe that this also applies to the power
available from a firewire port.


G Tom wrote:

Have you seen the slim DVD burner made by Sony ?

I believe it's what you're looking for.


"Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
news:40D79D6C.5040902@neo.rr.com...

EXP has a DVD burner that runs on PC power from the PCMCIA port.
I have the CDRW/DVD combo drive, works great, BUT, buy the complete
unit, not just the box, they use a "low power" drive, in my case a
Samsung. Toshiba drives won't work unless you plug in a power supply

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 18:05:45 -0400, "a" <naita9@hotmail.com.nospam>
wrote:

Bruce Markowitz wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion. I found this at
http://www.expnet.com/product.nsf/p/DVR-220P. It's 2x DVD-R, 1X
DVD-RW, $400. So it's pretty expensive, particulary for the speed.
Also, it's -RW, which isn't crucial, but my desktop has a +RW drive,
and I've got a bunch of +RW media already.

They also make a USB2 version of this drive, also $400.

But, while searching for this, I found the EZQuest Boa Slim DVD RW,
which is small (slim profile, under 1 lb), can run from USB or
firewire and can be powered from firewire, DVD-RW+RW, it's 4x speed
(which means 2.4X to RW media). Price is shown as $360. Sold by
various online retailers. PCMall seems to list it for $300.

Though still expensive, this is getting closer.

Does anyone have any experience with this? How about on Win2K, using
firewire?

Thanks,

Terry

a wrote:

No I haven't. Have you got a link?

Searching the web, all I found were the Sony drives that G Tom
mentioned in a previous post. They require a Sony laptop (which has
the special connector for the power cable) or AC power to run.

Terry

Can you provide a link? Otherwise I think we are talking about the
same drive which will not work with the OP's laptop.

-G

"a" <naita9@hotmail.com.nospam> wrote in message news:<Zk1Dc.9830$vO1.82450@nnrp1.uunet.ca>...