I didn't know that. You must be in the US to get them for so low. I have to pay between US$300 to US$400. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had any reason to stop me from buying at least a few of them.

Hm. BTW, I meant Intel-chipset motherboards.

Unless the SATA on VIA and SiS and NVidia and ALi chipset motherboards support optical drives on SATA just as well as Intel.

By the way, I really think this thread belongs to the "General Hardware" forum. So many threads on external cases for optical drives and so so many repetitions.

Thank you for the clarification, I did not mean to sound like a SA, I actually thought you had made a typo error.
I just looked up 8X DVD-R, TYG02 in the BenQ Media Support list, recently referenced in this forum, & see that it it claims 16X capability.
And you say are not able to do this on your BenQ 1620? Strange.

I do understand that different burners have different write speed strats, but not sure what that has to do with your statement:
"16x = a little over 22MB/s so 23 to 24MB/s burst rate seems just enough but if one starts using the same 1394 connection with other 1394 devices... not enough. It must be Fujifilm"
As I do not have any other media capable of 16X writing, I cannot be absolutely sure, yet, I still do not think it is a media phenomenon.
I have used this external BenQ with my Dell 400sc with Nec 1394 controller, & now my Tosh Laptop with a Texas Instruments 1394 controller, & am getting successful 16X 1394 burns. I am not sure if this is what you meant with
".....but if one starts using the same 1394 connection with other 1394 devices....not enough"

My claim to fame, small as it is, is that I got my Plumax external cased OEM BenQ 1620, to successfully burn at 16X, over 1394/Firewire.
Something, that I have not seen successfully posted up till now (specific to the BenQ 1620).
I have seen posts refering to Nec 3500's on external, accomplishing 16X writes. And now your LG on 1394 (again, I am humbled....wow, I want one)
With all the difficulties & struggles I have read about, regarding matching a external case & chipset to your 16X writer and actually achieving 16X write speeds, I was compelled to post. Well that, and a little ego building (even if self initiated) dosen't hurt.

I have struggled with my external enclosures, having them go south, when I installed XP SP2. Then the hours I spent, searching the forums to find a solution, which was a Prolific firmware update. Then resigning myself to 12X burns using them.....until now.

I would like others to achieve the same 16X results in an external case, and if in any way I might be able to shed some light on how to do this, this is the reason for my posts. Actually, in my mind, this is & are, the reasons for this forum, Sharing knowledge.
I want you to know that you, among many others, are definitely one of my mentor's, which is so easily illustrated in your media & burner knowledge.
I really appreciate the education I have gained by reading these forums. I am a beginner, you are an accomplished expert. I appreciate your feedback.
Sorry for the long post.
dishinit

I do think it is very inportant to check the capability of the firewire chipset on the mobo. It can be done by using a HDD conected on a enclosure with a tool such as hd tach. If the transfer rate for the HDD are higher than 23 mbs than , that speed can be acheeved with the dvd rw.

As my experience each and every mobo chips function not quite to standard
One more thing: I saw a simple connector for arround 12$ on thg (tom's hardware guide) test that can do the trick. The only thing u have to also provide the power either from the computer or from an external transformer from 220/110 to the power required by the drive

Sounds to me as a bargain

Nice, which case did you buy?

PM-525C2-PPS - http://www.dealsonic.com/plcoideusb2i.html
or
PM-350C2-PPS - http://www.dealsonic.com/plpmcousb20f.html

dishinit, nice scans you posted If it's true the 47L9 firmware can produce 16x scans using a laptop computer, then this is great news. I'll be getting the 1620 Retail for Xmas & I'll try out the 47L9 firmware. Hopefully I can get 16x on writing as well.

In order to 'upgrade' to the 47P9 f/w, I assume you need the .cvt file + WinDWFlash tool. If for some reason I don't like this firmware, how can I convert to the B7P9 f/w?

crea78 > I deffinantly think 47P9 will make a difference on external enclosure. Made my Fuji TY02's burn 30 sec. faster than B7P9. Burst rate is higher plus UDMA is 3 instead of 2. My testing was done on IDE cable. I'm thinking about getting an external enclosure instead of going to a PCI/IDE controller as i'm out of room on IDE's lol Off Topic: Wonder if Liggy and Quickee2 from NEC forum have found anything in NEC f/w to do same?

Added info... I just ordered the StorTecc USB2/Firewire (Prolific chipset on both) from Dealsonic.com. Since this enclosure and the Plumax are both mfg by US Microlabs, I'm sure I'll be able to obtain 16x write speeds with little trouble. Only thing is, might not be able to flash to the 9/7/2004 firmware. Even though the enclosure might not be firmware upgradable, is it still possible to obtain 16x speed with the 47L9 firwmare?

I have a HP notebook computer and tested out the USB2 transfer rate using HD Tach on my ext. HDDs, and it appears I'm getting around 30mb/s. Haven't tried out the firewire connection since both HDDs are using the USB2 at the moment. One other thing, how can you tell if the drive is running at UDMA2 or 3?

wolffman,
Sorry, did not see your post. You want the:
PM-525C2-PPS (Silver)
or
PM-525C2-PPB (Black)
Both with Prolific Chipsets. "525" means 5-1/4" drive case.

After you test your burner with stock firmware and verify it is good for warranty reasons, then you can flash over "SB only" to 47L9 to achieve 16X. You may not have to upgrade your Prolific firmware.
Let us know how it goes.
dishinit

Crea78, see above post>

Good job with the Prolific...

Btw I finally killed my Oxford911 last weekend I couldn't get it to recognize the new firmware on the 822A+ an played around with the options in the 1.4 firmware flasher. Now the enclosure isn't recognized anymore. Bummer I do no think there is any way to reconver it....

I am now using a Genesys chipset for IEEE and USB2 and guess what: Works like charm. I am starting to think that the Oxford911 thing is just one big hype - a little bit like the old Macs-never-crash thing that was going around a few years ago....

DerDembo, see these posts:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread....der#post783875

http://www.oxsemi.co.uk/download/upd...ploader_UG.pdf

Might help you recover.

My Plumax 5.25" combo interface with the Prolific chipset should be coming in tomorrow, can't wait to test it out.

@DerDembo

possible to recover the oxford911..need to hot wire and reset by shorting pin56 i think and use a software to reset it and clear its "bios"

Just for kicks, I flashed 47L9 into my internal 1620 drive to be a 1621. However, only 12x PCAV is used to burn the YUDEN000T02 disc. I'm thinking it's because the drive is on secondary slave, despite having 27 MB/s burst rate and detected at 16x capable, and constrained by the master (3500A) as UDMA-2, while the 1621 is detected as UDMA-3. I'll probably swap to primary master and see if 16x CAV is capable.

Well, it doesn't seem like the configuration setup is causing the "slow" burn, as I tried it as primary master and still same result. Using firmwares B7P9, B7S9, and 47L9 to QScan a new disc at 16x had the same resulting spike around the 2/3rds mark that pushed the TE graph over 450, thus, having it not recommended for 16x burn. I'm pretty sure the drive is fine and the disc is faulty, since the 3500A (LD_V1_1.4F) tried to burn at 16x CAV, but dropped to 4x CLV with nasty noticeable ring on the back of disc at that break.

KTL > Do you have your NERO CD/DVD Speed test set to 16 in options? Might be able to force a 16x test that way incase you don't.

I was excited for a bit when I read up on the EW1621's firmware's ability to boost transfer rate in external enclosures.... However, I would like to report on 2 enclosures that I have, it didn't make any diff.

INITIO 2430L base bridgeboard and ALi (Sorry, no guts to dismantle the enclosure, so don't know what's the version of chip)... INITIO2430L is FW800, it went from 21MB to 22MB/s.... so still kind of inadequte for 16x. ALi cannot make over 19MB/s....

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check that when I get home tonight.

I just recently purchased a laptop and have been looking into getting a dual layer dvd burner that will work well in an external enclosure, that way I can use it one my two desktop systems and the laptop. Having read through these forums a great deal (thanks everyone for the great posts) I'm still a little unclear as to which enclosure chipset I should be looking at for a BenQ 1620 drive.

It seems to me that the Prolific chipset is the way to go, however some earlier posts made mention of a StorTecc (PM-525C2-EPS) enclosure and a similar Plumax (PM-525C2-PPS) enclosure. From what I can tell these enclosures are virtually indenticle (as they come from the same HW manufacturer), dealsonic.com states that both are based on the Prolific chipset (I assume this would be the 3507), however on the Plumax enclosure they mention both Prolific chipset AND AT2 under the USB section. Isn't AT2 a designation for the Cypress chipset?

Thanks to anyone who can enlighten me!