There is no firmware hack for a laptop to recognize the 712A drive. For some reason USB has more compatibility issues when it comes to using a external enclosure for some dvd burners. Firewire has better compatiblity than USB. I would suggest you purchase a FIREWIRE enclosure. This has been discussed in a thread at cdrlabs.com. A guy who lives in my state had problems with the same drive in a USB ENCLOSURE. Here take a look at that thread:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtop...r=asc&start=25

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PLEXTOR 708A DVDRW
PIONEER 107D DVDRW
LITEON 811 DVDRW
TOSHIBA (2)1612 DVD-ROM
PLEXTOR 48X24X48 CDRW
PENT 4 HT 3.00C, 800 FSB, PENT 4 2.40 533 FSB
1GB CRUCIAL PC3200 MEMORY, 1GB CRUCIAL PC2700
MAXTOR 200 GB HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR 250 GB HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR 200 GB SATA HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR (2)120 GB HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR 60 GB HARD DRIVE
ANTEC TRUE POWER430 WATT
ANTEC SLK2650 CASE
CANOPUS ADVC-100 ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER
MAXTOR ATA -133 PCI CONTROLLER CARD