How are Sager 8130 DVD drives with enclosures?

Any old enclosure for a slim internal. Specifically I'm wondering how easily the drive's Bezel can be swapped out for whatever bezel the enclosure comes with. I've never actually assembled an enclosed DVD drive before, since this is the first time I've sacrificed the drive in a machine for extra storage space. But then, I barely use the disc drive in any computer, so I just wanna keep the default drive around for emergency purposes.

Alternatively I might instead simply skip the internal drive option altogether (simply leave the empty caddy in the machine until i get around to getting an SSD) and instead pick up a dedicated external:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827190020

 

I had a hard time pulling out the bezel.

After fighting for 30 minutes, I couldn't get it out, because of fear I might break the drive.

I'd say it's pretty hard unless you are willing to break some things...

 

And I'm not.

If this is so I might go with a dedicated external. I only want the drive for some driver software (like for my wacom tablet) and for my OS CD. God knows I should find a USB 3.0 though. What's the projection on reinstalling Windows Home Premium on 2.0 transmission speeds?

 

I'm not sure of this, but I think ODD is the limiting factor for both SATA and USB2.0.

ODD is crapshoot slow, and it would feel the same way for both external enclosures and the internal DVD drives, as ODD really is.. painfully slow.

On the other hand, even the slowest of flash drives are blazing fast compared to ODD when installing stuff.

 

I know, it's flash memory.

You know, outside of flashing my BIOS, I've never really looked into flash drive storage of my OS or other drivers. I only wipe my drives like every 6 months or more. I know OS is doable (and I'd be stunned if Sager's mobos do not support USB Boot in this day and age) but what about my tablet's drivers and software? Wacom doesn't exactly have a reputation for stability anyways.

 

Flash drives work great instead of CD media. Linux live CD's work with an installer like unetbootin. Windows can be done with the Microsoft drive creator tool or via command line. For drivers, you can rip an ISO from the original disk, or just copy them over to a folder on the flash drive. These machines can boot from USB, so that's not an issue either

UNetbootin - Homepage and Downloads
Microsoft Store Online

I've got everything available through my network server or via flash drives, so I can attest to the fact that optical media is rare anymore.

 

So ISOs will work? good, so I can just pool all my important ISO rips via my desktop's DVD drive onto a single, high quality flash drive, and keep that safe for all my needs. Windows won't have any issues with the Windows ISO sharing a flash with other ISOs should it come time to reintall on an SSD or something (I hope), and I can just use Virtual Clonedrive for all the other ISOs.

A Windows Home Premium ISO is going to be what, like 4 GB give or take? I assume simply ripping the installation Windows disc that comes with the machine will produce the same content within the ISO as downloading it from MS Store.

 

Be careful though, you can't actually boot or install from a flash drive full of ISO's. You need to create a bootable USB for OS installs, using the tools in the above link (1 flash driver per image). For example, a single 4GB flash drive can be an alternative to a single Windows install disk with that tool.

For all your other files, you can either just copy paste the contents of the disk to a folder on your drive OR rip it to an ISO and store that. There are tons of programs out there that can mount ISO's in Windows for free.

Long story short, ripping your Windows DVD won't work. You have to download the tool in that link and put your Windows disk in the drive and plug in a flash drive. The tool will take care of the rest. (It has to copy the files and apply the necessary bootcode).

 

So basically one flash dedicated as a boot OS, with another to store additional ISOs (I know I can store an ISO anywhere for Virtual CD to find it, but I wanna keep them available in the event that the hard drive tanks and I've misplaced the original discs).

Shame. Kind of wish Windows had something like ASUS does with EZ Flash, where it has some rudimentary capability to access and browse flash drives for the correct file to execute.

 

BEHOLD the costs of being Canadian:

Newegg.ca - OCZ Diesel 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model OCZUSBDSL4G

A great drive for the OS...that costs more to ship than the item itself.

I need to check some other sellers that offer a flat shipping rate on all their goods I think.

 

4GB isn't suffice for a Windows installation unless you use a stripped down version of Windows.

The commercial version will require at least about 5~GB, so you need a 8GB USB drive.

 

He's not looking to do an install on the flash drive. It's going to be used as bootable install media instead of a CD. A 4GB flash drive works fine as the images are only ~3GB in size and don't require more than that.

Installing to/booting from USB media as a live operating system just doesn't work at all without some pretty major workarounds.

 

It's an installation drive, due to the lack of a disc. ISOs are extremely compressed files.

Oh Jesus, the thought of running an entire OS through USB 2.0...Is that even doable? What's the transmission speed of 2.0, like 60 MB/s?

Mostly I'm trying to find a 4 Giger that is reasonably durable. Not like IronKey strong, but not Fisher Price plastic.

 

Huh, I was mistaken..

Win 8 is 5GB, but Win 7 is only around 3GB.

 

Have patience, I am tired and it is late. Your link is to an external drive, not an enclosure. If your trying to change out the ODD for a HDD or SSD, you need a caddy, not an enclosure. I did this on my 8150 and the ODD has a screw you take out to change the bay to another storage bay, and the Bezel was fairly easy to get off. But the link in your post is for an external drive, not a caddy, and you can not use the ODD caddy for an internal drive.

I bought a similar external for my lappy because I rarely use the ODD, and I put in a SSD in my HDD bay and a HDD in my ODD bay using a caddy I bought from one of the Sager retailers here. Went smooth and without a hitch. And doing a clean install on the ssd using an external ODD was very fast. Again, if I am reading the OP wrong, I apologize, for the aforementioned reasons.