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

[James Knott]

Matt Graham wrote:
> 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,
> 

A friend of mine recently purchased a CD_RW drive & external box 
package.  Though the manufacturer recommends USB 2, they state right on 
the box it will work with USB 1 at reduced speed.  With this method, you 
know it will work.