Convert Internal Blu-ray into External USB player

suiathon

New Member
I salvaged some parts from an old laptop, including an internal Blu-ray DVD burner/player. Since my new laptop does not have an optical drive, I would like to convert this into a USB plug in for the occasion movie or disc burning. Can you recommend an enclosure that is proven to work and is preferably USB 3.0 or USB C.

Here are the specs on the drive and old laptop:

Acer Aspire 5745

BD-ROM / DVD REWRITER
Model: CT21N
Mfg Date: 2010/03/01
H/W: A
MECHA: A
Rom Ver: 1.00
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
Why do people always try to do this? It's not worth the time. You can buy a USB bluray burner easier and faster.
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
Why do people always try to do this? It's not worth the time. You can buy a USB bluray burner easier and faster.
Same. I tried building an external burner from an old internal drive years ago and it worked horribly. By the time you buy the things like a USB to SATA/IDE/whatever and an enclosure you'd probably be spending less on an actual external drive.
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
Same. I tried building an external burner from an old internal drive years ago and it worked horribly. By the time you buy the things like a USB to SATA/IDE/whatever and an enclosure you'd probably be spending less on an actual external drive.
Exactly!

Now I did actually do this recently. I bought a 3.5" 5.25" drive bay from Amazon for £40 and it's rubbish. Feels cheap and tacky, if I use it plugged in via eSATA I can't watch films without them jumping and skipping. If I use it plugged in via USB 3.0 I can't burn any kind of discs. So that means my £70 Blu-Ray burner is useless. I only bought it because I already owned the drive and I've got an NZXT H440 case which does not have any optical drive bays, but I wish I had just bought a USB drive instead for a little bit more than the cost of this enclosure which would have done a much better job. Now I need to try and find out if my drive is at fault or if the enclosure is regarding the lack of burning capabilities now, but I'm going by the fact that the drive worked perfectly before that it's this stupid enclosure. It's the only SATA one I could find so it was expensive and crap, but I guess you know optical technology is dead when this is now the case.
 
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