Sabrent EC-525K USB 2.0 5.25-Inch Aluminum 5.25-Inch IDE Hard Drive Enclosure for CD-ROM/CD-R/CD-RW/DVD-ROM/DVD+RW/DVD-RE

Had an old CD-RW sitting around...so I ordered this to be able to use with an Asus Eee laptop. This alternative is so much more attractive & cheaper than purchasing an external drive. You actually get the same thing for a much higher cost...rather than just buying an internal drive & this enclosure.

Sabrent EC-525K USB 2.0 5.25-Inch Aluminum 5.25-Inch IDE Hard Drive Enclosure for CD-ROM/CD-R/CD-RW/DVD-ROM/DVD+RW/DVD-RE

Bought for ide dvd drive from old computer(new unit is SATA, so would'nt fit internally. Works plug& play for Samsung and for NEC dvd drives. Plastic end caps as stated in other post and useless instructions but works great. I used a remote control plug and velcroed the remote to the front of desk to turn unit off and on without reaching to back of unit, so fan does not run all the time. Not noisy to me as noted in other post (perhaps noise is related to specific dvd drive. Hard to beat it at the price. Unit is rounded on edges and not rectangular as pictured.

I have to say that the product works as expected; Vista discovered the device and I was able to start using my drive right away.

What I didn't expect was how loud the enclosure would be. You should always expect some noise from enclosures, but the fan on this is way too loud. I have been forced to turn on and off the device as I need it.

First off, the drive case that was sent isn't the drive case pictured. The one that I received has cheap-a** plastic endcaps, but as long as you're not repeatedly swapping drives in and out of the case it should be okay. The manual doesn't provide any instructions on how to install the drive, which you think is a no brainer. My problem was figuring out how to get the case apart. I finally figured out that you take off the front panel and slide the top forward until it it comes off. I set my drive to Master, since the manual didn't say anything about which to set it to. It hasn't conflicted with my external hard drive, yet. If it does, I guess I'll see what the hard drive is set to and match it. The case comes with a drivers disc, which wasn't needed since both my XP and Vista OS's recognized the drive and installed the drivers. If I ever have to use the supplied drivers, I hope that they're better than the instruction manual.
All-in-all, the case is worth the price paid, but the vendor or Amazon needs to have a picture that accurately represents the case you're purchasing.

I can't get this thing to power on, nor will my computer recognize it. And the installation "guide" is a joke.