about USB external cases

[kevin]

I am buying a 5.25" USB external case for putting a DVD writer in it.
I can buy an external case with our without an external power supply.
Is it convenient it to have an external power supply? The prices are
40$ and 70$.

 

[John McGaw]

I am buying a 5.25" USB external case for putting a DVD writer in it.
I can buy an external case with our without an external power supply.
Is it convenient it to have an external power supply? The prices are
40$ and 70$.

Any drive that you would put into a 5.25" external case is going to need
a power supply of some sort -- it just won't run off of the USB power.
So that leaves you the choice of having the PS built into the case or
being an external dongle. Personally I have enough bits and pieces lying
about and wouldn't consider an external to be of any benefit. For that
reason when I bought my Firewire/USB2 external case for my old Plextor
DVD-RW recently I went for the internal supply. BTW, even though the
dual interface proved to be more expensive (and the price seems to have
just gone up!) it seemed to be a good investment for future options.

http://www.pcmcis.com/products-PCM-EB535UF.htm

 

[Grant Robertson]

I am buying a 5.25" USB external case for putting a DVD writer in it.
I can buy an external case with our without an external power supply.
Is it convenient it to have an external power supply? The prices are
40$ and 70$.

I agree with John. You need an external case that has it's own internal
power supply. Many use the same type of power cord that you use for your
computer.