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Oldie1kslowbie · Feb 18, 2006, 09:57 PM

Does anyone know if there is any problem with reusing a LaCie d2 case?

I have an older LaCie CD-RW drive with firewire. I love the look of the case and would like to reuse it. I cracked it open and found a Lite-On drive model LTR-48125W. I'd like to swap in a relatively newer Pioneer DVR-108 drive I have on hand. It looks like the same IDE connector and power connecter that's standard on all drives. So I would think its pretty easy. I've googled around and can't find any info on doing this. I'm surprised no one else has tried it- as far as I can tell.

What do you think? Whats the worst could happen?

Cadaver · Feb 18, 2006, 11:27 PM

Worst that could happen is that your house burns down.... but, since that's unlikely from simply swapping out a drive mechanism, you've got little to worry about. Should work just fine.

mduell · Feb 18, 2006, 11:36 PM

It may work, it may not. I doubt you could damage either component.

Wiskedjak · Feb 19, 2006, 12:22 AM

The D2 is just a drive enclosure.

angelmb · Feb 19, 2006, 06:01 AM

Originally Posted by Oldie1kslowbie

(…) I'm surprised no one else has tried it- as far as I can tell.

I did it, mine came with a lite-on 52327s cdrw also. I placed a PHILIPS DVD dual layer burner inside. Works great with Toast and iLife apps with the help of patchburn 4 (www.patchburn.de)

Oldie1kslowbie · Feb 19, 2006, 11:54 PM

OK- So I tried it and its working so far. System profiler still shows a LaCie CDRW drive under the firewire tab but the Pioneer DVR 108 comes up under the Disc-Burning tab as "vendor supported". I haven't run patchburn and I'm not sure if I need to. Any thoughts? Oh, and thanks for the help.

angelmb · Feb 20, 2006, 10:07 AM

Well, Pioneer is a maker wich burners models come with Power Macs as from factory -built in- optical drives, just try it with some iapp like iTunes, go to preferences and check if it is shown in the 'Burning' section.

Cadaver · Feb 20, 2006, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by Oldie1kslowbie

OK- So I tried it and its working so far. System profiler still shows a LaCie CDRW drive under the firewire tab but the Pioneer DVR 108 comes up under the Disc-Burning tab as "vendor supported". I haven't run patchburn and I'm not sure if I need to. Any thoughts? Oh, and thanks for the help.

Should just work. Patchburn not necessary if it shows "vendor supported."

Oldie1kslowbie · Feb 21, 2006, 09:33 PM

Yep, working fine. Tried patch burn but it just told me that a profile was already set up. iTunes recognizes it no problem. Thanks y'all.

ghporter · Feb 21, 2006, 09:52 PM

It should be no problem whatsoever to change out the drive that comes with any enclosure, especially if it's an IDE drive-they're ultra simple to mess with.

I expect SATA enclosures to become more and more common soon, and that will make for really, REALLY fast external hard drives...

rozwado1 · Mar 13, 2006, 10:54 PM

Resurrectinated!

I have a d2 case from an older CD-RW drive. Think it's OK to put in an ATA-133 HD? Is there a chance that the d2 chipset is programmed to tell OS X that it's a CD-RW drive and I'll be screwed?

System profiler still shows a LaCie CDRW drive under the firewire tab