[ltp] External drive enclosure (IDE to USB converter)

[Matt Graham]

On Saturday 10 January 2004 12:14, after a long battle with technology, 
Smith, Robert A wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> Subject: [ltp] External drive enclosure (IDE to USB converter)
>
> I just got a hold of a Rainbow Storage brand "3.5/5.25 External Drive
> Enclosure." This is a case for installing desktop IDE devices, such
> as a CDR drive or a hard drive into, and it contains a power supply
> and USB output.
>
> What I'd like to do is put the CDR drive from my desktop computer
> into in, and use this with the USB port of my 770z TP. It's 1.1 USB, 
> I believe.
>
> Has anyone had any experience with using one of these enclosures with
> the USB port on a Linux Thinkpad? Success stories? What's the entry in
> /etc/fstab for a USB CDR drive?

The enclosure *should* work properly, but you'll be stuck at the slow 
speed of USB 1.  Maximum write speed will be 4x.  It's also possible 
but unlikely that the enclosure's firmware won't recognize the CD-RW, 
since IDE CD-RWs speak ATAPI and IDE hard disks don't.  Make sure that 
the usb-storage, usb-uhci (or usb-ohci), sg, and sr_mod modules are 
loaded before you try writing to the drive.

The device will appear as a SCSI CD-ROM (/dev/scd0, probably) and a SCSI 
generic interface (/dev/sg0, probably).  Mount the scd0 device, use 
cdrecord and/or cdrdao to write to the /dev/sg0 device.

> I haven't used the exact setup that you propose, but I have used an
> external CDRW drive that was marketed as a Polaroid drive. According
> to Linux, it's a CDWRITER IDE2410, which I am assuming is the drive
> itself.

I plugged a Plextor USB CD-RW drive into my A22p and everything worked 
fine--limited to 4x though since the A22p only supports USB 1.  Most of 
the things sold as USB CD-RWs seem to follow the Mass Storage standards 
so they just work.  I think the only potential hassle the OP will have 
is if the enclosure doesn't play well with the CD-RW he puts in it... 
which shouldn't happen, but you never know.  HTH,

-- 
   Just drink it whenever. Booze is booze, after all, and even when it
   tastes as bad as vodka, it'll still like being in your stomach.
      --dr. thrustgood on kuro5hin.org, 05/09/2003
There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see