Does software exist which will allow me to use my PC's DVD drive as an external USB drive for my netbook? [more inside]
posted by whir on May 20, 2009 - 8 answers

I have two computer hard drives installed onto one machine, and no CD for the first hard drive. The computer doesn't recognize USB ports nor the DVD drive on one of the hard drives. How can I fix that? [more inside]
posted by magnoliasouth on Jul 23, 2008 - 4 answers

Is my ThinkPad laptop capable of video capture? [more inside]
posted by stleric on Jan 13, 2008 - 2 answers

I've recently purchased a new external USB DVD drive, as I do not have a floppy drive or internal CD/DVD drive on this windows PC. I am trying to set it up now for dual-booting Solaris+Ubuntu but, even after updating the BIOS (Phoenix 6.00) I cannot boot a USB drive. First, does anyone have a way I could somehow add USB drivers as a boot option (along with XP), so that I can then add Solaris and Ubuntu (making it four options at boot)? [more inside]
posted by christopherbdnk on Dec 26, 2007 - 9 answers

The DVD writer in my laptop seems to be dying. Although it can still read pre-written DVDs and CDs, it has problems reading home-burnt DVDs. Am I right in thinking that if I buy an external (USB) DVD writer, I can open the enclosure, swap over the mechanisms and effectively end up with: 1. A new writer installed in my laptop, and 2. A slightly dodgy external DVD reader?
posted by Kiwi on Nov 17, 2007 - 9 answers

Lately, my iBook G4 (I use Toast Titanium, 6 and 7) has trouble recognizing my external FireWire hard drive. Today, the external DVD burner (USB) has disappeared -- the iBook just doesn't recognize it anymore. Is my logic board f*cked, again? And if it is, does it make economic sense to fix it on such an old machine, or should I just upgrade? Thanks.
posted by matteo on Sep 18, 2006 - 5 answers

Too many USB devices? [more inside]
posted by SweetJesus on Sep 19, 2005 - 9 answers