After much research I bought the Benq 1620 to use with a Plumax USB2/firewire combo exclosure - for my notebook, I have no other computer. Guess I missed some major posts, because, unfortunately, I'm getting the same problem this guy has:
http://www.coujo.de/ib/index.php?sho...=0&#entry11971
i.e., It is only recognized in WinXP as a USB mass storage device, and can't be accessed. There are no drivers with the enclosure. Benq tech support says "Unfortunately we do not support any third party devices. This drive is intended to be an internal drive connected via a ribbon ide cable."

Any way to get this to work?

Try another enclosure... I had one 1620 working for a few days inside a Macally USB 2.0/FW enclosure (Initio FW Chipset, don't know about the USB 2.0 though), and it worked perfectly (constantly beating the crap out of my internal Plex 712, but that's another story altogether... *sigh*).

You can also check if your enclosure is Oxford 911 based, and if so, try to update the chipset firmware (it's probably better to contact Plumax' support for this, anyway).

Hope this helps

I have two 1620's in Tec-Wind 325U2 Thunder-X external boxes. They both show up as USB mass storage devices, but they show up under devices as Benq 1620. They work perfectly in every situation, desktop or laptop. They actually burn a full ProdiscR03 8x DVD+R in 6 minutes and 15 seconds without error, 15 seconds faster than when I use it internally. Are you sure you have the IDE cable and power plugged in correctly? Does the front light come on green when you put in a disc? I am running XP Pro SP2. I use decrypter and shrink to burn with.

One other note, some are finding the combo USB/Firewire a problem, so I recommend USB only. The problem is there are many manufacturers out there and a lot of crap. I have tried some boxes that you couldn't put the drive in once you hooked up the power and IDE. It can be tricky to update firmware in the enclosure, it has worked for me.

Here is the external box I am using.

http://tec-wind.net/products/enclosures/enclosure_5.htm

Make sure you have your BENQ as Master. This this first. If it doesn't work, then....

If you have a Oxford 911 chipset enclosure, there might be a problem with recognizing the drive when the enclosure starts up. If you can find Oxford Java Firmware updater 1.4 (not later, because the configuration infor updater is disabled), you can update the config to wait 6s, detect non-standard drive signature. Make sure you have UDMA and DMA enabled.
Please check the Oxford Java Updater manual first before attempting this.

I've found the lastest firmware (B7L9) doesnt work with my enclosure.

Turning it on just hangs the bus.

Reverting to the older firmware (B7K9) fixes the problem.

Incase your drive uses B7L9, connect it via IDE and flash with B7K9. Maybe it'll then work ok.

I have posted a great deal of data concering the 822A in this forum. The 822A & 1620A work when attached via 1384a(firewire). It's a hit or miss on each different version of firmware. The only way I got my 822A to work in USB was to hack the EW822U firmware (BenQ's USB External) which is different than the 822A firmware.

Plus USB will only support up to about 12X while 1394A will support 16X with the right ChipSet on the right BridgeBoard.

I gave up on BenQ and switched to NEC because I need to be able to run in both USB and Firewire.

Best suggestion, is make sure you can return the enclosure in case it doesn't work !!!

It is Oxford 911, but I can't find a Plumax site anywhere. Found this: http://www.usb-drivers.com/companies/1192.htm
but that company's website doesn't mention anything about Plumax

Where would this updater be? The only thing I found was http://eshop.macsales.com/Reviews/Fr...ndpanther.html
which says don't use on an optical drive.
Oxford's web site: http://www.oxsemi.co.uk/cgi-bin/general/home.cgi
has a user guide for the "Oxsemi Uploader" but I don't see the sw download

I see now there is also a mention of updater software here
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=108420 discusses the topic. Is one of these the same sw and version you are talking about?

If you just want to upgrade the firmware to the latest version, try this page:
http://www.fwdepot.com/firewiredepot.../firmware.html
This is version 1.6.4, which allow you to update firmware but not change configuration.

If you want to try the 1.4 version, follow the links on this page:
http://answers.tveasy.co.uk/c.s.m.h....gnized-oGP.htm
This version allows you to change firmware and update configuration....
It is a Mac .sit file, you need to use StuffIt to unpack it. Run the jar file just like the 1.6.4.

I would recommend use the 1.6.4 first, upgrade to latest firmware. If it still doesn't work, then try 1.4. Simply change the link it creates to point to where you unpack 1.4 (jar name is different) and use 1.4 to modify the configuration.

Hope this helps...

I see these people managed to get the 1620 to work:
http://www.ewaggle.com/shop/IPS003.a...%20RW%20Drives
but with a USB only enclosure. It says "House Brand" but the ME 320 is a Bytecc model number. Maybe I should swap my enclosure for that exact model. Or just get the combo thing from them, though I wanted to do it myself, and get a firewire interface since I read that USB may give trouble with > 8x burning (though my notebook doesn't have a port for fw, there's a PC card you can get).

I've seen where a NEC 3500 user said he tried two different enclosures that wouldn't work and then tried this Bytecc one and it worked. NewEgg user comments show DVD burners like Lite-on, NEC and LG working working with this model.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...145-316&depa=1

Just for the record. I tried a USB only enclosure (ADS Tech is what they sell at Walmart, where I can easily return stuff) and it did not work with the Benq. Bought the Liteon 1633s and it was recognized with both enclosures, without any firmware upgrades to them. (Though I'm having problems with the Liteon burn speed...but that's another issue altogether.). I don't have another computer to change the firmware on the Benq, so RMA it is for Bennyq, too bad.

My DW1620 B7P9, works in an external case.
I am using a Plumax PM-525C2-PPB with the Prolific 3507 chipset, using the v9-2-2004 Rom firmware upgrade.
I cannot update my BenQ firmware via firewire, I have to install BenQ in desktop case to update the firmware.
However my Lite-On 812S>832S can be updated via firewire in this external case.
Go Figure?
Got my Plumax at Dealsonic, $32.99.

Personally, I like to get the BenQ over the NEC since it has bitsetting and customer support is top notch. However, I don't know why BenQ drives have such a hard time working in many ext. enclosures.

@ dishinit, that's good to hear the Plumax case w/Prolific 3507 is able to work with the DW1620. Wonder if the Plumax USB2/Firewire port is like that as well, with the ability to upgrade the firmware thru the USB2 port. Other than the firmware upgrade problem, have you found any other issues between both products?

I also will take a closer look at the Tec-Wind 325U2 Thunder-X which tinman posted about earlier. Never heard of this particular enclsosure, but if it works with the BenQ, then that's great

I have the BYTECC ME-320 as seen here. It's a USB/Firewire combo enclosure. Right now I'm using it with a hard drive and I've never tried it with an optical drive.

Maybe I'll pop in my Benq and see how it works. I can only use it with Firewire, though (don't actually have USB 2.0).

I have a Benq 800 and 1620, both in Coolmax FW/USB 2 enclosures (from Newegg) and they work fine on either chip. For firmware upgrades I have to connect them by USB. I tried to flash the 1620 while connected by FW but it did not work. Switching the connection to USB 2 did work.

Cool jamerican, but I read somewhere that Coolmax enclosures aren't that great (this is vaguely verified). How do you like your Coolmax Combo enclosure & what are the chipsets onboard?

krkdnose, please place the BenQ into your enclosure to see if it works. I rather have the BenQ over the NEC but this problem is preventing me from making my final decision.

Ok, I'll try it as soon as I can. But like I said, I can only try it on Firewire, not USB.

krkdnose, I'm planning on using Firewire anyways since that is suppose to give you the fastest speed between the two. Thanks for trying it out and if you can, do one test to see how fast the enclosure is (>12x or higher). Appreciate it

Both enclosures are great. I know that the FW chipset is Oxford 911. I do not know what the USB 2 chipset is. That information should be available at Newegg.com. The enclosure model is CD-5108. It's a 3.5"/5.25" Aluminum Enclosure. I am very happy with the two that I have.

This is great news since not many ppl have commented on ext. enclosures with the BenQ that I have seen lately. Thx everyone for the recommendations on those they do & don't work.

Whatever you do with your BenQ 1620, stay away from the IcyBox USB 2.0 enclosure (based on ALi bridge chipset IIRC) ... my PC will recognize the drive (Firmware update is possible, too) but there are some flaws ... connected internally, the drive will write MCC003 @ 12x max without problems ... in the enclosure, there is no more possible than 6x (although DVD Decrypter can read a DVD at full speed).

Additionally, Nero CD/DVD Speed (3.50) will crash during PI/PO scanning with some weird error message ...

I will try out the PX-712A next ... nevertheless, the 1620 is a great drive indeed - just got it for 24 hours and I already love it

@ dishinit, that's good to hear the Plumax case w/Prolific 3507 is able to work with the DW1620. Wonder if the Plumax USB2/Firewire port is like that as well, with the ability to upgrade the firmware thru the USB2 port. Other than the firmware upgrade problem, have you found any other issues between both products?

crea78,
My Plumax Case is USB1/2 & Firewire.
I remember reading in the BenQ OEM to DW1620 upgrade patches, "not" to use USB connection for firmware upgrade. This was the 1st warning statement when upgrading from bulk OEM1620 to DW1620 Pro. However I did not see this warning on the last upgrade to B7P9. Since I have always upgraded my Lite-On via firewire, I expected the BenQ to do the same. Instead I got failed firmware upgrade message 3/4 through the process when using firewire. Even though when I rebooted drive the firmware upgrade was displayed properly. Yet when I tried CDSpeed Disc Quality scan, the drive did not respond correctly.
Once I upgraded via internal IDE, all was well.
I do notice that I cannot run PIF error test in DVDInfo Pro when using external case, just hangs system. I did not try this application when the drive was installed internally, so???
All Nero/CDSpeed tests work fine, Qscan works fine & the drive burns fine at 12X (fastest media I have) with the BenQ in external case.
By the way, my Device Manager in Win XP 2 shows a BenQ 1620 under DVD drives & firewire connect.

To BenQ owners with external cases;
I would be interested to know if others have similar/different experiences with their applications and external cases. Successful firmware upgrades via USB? Firewire? & what chipset/firmware are you using in your external case.