DVD Burners-External or Internal

[Me So Horny]

I'm looking to upgrade my computer(Dell Dimension 2350) from a basic CD burner to a DVD burner. External seems a lot easier than installing internal drives but they(external) seem a bit more expensive. And, I'm a little intimidated by replacing my CD-RW drive with the DVD-RW drive, yet I've seen the IT guys at work simply pull the old one out and stick in the new one. Any advice?

 

[idigTexas]

Internal.

Pull the old one out, and put the new one in. It really is that simple.

If your case has the room, I'd consider adding the new drive instead of replacing the original. This will allow you to copy CDs from one drive to the other (your DVD burner will also burn CDs).

The gotchas include the cable orientation and the jumper. Make sure that he red stripe on the ribbon cable maches up with pin 1 on the drive. Pin one will be labeled on the top or underside. If you are lucky, your cable connector will have a pin block, which will allow your cable to only be inserted one way.

Set the jumper for "master" or "slave," depending on your systems drive configuration. If it were me, I'd have my hard drive on the primary IDE channel by itself, set the new DVD burner as the secondary IDE master, and set the old CD burner as the secondary IDE slave. If you have more devices than this (doubtful), you may have to do something slightly different.

Avoid using the "cs" or "cable select" settings for the jumpers. They only work about half the time. I only resort to using them if I am installing mismatched hard drives, and a master/slave configuration isn't working.

Do not be afraid to open up your case and look around. This is easily a task that anyone can complete successfully.

 

[TexasOwnzYou]

CS really works on Compaqs.

I'll say internal also. If you wait for a MIR deal, you could pick one up for ~$80 now.

 

[Ags_EE]

Depends on how desperate your computer power situation is. If you're not starving for more power, internal. If you are, external. DVD burners have problems when your power supply can't keep up with the load. Externals at least have another power supply.

 

[WB_Rowdy_Yeats]

$80? Here's one: The Link Lite On Internal 8X+/4X- Dual Mode Burner

 

[hornbanger]

cant you rig your own external simply by purchasing the dvd burning drive and hooking it into a 5.25 external case? this is much cheaper then buying an external.