Enclosure for DVD recorder?

[superfuzzy]

I would like to get an enclosure for an NEC 3550 drive. Is firewire far superior? What is the best chipset for firewire or USB? Can you recommend a particular enclosure?

I tried a USB enclosure a year ago - and it would only burn dvd+ media with the NEC drives! It must have had a buggy chipset. I'm looking for something rock solid this time.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

[budz]

Take a look at the NEC FORUM at Cdfreaks.com the members there would be best to help you find a enclosure with a compatible chipset for your drive. I know for Benq dvd burners having the Prolific chipset works best.

[piano632]

Even though USB2.0 claims faster speed than firewire, in the real world the opposite is true. Firewire is substantially faster because USB drains CPU power, while firewire uses hardly any.

Supposedly Oxford is the best chipset for firewire, but some have said Prolific is better with optical drives. I think Cypress is the best USB chipset, but I might be wrong on this.

[SingSing]

I tried a USB enclosure a year ago - and it would only burn dvd+ media with the NEC drives! It must have had a buggy chipset!

I have the same problem with MAD DOG drive in USB2 enclosure. I though it is a XP problem.

[OneSickPup]

I've used this enclosure with a NEC 3550:

http://www.dealsonic.com/plpmblcousb22.html

I could never get it to burn faster than 12x whether I connected firewire or usb2. However; I could achieve 16x burning when a Pioneer 111d or Liteon 165H6S were installed. Both those burners are UDMA 4 devices and lend themselves to external use much easier.

[Zen of Encoding]

I would like to get an enclosure for an NEC 3550 drive. Is firewire far superior? What is the best chipset for firewire or USB? Can you recommend a particular enclosure?

I tried a USB enclosure a year ago - and it would only burn dvd+ media with the NEC drives! It must have had a buggy chipset. I'm looking for something rock solid this time.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

My NEC 3550 burns perfectly at 16X inside this unit (both firewire & USB 2.0):

http://www.dealsonic.com/bymecoidetof.html


However, I recommend that you pay the extra $3 and get the Oxford 911 chipset
(firewire only) for maximum compatibility with a wide range of systems, but I've
never had trouble with the less expensive unit above and having both connection
methods makes for less trouble in general:

http://www.dealsonic.com/bytme3idetof.html

[OneSickPup]

However, I recommend that you pay the extra $3 and get the Oxford 911 chipset (firewire only) for maximum compatibility with a wide range of systems, but I've never had trouble with the less expensive unit above and having both connection
methods makes for less trouble in general:

http://www.dealsonic.com/bytme3idetof.html

Geez - I would have to disagree with that statement if you are referring to an optical drive in an enclosure. I would stick to a Prolific chipset or the new Cypress AT2+ chipset. Here is a massive thread that chronicles hundreds of peoples enclosure woes:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=119149

Here is a thread giving burn examples with 3 different enclosure setups and several different burners:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=175536

If interested in the oxford chipsets look at posts #46 thru 49. Good luck.

[piano632]

It's strange how the Oxford chipset is considered king of the hill and Prolific is called unreliable when it's a hard drive inside an enclosure, but the exact opposite seems true when it's an optical drive in the enclosure. I have Oxford, Prolific and Cypress chipsets in hard drive enclosures and they all work...at least for hard drives.

You can always read enclosure reviews at http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=92

[budz]

It's strange how the Oxford chipset is considered king of the hill and Prolific is called unreliable when it's a hard drive inside an enclosure, but the exact opposite seems true when it's an optical drive in the enclosure. I have Oxford, Prolific and Cypress chipsets in hard drive enclosures and they all work...at least for hard drives.

You can always read enclosure reviews at http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=92

With those three chipsets they have no problems with hard drives but with dvd burners it's a different story as you can see the link that one sick pup posted from Cdfreaks.com. I have the Oxford and Prolific chipset's that house hard drives and have no problems at all.