External burners

[thoughton]

After wearing out my 2nd internal laptop burner I'm in the market for a new external dual layer burner. After reading Miksu's comments in this thread I'm seriously considering some form of NEC drive.

Requirements: dual layer, flashable to region free, no (or removable) riplock, external firewire enclosure, (DVD-RAM would be a bonus, but not vital).[/url]

So ... has anyone successfully flashed an NEC drive in an external case using a Mac (using necFlashX)? I'd be grateful for anyone's experiences

Alternatively, any other suggestions for obtaining a (possibly non-NEC) external firewire region-free no-riplock dual-layer patchburn-compatible burner also appreciated.

(Please note I will be buying this from some UK-based online shop)

[AlbcAlbrr]

Ihave successfully flashed the NEC-3520 and NEC-2510 internally and externally in Lacie D2 and Studio cases with NecflashX (using a PowerMac G4 MDD). Never had a problem. Just make sure you run NecflashX from the desktop AND POSITIVELY you must dump the original firmware first in case you want to go back later.

[thoughton]

Thanks for the input Al - very reassuring I will also make sure to save the original firmware. I've got a bid in on a 3500 as we speak! Auction ends in 75 mins ... taptaptaptap ...