Thinkpads Forum

Has anyone tried one of these USB external slim drive cases off ebay?

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-EXTERNAL-CASE-F ... 4cee1fa5e0

I'd like to be able to use the slim drive from my T61 in the enclosure to have a DVD drive for my X41 tablet without buying an X4 dock.

I haven't tried one from that specific seller, but I bought something just like that off Ebay. Labeled IBM, but obviously not OEM. Works great though. Boots from USB too.

I just bought one of those enclosures, from that same vendor, but have not received it yet. I also wanted to have access to an optical drive , without having to take the ultrabase with me. I can update you with quality, function, etc. after I receive the enclosure, if you like.

I finally had time to check out the case. Over all quality was above average, in my opinion. Everything fit together well, even the two screw hole on the back very close to perfect alignment.

The case came in a bubble envelope with closed cell foam, as extra padding, inside the envelope. There was no apparent damage to the case from shipping in a bubble envelope.

On the DVD burner I used, I had to take off the plastic strip across the back of the drive. Other than that, I installed the interface pcb, set the drive in the bottom of the case, set the top on (it is offset to the rear), slide it forward into place and secured with the two screws provided with the case. When sliding the top forward, be sure to watch the alignment of the USB connector and the hole it sits in. It was not a problem on mine, but could cause problems if alignment is off.

The burner works great in the case. I have not tried booting off it yet, but have burned DVDs and CDs and played a movie on it, all with excellent results. I utilized the powered USB port on the X60, so I did not have to use the second cable. It is included so that if your powered port is in use, you can tap into two normal USB ports to get the power required to run the unit.

The only negative part of the whole deal, and it is very minor, is that the two screws that are included, are a little long.

Pictures here:

http://s367.photobucket.com/albums/oo11 ... VD%20Case/

mklym wrote:I finally had time to check out the case. Over all quality was above average, in my opinion. Everything fit together well, even the two screw hole on the back very close to perfect alignment.

The case came in a bubble envelope with closed cell foam, as extra padding, inside the envelope. There was no apparent damage to the case from shipping in a bubble envelope.

On the DVD burner I used, I had to take off the plastic strip across the back of the drive. Other than that, I installed the interface pcb, set the drive in the bottom of the case, set the top on (it is offset to the rear), slide it forward into place and secured with the two screws provided with the case. When sliding the top forward, be sure to watch the alignment of the USB connector and the hole it sits in. It was not a problem on mine, but could cause problems if alignment is off.

The burner works great in the case. I have not tried booting off it yet, but have burned DVDs and CDs and played a movie on it, all with excellent results. I utilized the powered USB port on the X60, so I did not have to use the second cable. It is included so that if your powered port is in use, you can tap into two normal USB ports to get the power required to run the unit.

The only negative part of the whole deal, and it is very minor, is that the two screws that are included, are a little long.

Pictures here:

http://s367.photobucket.com/albums/oo11 ... VD%20Case/

---Hi mklym,

I'm currently trying to install Windows 7 using a USB stick ( http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=95630) but I saw this thread and wanted to ask you some questions about the external DVD-ROM. How does it connect? I saw some slim drives at my local PC store, but was told they have double USB connectors and I know the Thinkpad has the weird USB on one side. How much did the case & drive cost you? I have seen some including the drive in eBay, which I might buy if I can't get the USB to work. But I want to know about connecting it to my X40.

thanks

The drive connects with a mini-USB connector at the drive and a regular USB connector at the computer. There is a separate cord for power. It has a male barrel connector, similar to a 1/8" audio connector, at the drive and a regular USB connector at the computer.

I can not remember what I paid for the enclosure on eBay, nor can I remember what I paid for the drive. I think they were about $10-15 each.

When I use the drive, I connect both line to the laptop, both the USB data and the USB power. The drive has worked fine.

Hope that helps.

I just bought and received one of these.
http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 0265021199

Cost with shipping, $18.99 US.

I am using my 2nd hard drive adapter from my T42 in it. Pretty much how mklym described it. Two USB cables, one for power and one for data. Has a green LED to show it is powered on. I was disappointed that I could not just insert or remove the 2nd hard drive adapter (or DVD multiburner) as I could in my T42 ThinkPad. You have to separate the case halves to remove or install a drive.

I am not using the 2 screws it came with. They would work with the optical drive, but there are no corresponding screw holes in the 2nd hard drive adapter. The case halves snap together and the 2 USB cables also help to keep the drive and PC card it plugs into inside the enclosure. At any rate, it does the job. I am able to access my T42 PATA drive from my new ThinkPad X220.

For 2.5" hard disks: SABRENT SBT-ESU25 Aluminum 2.5" USB 2.0 External Enclosure - $12.99 @ Newegg - The BIG point of this is it uses a regular USB plug on both ends... none of the mini usb crap. i use a similar one for SATA.

For 3.5" hard disks, i have used many different ones, they key feature seems to be less features is better. None of the one button backup enclosures... this provides the most machine compatibility that i've seen.

CD/DVD: Samsung SE-S084 $39.88 from Wal-Mart

And for floppy... IBM made a FRU P/N 05K9283, This on is actually listed in the Windows XP list of compatible floppies for SATA drivers during the F6 setup. Got mine for like $20 on eBay

Utilizes both USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces...

Silverstone (SST-RVS01-B, SST-RVS01B) SATA Hard Drive Enclosure with eSATA and USB 2.0 Interface - 2.5 inches, SCREWLESS Design, Plug and Play with Hot-Swappable Connection
http://www.sundialmicro.com/silverstone ... _1560.html

My Samsung external DVD writer (SE-S084) only has the one USB plug, the other end is permanently attached to the housing. The cheapo 2.5" case came with one of the dual plugs... never used it, doesn't seem to need it.

However, i have read one circumstance where it might be needed... as an external drive on a Wii, like when using USBLoaderGX... apparently without either 2 plugs or a case that uses an external supply there have been reports of it causing the Wii's to malfunction.

The last external i bought with both USB and eSATA was the Antec MX-1... wasn't happy with it's compatibility between different hardware... I've since stuck to cases that are one or the other (mostly USB)