I'm looking to purchase an external burner what are some good recommendations for me(preferably black to match w/ computer). Also, can a internal burner be used as an external one? Thanks for any help!
Check newegg.com or tigerdirect.com for different models, as it's more of a matter of opinion than anything as to which brands are better. (though I personally would recommend NEC). Yes. In fact this would be a better route since most internal burners are MUCH fater. check the same sites for enclosures but keep this in mind- It will have to have it's own power supply because USB won't cut it. Check this out: http://www.xpcgear.com/525enclosure.html
Yes you will need an enclosure for a hdd. aalore, Newegg is a good place to look but here's a good deal. http://www.meritline.com/usb2-external-benq-dq60-16x-burner.html I really like my benq.
Retail externals are usually just an internal model in a case. Also check out Dealsonic.com and Supergooddeal.com for external enclosures... FYI, even though it is not recommended to burn at 16X, I feel that I must tell you that it is highly likely that you won't be able to achieve 16X burns with an external burner without careful research on your drive and the enclosure's chipset.... I have three external burners (see profile), and would be more than willing to point you in the right direction... EDIT: Sometimes you can catch a deal at NewEgg on a retail external that rivals the cost of buying an internal and a case.... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101001 BenQ 1620 external $75 + $4 shipping Specials and prices change daily...
are external enclosures harder to hook up to the computer? and do all external enclosures need additional power supply. I had browsed some on ebay and they didn't mention if they did.
You just plug your external into your USB port and your comp will find it. Usually externals have an AC power supply i.e. there own, no comp power involved for them.
Yes just about all external hard drives have to have powrsupplies - except some portable ones using laptop hdd's and even some of those require them in addition to drawing off the usb jack ! My question is when adding a external HDD can I just install the drive into the enclosure power up and format & or partiton the drive in the enclosure or should I connect it up interenally first to do that! I'm running windows XP with SP-2 as far as I know , Thanks guys & girls - COWBOY UP!
Don't take this a gospel, cause I could be wrong, am many times, lol. But you should be able to just plug it in and then go to My Computer right click and then choose Manage. Then Disk Management and be able to format from there, or partition.
That should be right arniebear. No need to istall it internally 1st. Once it is recognized by windows it should perform just like an internal device and should show up as another drive in my computer once you have formated and assigned a drive letter.
Go out and buy the Sony 810UL external burner it is a BenQ164 rebadge and can be crossflashed to BenQ firmware, I know because I have one and its the best external burner I have ever owned.
