Well, lpress, alhough dhc014 does recomend an excellent out of box solution, I'd like to put forward my own pet project.
A company called Bestsonic markets quite a few external drive enclousures, many for 5 1/4" drives.
This isn't so unusual, and most of 'em aren't that much different (or better) than that Sony provided with there external drives (both USB 2.0 and Firewire), along with quite a few that have ONLY USB 2.0
or Firewire.
They all have (for me) one fatal flaw ...
a bulky, cumberson, subject to damage EXTERNAL POWER "BRICK"!
To my eye, that takes away all the convience and much of the portability I craved.
Then I found this gem.
A sturdy all-aluminum external case with a built-in 50W power supply!
It even comes with high quality cables for both USB and Firewire, and the Firewire ports have both In and Out so you could daisy-chain several devices if you want.
I find the case both light and sturdy, and good looking to boot.
It looks like it belongs on top of the new Shuttle X-PC I just built for my wife.
You can find 'em here for $110, and fit and IDE drive in it, even in a couple of years - when DVD+RW drives hit 48X.
http://www.bestsonic.com/5usb20andfio.html
I chose to fill the case with Sony's DRU-510A, but right now I might pick Plextor's new drive, which SEEMS to improve everything except buffer size over the Sony.
But this way, YOU just pick the DVD drive that's right for you today, and change out the drive tomorow.
Good Luck[/b]
by lpress on Tue Aug 26, 2003 1:52 pm 