Compatible Burner for Dell

[Compu Idiot]

I'm as fresh as they come to this, and not the brightest w/ hardware, but I have a Dell Dimension 4600C (currently w/ ROM only) and can not find a compatilbe burner/writer drive. I just bought a LiteOn and it does not work/fit (due to the plugs and sheer size). I would greatly appreciate any guidance or advice anyone could offer. Thx.

[ammck55]

Welcome to the Forum:

According to this Dell Dimension 4600C Review (http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/reviews/4912/1/), it's a slimline model and sacrifices upgrade ability, accordingly. The system's front door opens to reveal just one 5.25-inch and one 3.5-inch bay, with the latter reserved for an optional PC Card module instead of a floppy drive. And the low-profile case has room for just one half-height PCI card and an optional, half-height AGP alternative to the Intel 865G chipset's integrated graphics -- there's neither provision nor physical space (nor power, with a 160- instead of 250-watt power supply) for ample expansion.Here's another link that'll take you into Dell's support databse and show some simple drive upgrades (http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4600C/sm/sffdrvs.htm). No doubt you can install external burners/devices via USB or Firewire, but as far as internal drives, I'd suggest getting with the Dell people and see what advice they have to offer.

ammck55

[Compu Idiot]

Great! Thanks Ammck55; I've been searching the web for half the night trying to figure this delima out - including Dell.com. I'll probably take your advice on the external (w/ USB) as I'm not too happy with Dell due to this "no upgrage" model. Once I'm up an running, maybe I'll have a more exiting post. I appreciate the quick response.

[ammck55]

You're quite welcome. From the Review that my first link tunneled you into, I also found one that points to a page on Dell 4600C Upgrades (http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/reviews/4912/2/). This is a better link, it will show you a couple of decent .jpeg images instead of simple line art.Besides the half-height Nvidia card, another $70 option on our test system was a multimedia gadget that fills both the sole PCI slot and the front-accessible niche below the optical drive, providing a 56Kbps data/fax modem and one IEEE 1394 FireWire port at the rear and a second FireWire port plus two notebook-style (16-bit Type II) PC Card slots in front. Apparently, the single PCI slot that comes on this mobo is a cut-down version and will only accept a specific graphics card. If you didn't purchase this unit with the "upgraded" graphics card, it looks to me like you may be forced to do so in order to receive the benefit of additional USB and Firewire ports. They list it at $70, but a short googlewalk will find it for less, I'm sure.

These slimlines look cool and easy to work around even with them installed on your desktop, but you've certainly made some sacrifices for the saved space. It's no big deal, really, all of these rascals look good and work fine...until you start adding hardware. ;) Size it up, decide what you need to do, and jump on it. You'll be fine.

ammck55

[Edit] Take a look at the power supply spec's in the quote of my first post to this thread. With only a 160w power supply, I'd personally want an external drive with it's own power source; it might save you from tracking down strange problems generated by a lack of power.

[CWR03]

If you can't return the LiteOn you just bought, you can get a USB 2.0 enclosure for a standard CD/DVD drive that lets it work without it directly installed in the case. I've seen these enclosures for around $30 US.

[ammck55]

CWR03-Good point. I've housed standard internal IDE hard drives in external enclosures with good results, but have never tried a burner. Does this setup perform well without a fan? I'd be interested in hearing of your results with an internal CD/DVD unit housed externally.

ammck55

[ammck55]

CWR03-Good point. I've housed standard internal IDE hard drives in external enclosures with good results, but have never tried a burner. Does this setup perform well without a fan? I ask because the first two external writer housings I found didn't seem to have fans installed. I'd be interested in hearing of your results with an internal CD/DVD unit housed externally.

ammck55

[CWR03]

I've never used a standard DVD writer drive in a USB enclosure myself, but I have seen an external writer used, which performed no differently than an internal drive. It had no fan, and it got hot as hell when writing. I hadn't thought of the enclosures not having a fan and I'm sure it would be a good thing, but I doubt it's necessary. My internal writers even get very hot after a lot of reading and writing, but it doesn't seem to hurt them. Even so, it would probably be simple to add a small fan to an external enclosure. I moved an old hard drive to a USB enclosure with a 20mm fan, and it stays cool.

[ammck55]

I hadn't thought of the enclosures not having a fan and I'm sure it would be a good thing, but I doubt it's necessary. My internal writers even get very hot after a lot of reading and writing, but it doesn't seem to hurt them. With no hands on experience with a burner setup like this, myself, it seems that the only cooling advantage an internal unit would have over one housed externally, is one less layer of material encasing it, and whatever small amount of heat dissipation it would realize from the PC's cooling system. This internal heat dissipation can't amount to much, so the lack of an added fan probably isn't an issue with the enclosed writers.

My first enclosure was an experiment to see if I could archive home movies to disc, I had in mind to pop multiple hdrives in and out, but the enclosure I bought (sight unseen from the net) was constructed so cheesily that I gave up on the idea of disassembling it continually. The hardware and fan were mounted on the lower half of the casing, and once the drive was installed, you popped the top half on and inserted narrow plastic strips down grooves molded into the separate halves to lock the unit together. The enclosure wasn't well-designed and I made up my mind that when I finally got it together, it was never coming apart unless it "had" to. ;) The enclosed drive that I ended up with has performed well, and I still have an external drive that cost well less than half of a "factory" unit. I've seen enclosures since then that not only look better, but are easier to assemble and disassemble. Actually, sometimes having less storage space can be a good thing; it forces you to organize your archive consistently on the front end, instead of ending up with terabytes of unorganized files, rather than gigabytes. :)

I've strayed a bit off-topic on Compu's external writer issue, if indeed, that's the direction in which he heads, but there are some similarities in my hdrive escapade that may be of help.

Yes, I've pulled discs out of a tray that were so warm it was scary, but the hardware just seems to keep on doing its job! Thanks for the input!

ammck55

[BSpielbauer]

Compu Idiot:

You could just buy an external drive, which should not have any heat-related problems, since it was designed to reside outside of the PC from the start.

Here is the one I have used now for about a year, with no problems and rock solid burns again and again:

Click here for a respected Pioneer external drive (http://www.jr.com/JRSectionView.process?N=11677+401627+206118&Ne=100795#Connection)

-Bruce

[CWR03]

My first enclosure was an experiment to see if I could archive home movies to disc, I had in mind to pop multiple hdrives in and out, but the enclosure I bought (sight unseen from the net) was constructed so cheesily that I gave up on the idea of disassembling it continually.


Is it silver with a clear outer layer, the only label on top saying USB 2.0? Sounds eerily familiar.

[ammck55]

CW-You got it! :)

Compu-Let us know how you get along with setting up to burn with your Slimline. I only recall one other thread on enclosures here in Newbies, and I don't think the original poster supplied much information. Figure this out and come back and tell us about it! ;)

ammck55