Adding DVD

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Giannoni
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Steve Giannoni

Pentium IV running XP home. Is there any way to add an external drive
for DVD capability, etc.? (Microsoft Flight Simulator needs a DVD
drive.)
 
Pentium IV running XP home. Is there any way to add an external drive
for DVD capability, etc.? (Microsoft Flight Simulator needs a DVD
drive.)
Click to expand...

That depends. Does your computer have an available USB2 port? Do you have
$40 or thereabouts to buy one of the ubiquitous drives? (try googling for
'external dvd drive') Are you up to plugging the drive in and possibly
installing a driver? If you can answer yes to all three of these then it
should certainly be possible.

You should know that you will never get top performance from an external.
For most applications I'd suggest that someone with a computer which will
support one install an internal drive which is both cheaper and
better-performing but loads of people who own skinny laptops and netbooks
are getting along with external drives for lightweight applications (no
fast burning of huge data files and the like) so gameplaying will probably
work just fine.
 
How would I know if the free USB port is USB2 ?

That depends. Does your computer have an available USB2 port? Do you have
$40 or thereabouts to buy one of the ubiquitous drives? (try googling for
'external dvd drive') Are you up to plugging the drive in and possibly
installing a driver? If you can answer yes to all three of these then it
should certainly be possible.

You should know that you will never get top performance from an external.
For most applications I'd suggest that someone with a computer which will
support one install an internal drive which is both cheaper and
better-performing but loads of people who own skinny laptops and netbooks
are getting along with external drives for lightweight applications (no
fast burning of huge data files and the like) so gameplaying will probably
work just fine.
Click to expand...
 
How would I know if the free USB port is USB2 ?
Click to expand...

Go to the Control Panel, Click on the System folder, hardware tab then
Device Manager, and scroll down to look for Universal Serial Bus Contollers.
Expand that selection and look for "Enhanced Host Controller" or USB2
Enhanced Host Controller. If you see it you got it. If you don't see the
word "Enhanced" anywhere you don't have USB 2 on that computer.
 
I've got :

Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller - 2442
Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller - 2444
Iomega USB Bus Powered Zip 250
NEC PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller (B1)
NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller
NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub

11 items and only one says "Enhanced"

Comments ? ...
 
I've got :

Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller - 2442
Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller - 2444
Iomega USB Bus Powered Zip 250
NEC PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller (B1)
NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller
NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub

11 items and only one says "Enhanced"

Comments ? ...
Click to expand...



You are all set

one of these in the $30+ range should do the job

http://www.newegg.com/store/SubCate...Tpk=external dvd drive|dvd drive|external dvd
 
Steve said:
Pentium IV running XP home. Is there any way to add an external drive
for DVD capability, etc.? (Microsoft Flight Simulator needs a DVD drive.)
Click to expand...

If your mobo doesn't have USB 2.0 hardware, get a PCI USB 2.0 card
based on either an NEC or VIA brand chip.

Do you have room for an internal DVD drive? PATA (parallel) IDE DVD
drives are harder to find but still available. Newegg sells them for <
$30, delivered:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...05&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

If your mobo doesn't have SATA ports, you probably want a PATA DVD
drive because PCI SATA controller cards don't support optical drives
very well at all. Oddly, USB DVD drives seem to work better in this
case.
 
Steve said:
I've got :

Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller - 2442
Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller - 2444
Iomega USB Bus Powered Zip 250
NEC PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller (B1)
NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller
NEC PCI to USB Open Host Controller
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub

11 items and only one says "Enhanced"

Comments ? ...
Click to expand...

I would agree with Philo. You're good to go.

I would add a small caveat though. Your motherboard is possibly a
"crossover" board. USB2 existed at that time, but it was not
available immediately from Intel. Your Southbridge chip is
ICH2, and USB2 was introduced with ICH4 Southbridge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I/O_Controller_Hub

To help out, some motherboard manufacturers added the NEC USB2 chip.
This is similar to the situation today, where NEC did the USB3 host,
before it was available on chipsets. Back in the day, a NEC USB2
chip was one of the first to host USB2 ports. A motherboard manufacturer,
wishing to add USB2 to the feature list, would include a NEC
chip on the motherboard, to take up the slack from the missing
feature on the Intel chipset.

When you look at the USB ports on the computer, some will
be connected to the NEC chip, and some will be connected
to the Intel ICH2. For best performance, you'll want to
use the NEC connector. This may be addressed in the documentation
for the computer. (They wouldn't think of actually labeling them.
For today's USB3, the connector color is used as a hint. But back
then, nada.)

A USB 1.1 connection will manage about 1 MB/sec transfer rate.
An external USB2 enclosure on a USB2 connection will manage slightly
better than 30MB/sec (versus the 60MB/sec promised by the bit
rate on the cable, which is never achieved in practice).

It's possible to use a program like UVCView, to evaluate what kind
of connection was negotiated. But it's a pain to find a copy of UVCView,
and a nuisance to describe how to interpret the config data in the right
hand pane. The Device Manager, as far as I know, doesn't show the
present connection speed. But you may get a dialog box presented by
the OS at some point, telling you that additional performance could
be achieved if you connect to a USB2 port. You may have to rely on that,
to distinguish one port from another.

I seem to remember one Asus board, may have mixed a NEC connector
and an Intel connector on the same "stack" on the back of the computer.
So you can't even rely on the stack arrangement, to pair together
"like" things.

Paul
 
Just a bit lazy and lacking in technical expertise. Would the internal
DVD read and write as good as the native drive? The external drive is
shipping so I'm kind of committed at this point. Thanks for comment in
any case ...
 
Steve said:
Just a bit lazy and lacking in technical expertise. Would the internal
DVD read and write as good as the native drive? The external drive is
shipping so I'm kind of committed at this point. Thanks for comment in
any case ...
Click to expand...

The external will suit your stated purpose, of being able to mount
a DVD and read it while FSX is running.

It will be other situations, where there will be a difference between
owning an external USB optical drive, and having an internal IDE
or SATA optical drive. Booting is one situation. Installing certain
picky server OSes is another situation. You should still be able to
burn optical disks equally well, using either solution. So booting
the computer from an optical disk - that may differ, depending on
the vintage of the motherboard used. And your motherboard, based
on the Device Manager information, might be a year too old, to have
good USB boot support.

This is an example of when they started adding more USB support to the BIOS.

http://liveusb.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/ami-usbmassstoragedevice-gimp.png?w=510&amp;h=567

Just for fun, post a URL of the thing you decided to buy.

Paul
 
Steve said:
SAMSUNG USB 2.0 External CD/DVD Drive Model SE-S084F/RSBS
Click to expand...

It's hard to say, what you'd find inside, if you disassemble that.

http://images.highspeedbackbone.net/itemdetails/S203-8538/S203-8538-call06-ge.jpg

Normally, there would be a USB to SATA or IDE chip, to perform the
adaptation from one interface standard to another. So there may be
a tiny adapter board, strapped to the drive mechanism inside.

http://www.datoptic.com/media/catal...19eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/f/i/file_14_4.jpg

If that were the case, you could remove the tiny adapter board, and
then search for cabling suitable to connect it inside a computer.

They make adapter boards, for converting IDE slim drives for
usage with SATA internal connectors.

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_5414.html

I've never taken any slim drives apart, so have no experience with
that stuff. But I would expect there are solutions out there, for
using a slim inside a PC. The mechanical mounting details would
likely be the worst part of it.

The slim drive will using the expanding or "compression fit" hub
for mounting the media. You have to support the tray from underneath,
while putting the media in place, and then closing the tray.

Paul
 
Pentium IV running XP home. Is there any way to add an external drive
for DVD capability, etc.? (Microsoft Flight Simulator needs a DVD
drive.)
Click to expand...

We really need to know more about your computer (as in make/model).

(please reply back to the newsgroup alt.comp.hardware, not me
personally. I sent you this email as a courtesy)

You can buy an external USB drive, but even at USB2 (which is what I'm
guessing by the P4 vintage), that's extremely S*L*O*W. The new USB 3
spec is excellent on speed and performance, but both the drive and your
pooter have to have USB 3. That's highly unlikely.

The only reason to own a USB2 DVD drive of any variety is if your pooter
is a netbook or ultra-lite laptop that doesn't have an optical drive.
I'll admit that a geek like me will have one as a backup if I have to
deal with a failed optical drive, but that's just being prepared. (and I
do, it works, and it's painfully slow)

Just as info, my external DVD burner is an IOMEGA that's now a
discontinued model, and i paid $60 USD for it.

You'd be best off with an internal DVD drive that's connected by a
much-faster "buss" such as IDE or SATA.

the IDE/EIDE/ATAPI interface/buss is probably what your pooter uses, it
kinda ties in with the P4 CPU vintage.
But since "we" don't know, please look at :
http://www.computer-hardware-explained.com/sata-vs-ide.html
I hope you have SATA, the choices are wider. IDE is being phased out.


(and as well, you can replace your existing CD drive with a full DVD
burner, they are fully backwards-compatible. Your P4 and XP Home can
handle that with no problem. A "burner" is still a reader. The only time
a 'burner' is not a reader is for specialty drives used only in disc
duplicators, and even that's obsolete now )

Look at the front panel of your pooter, including your CD drive.

Do you have some "blank bezels" that are about 2" high by about 6' wide,
or if 'not blank', is that the face size of your CD drive?

If so, your options are wide. That's a "standard 5.25 inch bay".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_bay
You can buy a decent one at any good independent pooter shop for $20-50
USD, and they may even install it for free.

See this from NewEgg (a reputable online pooterparts vendor)
(NOTE, IDE/EIDE/ATAPI)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
(http://preview.tinyurl.com/neweggATAPIDVD)
(NOTE, SATA)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
(http://preview.tinyurl.com/neweggSATADVD)

If you don't have blank bays and your existing optical drive is barely a
tiny drawer, it's a "slim drive" adapted from laptops.
If your buss is IDE, slim pickings now.
The only option is to do Google or Bing search on
"slim atapi dvd burner"

Newegg only has SATA in slim DVD burners

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
(http://preview.tinyurl.com/newegg-slim-SATADVD)

--
"Shit this is it, all the pieces do fit.
We're like that crazy old man jumping
out of the alleyway with a baseball bat,
saying, "Remember me motherfucker?"
Jim “Dandy” Mangrum
 
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