usb to ide solution for the eee pc
June 22, 2008 – 8:53 amNetbooks like the Asus eee pc do not include an optical drive, which is not so much of a problem for an ultramobile use, but you might need to have a drive for an OS installation for example.
The easiest solution would be to buy an external DVD Drive. They usually cost about $55, or 45€.
We would like to present another solution, that could save you a few dollars: a USB 2.0 to IDE cable. You will be able to reuse that way a CD, DVD or hard drive from an old or broken pc. I happened to have one with a dead motherboad.
I bought a generic cable for about $15, the box contained a power cord, the usb to ide cable, and a CD with drivers.
The cable is play and plug…
You have to connect the cable to the ATA connector, and connect the drive to the power supply. I connected an old super multi DVD recorder.
You might have to set the jumper to Master (MA letters).
Another possiblity is to connect a hard disk.
The eee pc recognized it without problems, the hard disk has been detected as an external drive. You could also use such cable if you need to back up data from an old hard drive.
You must be logged in to post a comment.