x40 External DVD/CD-RW Drive

[filmnmusic192]

I've been looking around on ebay for an external optical drive for my x40.

So far I've come up with the following:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0271842667

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0260007790

As you can see, I am looking for something cheap, yet effective. USB powered is my only requirement.

I noticed that in the first auction, it only mentions a USB Data cable?

Do I need one with a USB Power and USB data cable to work? Or will 1 cable be sufficient?

Any input or help is greatly appreciated

[aceo07]

I don't think it's possible to have an external optical drive powered only by usb. All external optical drives use an ac adapter.

The one powered by an 'usb' port is the external optical drive for the Mac Air laptop. However, they cheated by changing the usb port to output more than the usb standard 5V.

[kunfuchopsticks]

You will either have to use the USB power port or an sperate ACDC adapter power source.

[filmnmusic192]

Do only certain drives support the usb power port?

[mikeh]

I don't think it's possible to have an external optical drive powered only by usb.

Sorry, but I have an IBM USB CD-ROM that came with the X40, and just runs off the standard 0.5A USB port.

[teetee]

There are two USB optical drives that requires only one USB cable for both power and data that I know of(I am sure there are more):

1. Teac CD-210pu CD-ROM:
FRU: 00N8244, P/N: 00N8239, Teac CD-210PU
ebay currently has several auction listings for it under IBM and Dell brand.

2. CD-RW/DVD combo P/N: 73P4516 FRU: 73P4520 (Jan. 2005)

[vikpr]

You can find a self-powered external case for slim line drives for around 10 EUR on eBay, and I guess you can put any laptop CD/DVD drive in it. Some cases come with USB data cable and PS/2 cable for extra power, and some come with two USB cables.
A case with the normal DVD-RW drive will cost you around 60 EUR.

I've recently bought such case with Panasonic DVD-RW in it, like this one: http://cgi.ebay.de/Neu-Panasonic-DVD-Su ... dZViewItem

The drive I've got perfectly reads and writes DVDs on my x40 using only the power port, i.e., without the second cable. On my home "desktop replacement" A6KT single cable didn't provide enough power even for reading. Really, I love my x40