icyorange Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Hi, If I were to buy a USB enclosure such as this, would I be able to put my NEC-1300 DVD-R that I currently use in my PC into this, then connect it to an iBook with the USB cable - would the iBook detect it? Cheers, Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 Yes, it would. :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruciz Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 wouldn't there be a cheaper way to get this to work than shelling out ?50 for a device like that? all it does is get power from USB2 plug and convert from IDE to USB right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 If he already has the drive, then getting an external enclosure like that would be the easiest way to hook it up to his iBook. Although, I would recommend Firewire instead of USB, if his is one of the iBooks that has Firewire ports. FWIW, I have seen enclosures like that MUCH cheaper on eBay, maybe about 1/2 that price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icyorange Posted January 25, 2004 Author Share Posted January 25, 2004 Thanks for your replies. I'm going for one of the new iBook G4's - at last, I think i've decided which Mac to go for, leaves money for an iPod! - it has a Firewire 400 port, so if I see a firewire enclosure i'll get it... I'm not going to use it much anyway, only for the occasional burn, so USB should be fine. Yeah, i'm looking on eBay now. Are you sure my drive will work just like that with OS X? Don't need any new drivers/firmware? Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icyorange Posted January 25, 2004 Author Share Posted January 25, 2004 The cheapest I can see is ?46.50 inc delivery: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...&category=14928 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 The drive will be fine. You could stick it in a Powermac and it would work. Just make sure the external enclosure is supported by OS X. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 BTW, make sure it's not powered by USB. I don't believe a Mac sends a large power signal to USB ports on the laptops. I remember trying to hook up an external enclosure with an HD in it to my PowerBook by USB. Wouldn't work on my PB, but would work on my G5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 My PowerBook seems to power a 2.5" hard drive in a USB enclosure pretty well (even off of only one port), but I don't think it would work well without an external power source on a 3.5" hard drive or a CD or DVD drive because those require 12V & 5V and USB only provides 5V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Patriot Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 The cheapest I can see is ?46.50 inc delivery: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...&category=14928 On the US eBay site I found this one for about $25, but unfortunately, they only ship to Canada or the US. I'm sure there should be some cheaper ones around though. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...6&category=3757 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilsbury Posted January 25, 2004 Share Posted January 25, 2004 While that drive is HiSpeed (480Mbps) USB, your iBook only has 12Mbps USB (unless it's a G4)... Which will be useless for burning DVDs... Get a Firewire housing - it's faster than 480Mbps USB in data transfers (even if the rated speed indicates otherwise) and will work with a wider range of Macs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icyorange Posted January 25, 2004 Author Share Posted January 25, 2004 While that drive is HiSpeed (480Mbps) USB, your iBook only has 12Mbps USB (unless it's a G4)... Which will be useless for burning DVDs...Get a Firewire housing - it's faster than 480Mbps USB in data transfers (even if the rated speed indicates otherwise) and will work with a wider range of Macs It's an iBook G4 i'm getting, looks like i'd best go for a Firewire one then... i've found them for about ?35 so that should be fine.:)) Cheers, Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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