Plextor PX-W2410TU USB 2.0 CD-RW - Can Case Be Reused?

I have a Plextor PlexWriter PX-W2410TU 24/10/40U USB 2.0 CD-RW
external drive that works fine but since it is only a CD-RW unit and
not a DVD-RW it is of little use to me anymore.

The case is very well built and sturdy. I wondered if I could remove
the Plextor CDR drive and replace it with either a DVD-RW or a large
IDE hard-drive?

Would the ATAPI (?) to usb2 interface inside work on any other drive?

Thanks,

Dave

Dave wrote:
> I have a Plextor PlexWriter PX-W2410TU 24/10/40U USB 2.0 CD-RW
> external drive that works fine but since it is only a CD-RW unit and
> not a DVD-RW it is of little use to me anymore.
>
> The case is very well built and sturdy. I wondered if I could remove
> the Plextor CDR drive and replace it with either a DVD-RW or a large
> IDE hard-drive?
>
> Would the ATAPI (?) to usb2 interface inside work on any other drive?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave

I'd give it a 99%+ chance of working fine. It is certainly easy enough
to try it. After all, if you want to have a DVD-RW then you'll have to
buy one. If you buy a "bare" unit and try it inside the existing case
and by some odd chance it doesn't work all you'd have to do is buy
another case and stuff the drive in that.

Overall the price of a good case and a drive seems to be roughly the
same as buying and "external" drive. Buying a Plextor DVD-RW drive might
increase the chances of success but that added chance would be so small
it might not be worth the extra cost. Personally I have had excellent
luck with the 4 (or is it 5?) Plextor CD, CD-RW, and DVD-RW drives I've
owned over the years so that I seldom think about buying any other brand
despite their premium price.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 19:23:54 -0400, Dave <dave@whassup.net>
wrote:

>I have a Plextor PlexWriter PX-W2410TU 24/10/40U USB 2.0 CD-RW
>external drive that works fine but since it is only a CD-RW unit and
>not a DVD-RW it is of little use to me anymore.
>
>The case is very well built and sturdy. I wondered if I could remove
>the Plextor CDR drive and replace it with either a DVD-RW or a large
>IDE hard-drive?
>
>Would the ATAPI (?) to usb2 interface inside work on any other drive?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Dave

I don't have experience with that specific enclosure, but
yes, in general you can pull the Plextor drive and hook up
some (any other) drive with same interface, whether it be
HDD or DVD. "Some" enclosure chips don't support larger
capacity HDDs, so you may have to do trial and error to
determine what size HDD works. If the drive doesn't show up
at full capacity, do not write to it else you might lose any
data on it.

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to try it this week and I'll post
the results.

- dave