Lightscribe/DVD burner....

Does anyone know if there is a Lightscribe CDr-+rw/ Dvd burner R+-rw/Dual layer capable burner that will fit in the E 1505?
I read the other post bout it being a HP thing or something,Just want to know if theres one that will fit? If not then i guess i'll have to get an external one.

 

It's not just an HP thing but I doubt you will be able to find one that will fit in an E1505 I would just get an external one.

 

I have a Pioneer internal one laying around, Do they make enclosers for them like they do for hard drives?

 

According to the photo in the review, it looks like a standard "Slim" notebook drive with the common flat bezel (The most common bezel out there).

It is hard to suggest a particular model as I do not know much about the configuration (Probably IDE but please do not take this to the bank until confirmed).

If it is IDE, there is a gotcha that is present on Notebook drive, or should I say there is a lack of a Drive Select Jumper (Master/Slave) like you see on Desktop drives.

The Drive Select is usually encoded in the upgradable firmware. Some of them are Reverse in the Notebook Bios (Meaning that it has to be configured as a Slave Drive in the Firmware to be Recognized by the Notebook Bios as a Master). The Master recognition in the Bios is the most desirable configuration for burning CD's / DVD's.

As you can see, I have more question then answers but can assure that it is doable.

I swapped the Combo Drive (CD Writer/ DVD Reader Only) in my Dell Latitude C400 with a NEC ND6550.

I had to do a little bit of soldering (Another trick to play with drive select) on 2 pins on the drive itself to reverse the Drive Select to Slave so that the notebook would configure it as Master on IDE Channel 2 but everythings works fine.

I also performed the same trick on my Voodoo M855 that had a dying incompatible piece of crud drive (Matsushita/Panasonic UJ810) it required the same soldering trick.

A good place to get more informations to perform such upgrades is;

www.cdrinfo.com

frenchnew

 

Do a seach for External CD-Rom drive enclosure, you are looking for a 5.25" size.

look here;

http://www.coolmaxusa.com/productDe...details=features&subcategory=U2&category=5.25

 

Thanks for the info and links.

 

Here's an enclosure for an external laptop drive

Link

I don't know that Lightscribe is all that. Here's one I did on the dv6000.

 

get one of these http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adapt.php

 

the biggest problem with Lightscribe is the lack of re-writeable media. Meaning there are no CDRW's or DVD-RW/RAM blanks to be had...nobody makes them. I emailed Lightscribe about this and they put the issue on the media mfg's and said basically if it really matters to not bother them about it but to contact the media mfg's.

For me the lack of re-writable media is the death blow for Lightscribe. I would love to manage projects on custom labeled disks. But if everytime I need to update the project backed up on the disk I need to burn a completely new disk, what is the gain?

I love the asthetics of Lightscribe but had to "just say no" due to this issue...so if you are leaning toward LS it's cool and makes nice looking disks for sure. Just know the LS media out today is ONLY the write-once variety.

 

Hmm...if you have an external HD, rather then RW discs, it would alot better, I mean, you can work your documents anywhere on any computer w/o having you to use the same annoying RW software. You dont need to get worry about scratching.

JC

 

netbrakr:

not entirely true and for my needs or anyone elses needs a HD is not a reliable backup solution...ever. HD are far to prone to damage or failure when compared to more permanent media such as CD/DVD's or tape.

Another reason LS is potentially attractive is being able to hand a fancy disk that has something more substantial then a paper label or worse yet hand written with a Sharpie. It's more about image presented to a client or even staff...and yeah in many ways it is trival, but then again most things we do really are not needed.

Scratching of a CD/DVD should NEVER happen if one takes proper care not to toss them around the room...and even if it does a few moments in a cleaner/resurfacing machine fixes that issue.

And I am not sure what you mean by needing to have the same RW software to read a disk? While that might be an issue with lower end devices I have never run into the issue of not being able to read a disk created on one system in another. I have read it can happen though...as with most things I suspect it is user failure far more often then it is a real problem.

 

@grumpy3b
The RW software issue was back when Packet Writing software was the only way to take advantage of those discs. These days that won't be the case.

@frenchnew
There is a utility that can switch the mode in the firmware for a NEC drive. That solder trick is both dangerous and unnecessary. If one is not available on the mfg website then the mfg should be emailed and see if you can get one from them. You can cause a short in the system or worse.

 

Do you need lightscribe discs for lightscribe?

 

Only if you want to burn the lable directly onto the disk, You can use any media in a lightscibe enabled drive as long as the drive supports it.

 

THANKS for the info, that makes sense now...

 

I would expect that the special surface which Lightscribe uses for writing on is a write once material. Hence no one sees the needs for Lightscribe rewriteable media.

John

 

John:

I do not completely understand what you are saying. Also why would the "needs" for using lightscribe media be any diofferent from other forms of the media?

What is on the label or (lightscribe) side of the disk has no effect on the data recording side of the disk. Of course the label side of the disk cannot handle multiple burns but as I see it that has zero to do with the data side of the media.

I have contacted Lightscribe and their reply indicated that it is possible and the disk makers simply are not offering the media.