External CD Writer

[fobotcso]

I've just about convinced myself that I need an up-to-the-minute CD writer for backup for my notebook. Would appreciate any thoughts on design features to look for and makes/models strong points.

Particularly interested in the connection. Notebook has USB and I could use either Win ME or Win 2000 so it should work OK. Otherwise, I suppose it will have to be Serial. Also, how are these things powered? I suppose there is power in the Serial port but not in the USB. (I'm an ignoramus about USB (and many other things!))

Thanks in advance.

[R O Tiree]

Yes, the normal serial port does have 2 power pins, but not much power. Enough to power the very small number of chips, laser diodes and receivers in a mouse. Certainly not enough to power a CD drive. USB stands for "Universal Serial Bus" (sorry if it's granny suck eggs time). Serial data goes down the wire 1 bit at a time, hence the name. Parallel data (to your printer or scanner, for example) goes 8 or more bits at a time, hence is 8 or more times faster. The drives in your computer also communicate with the processor, etc using parallel architecture. USB is fast, but nowhere near as fast as IDE or SCSI (used to talk to your drives).

I see your options as follows:

1) external drive - slow because of serial nature of data. Also, you will have to lug around yet another power supply with you to power it.

2) replace your existing CD-ROM drive with an internal CD-R (or CD-RW - more later). This is likely to be V expensive, as are all notebook goodies as micro-miniaturisation costs oodles of dosh.

3) assuming you have a desktop PC, use laplink (see another recent thread on this forum at http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/Forum35/HTML/000530.html ) to transfer your data onto your PC and from there to a CD-R or CD-RW. For this you need to buy a drive for your computer (much cheaper than for a notebook) and a bit of 'lectric string to hook the 2 computers together (again, see the thread mentioned above). The downside of this method is, it is a 2 stage process, therefore slow.

Now, as to the benefits of CD-R and CD-RW...
http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/Forum35/HTML/000487.html

There you will see the relative merits of CD-R and CD-RW discussed. The bottom line is, use 1 or 2 CD-Rs to back up your system and CD-RW to back up your data.

[fobotcso]

That's a real help, thanks R o T. I'm embarrassed that I hadn't found the links to the earlier threads myself; I was on holiday when those discussions took place and failed to spot their relevance.

I want the BU for mobility so will persevere with that for a while. Looking at an external SCSI-2 HP model which, with a SCSI card, is pennies many! And there is still the problem of power. Needs more thought and an internal IDE drive may be best in the end.

Recent holiday meant taking power supplies for Notebook, 'phone recharger, camera battery recharger & wireless. Maximum needed at one time was two. But you have to use the specific charger for each piece of kit otherwise the guarantees go out of the window. The price of geekdom!

[R O Tiree]

Yup!! :)

[Tinstaafl]

There is a range of laptop external drives available in a small & thin form factor. Interfaces include serial (v. slow), parellel (faster), USB (much quicker) & PC Card (I think it might be quicker than USB but not sure. The older PCMCIA standard is a 16 bit an ISA bus whereas the newer PC Card standard is a 32 bit PCI bus interface with resultant speed differences).

If you choose the USB interface you will be limited to a maximum of 6 Mb/sec for the transfer speed no matter how fast the drive could spin.

The devices have their own battery or external power - possibly even powered by the interface if it is the 16/32 bit PCMCIA/PC Card or the USB.

Trying to find a magazine in which I've seen the ads. If I can't you'll find the ads in any edition of 'Computer Shopper' magazine or similar.

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<later>

Found it in the Dec 2000 'Computer Shopper'

Amacom baby CD, DVD or CD-RW drives. Prices from 109 UKP inc VAT for the CD-ROM model. Powered by the the USB or PCMCIA interface (mains adapter for the CD-RW). Standard interface is PCMCIA with USB or parallel available as extras.

This from the www.jungle.com (http://www.jungle.com) ad.

There is also a range by Freecom Technologies with an internal battery. Price about 265 quid for the CD-RW with either USB or PCMCIA interface. This from www.dabs.com (http://www.dabs.com)

[R O Tiree]

Tinstafl - I stand corrected on some of those issues. Thanks.

fobotsco - I don't know how many CD-Rs or CD-RWs you will be able to write using a battery powered drive. Not that many, I should think. That would be my first question to the salesperson you talk to. Even if you were able to use re-chargeable batteries or the battery pack inside was a re-chargeable unit, that still means carrying another power supply around with you when on tour. Best bite that bullet, then.....

[This message has been edited by R O Tiree (edited 12 November 2000).]

[fobotcso]

Thanks All. I'm going to review the whole question again and include an external hard drive in my thinking. There are some to be considered as well as some inexpensive CD-RW drives.

I keep coming back to the power supply question and the data transfer rate. More later...

[This message has been edited by fobotcso (edited 14 November 2000).]

[jjj]

Have a look at the following link. It is the most extensive discussion on CD-RW I have found and was invaluable for me when I bought a CD-RW.
http://www.fadden.com/cdrfaq/

[fobotcso]

Final Report,

For me the aim was to backup data for use with two separate hard disks that I use in my notebook to experiment with different operating systems and I'm always trashing them thereby losing any data (mostly emails and drafts) which I have to copy over to the desktop PC first. While dithering over which of about four CD Writers to choose, I read a couple of good reviews of the LaCie pocket sized hard disk (PocketDrive).
http://www.lacie.com/scripts/mobility/mobility.cfm

So I dug deep into the penny store and have ordered the 20GB version. It's USB powered so no dependence on mains and when Firewire is more widespread it will have a fantastic trasfer speed.

I told my optometrist about this project and he was interested. And did he need to be! He is peripatetic between four Shop Branches and uses a notebook full of patient data and designs for leaflets which are too big to back up to floppies. Had never done a backup of any sort in six months. We got him a Freecom Portable (not the Traveller with expensive miniaturisation and choice of power supplies/interfaces). He was happy with the parallel cable and mains power supply. Total cost £211 odd including VAT and P&P with next day delivery from Action. He can move this from PC to notebook and can make CDs which will run on PCs at all the Branches he visits. It does CD-R and CD-RW of course. Seems a trifle slow through the parallel port but, hey, it works and it sure beats the hell out of losing all that data. Thanks for all your inputs. Mr F.