CD-rw for an old Dell Latitude??

I have an old Dell Latitude. I would like to be able to move information between it and my desktop PC - but NOT via floppy disks.

It seems that I am not able to get a USB socket on it (old bios).

My next idea is to swap the existing TORISAN CD-ROM (CDR-N16) for a CD (re)writer.

Assuming that this is possible, could anyone tell me what model number I should be looking for???

(I tried phoning the Dell sales prevention desk and decided I would get more sense talking to the cat!)

TIA

Roger

 

Welcome to notebook review,

What is the model of your Dell Latitude?

There are different types of optical drives available for your system, chances are you can upgrade it. Let us know what model you have so we can tell you what you can upgrade to

K-TRON

 

Thanks for the reply -- its' a Dell Latitude LM - model No: TS30GI - does that answer the question??

Regards,

Roger

 

I honestly cannot find much of any information on your system.

Can you remove the optical drive you currently have?
Can you take a picture of the drive, and an image of the connector?

Do you know the model of the current optical drive?
From there we should be able to find some information on the optical drive interface.

Surely it is upgradeable, but we need to get the specifics down, so that we can recommend a drive which will work with your laptop

K-TRON

 

The drive just slides out ok -- here are a couple of pics -- the connection is just the standard drive bay connection -- I hope the pic is clear enough?? (And I hope they attached OK!)

Roger

 

That unit looks very thick. However, it might be a standard 12.7mm thick slim burner in a thick caddy. Can you strip it down?

Something else to check is which IDE channel it uses. You can see that in Device Manager. If it is the second device on the same channel as the HDD then replacement will be more complicated than if it has its own IDE channel.

There are some more tips in this thread.

John

 

From the image provided it does not run a straight ATAPI Interface.
It looks like its an optical drive in a large enclosure, which has a different connector which plugs into the laptop.

It looks like there are a few screws holding the optical drive together.
You should remove them, and carefully separate the shell. There should be a more normal looking optical drive inside of it.
I have personally never seen an optical drive that thick, so it must have something thinner inside.
If you can, post some images of the inside.

What operating system does your Latitude have?
windows 98?

K-TRON

 

In answer to the questions --
yes -- windows 98
yes -- it uses it's own IDE channel.

I stripped the drive down and the attached pics are the result .... any ideas???

Roger

 

That's definitely from an era before these drives were standardised.

I saw some of those Torisan drives listed on ebay.

John

 

Off the subject but what kind of camera are you using,those are some very clear pictures,thanks.

 

Nikon Coolpix L2

Roger

 

So guys ..... are you stumped???? Is that ATAPI connection common???? Is it possible to shoehorn ANY CD-writer into that "caddy"???

And thoughts????

Roger

 

It probably is the same interface ATAPI, but it is a very different connection.
It could run direct to the parallel interface. (54 pins though)
I am completely stumped. I have never seen anything like it.

K-TRON

 

Thanks for the input anyway.

Roger

 

Wait a minute,
I have an idea
I was looking at my Latitude C640 last night,
it just so happens that those series of Latitude's use the same interface as your drive.
You can probably get it in there with a little modification.

You may want to try ebay'ing one in your area
Part number 5044D-A02


There must be a model which burns cd's
I know my brothers inspiron 8200 used the same optical drive bay system as the C640, and it had a CD burner in it. Let me ask him for the part number on that drive

K-TRON

 

Roger,
I think I found an answer for you

I just found a Toshiba CD-ROM
XM-1202B

It runs the same interface as yours
However on the inside, it goes to an ordinary mini IDE cable
So in essence you can get a mini IDE to desktop IDE cable, and a 12V power source and you can run any desktop optical drive external to the system which you like.

I havent taken it apart yet, but I will snap some images for you.
If it helps I can somehow find a way to ship it to France for you

K-TRON

 

Come to think of it, the C640 optical drive connector isnt as long as yours.
This Toshiba drive I found looks exactly like yours, but has different interior connectors.
I think you can easily connect another optical drive or even a desktop drive externally through the connector/adaptor inside this toshiba optical drive.

Here are the images:
Click on them for larger images























I hope this helps

if you want the drive, send me a PM, and I will see if I can find a way to ship it to you. I know there are adaptors for this mini IDE, which go to the standardized ATAPI port.

Mine looks something like this:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=36947&doy=1m5&C=SO&U=strat15

http://www.xpcgear.com/slimodtoide.html

Mine came from a Dell Poweredge blade server

K-TRON

 

That is very useful research. There must be other compatible parts around (I'm starting to wonder what i have in my box of old bits). In the mean time I remembered a British company www.clonesuk.com who have a selection of notebook spares. Not particularly cheap, however.

John

 

Wow! K-tron - I am VERY grateful for your input. I will try and digest all that info and decide what the best way forward is. It had not occurred to me that it would be possible to get at the connectors inside. I appreciate the offer of the Toshiba -- but I think that may be an expensive option. (I mustn't lose sight of the original point of this -- to make use of an old laptop -- and not turn it into an engineering exercise! )

John -- thanks for your suggestion -- in the meantime I have fired off an email to "clones" to see if they have something "on the shelf" that is not a ridiculous price. (I have tried a number of other companies with no luck.)

Thanks again guys!!

Roger

 

...... a postscript --- "Clones" do not have anything in stock to do the job.

Roger