Another new toy

Only this time it isn't a handheld.

My IDE DVD writer in my desktop died. I have several external USB type, but they just take up space and are slow. So I bought a dual CD/DVD bracket from Newegg that holds two slim units in a single 5.25" bay ($15 delivered).

I took the SATA drive out of the external drive case I had and put it in the bottom. And then bought a brand new DVD unit on eBay for only $17 and put it in the top.

The top unit is a slot load, which I like cause it is just cool. The bottom is your typical tray type slim unit.

Both are DVD-RW, +/-R compatible, and support dual layer discs as well. The one on the bottom with the tray also is Lightscribe compatible which I like since I use Lightscribe discs quite a bit.

My whole expense was about $40 total and got away from USB and am now totally SATA II compatible everywhere. My old BTX motherboard still has an IDE ribbon connector on it, but I don't have anything hooked up to now since I pulled my old IDE DVD writer from the unit.





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Nice idea, I'd not seen one before. Truth be told, I just don't use optical disc's any more though. When I built my current system in 2009, I ummed and arred about getting an optical drive for it and it became a toss between bd-rw or none. In the end, Blu-ray writers were silly money and I decided to get one when they became sensibly priced. I never did.

I can count on one hand the times that I've needed an optical drive for it since.

One less thing to obstruct air flow if nothing else. That said, I was thinking about getting one or two of http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/index.cfm and filling it up in the 5.25" drive bays. A massive small size SSD array in there, little to no heat. It would have some impressive throughput over it.

One or two what? Link doesn't show it...

Haven't seen a desktop unit for a long time. Looks like you have card readers built in too.

You have an HPC, you have to have a card reader...

My desktop is an old Gateway E4610S. Has a duo-core Intel processor...fast for its time. No so much by today's standards, but still does everything I need it to do just fine.

First machine I ever had with a BTX motherboard. To bad they never caught on...it really does run significantly cooler than my old ATX motherboards. At least it was the best of them with the 965 chipset.

Oh, head into 'Mobile Racks'

Good grief...I couldn't afford something like that even if I robbed a bank.

?? The M28SAB is only $150 USD with 8 2.5" drive slots. A 256GB SSD Crucial MX100 is ~$115 USD. You could sink $1k at it with 2TB of SSD or just get the block and 2 SSD's now and fill it as the prices come down.

I had to grovel for a week to get my wife to let me spend forty bucks...

You have a Gateway PC that still works? I haven't had good experience with anything with a Gateway label on it.

Gateway. Gee, I haven't seen them in years.

Bloat max (y)

They have some Gateway laptops here.

Mine has been bulletproof....and worked perfectly. Things I like about it:

Absolutely silent.
Desktop lid removes with flip of a latch
All components are mounted internally with simply latches and connectors requiring no screws.
All ports on motherboard have very easy access
Very cool running motherboard, even when under load

Things I don't like about it:

Seems to easily accumulate dust internally
Dual core Intel is the max CPU you can install