SCSI to IDE for Server Backup DVD Burner

[maximus01can]

Howdy,

Just wondering if anyone can enlighten me on this problem I have. Just purchased a LG GSA-4082B DVD burner to backup data on our control system server. The problem is when we opened the server box (DELL PowerEdge 2500, 900Mhz, NT4) we found it had a SCSI Bus instead of an IDE and hence that won't work. My question is, can we use one of the PCI expansion slots to install a PCI to IDE controller card and talk to this thing? This server is a couple years old so external burner is not going to work because there's no USB ports. Also wondering if the burning software will work on NT4. If not will Nero or something else work? Upgrading the OS is not an option till a plant shutdown in 2 yrs so I could use some propeller hat's to be put on and find a way to make this work.

Thanks in advance,
Max

[FatalException]

A PCI controller card should work, but beware that many will not function as "CD-ROM only" controllers. For instance, I used a Promise Ultra100TX2 card for a while in my system... it would not detect either of my CD-ROM's when I plugged them into the card all by themselves... when I plugged a hard drive into the card along with the CD-ROM (master/slave), it detected both and Windows could use both.

Perhaps others with experiences on other cards will help find a card that doesn't require a hard drive connection to detect CD-ROMs. (This is a known problem with that Promise card, I have 3 of them from Western Digital drives - they come free with many retail models - and all of them had the same problem.)

[sechs]

It's pretty unusual for a PC motherboard to have no IDE support, whatsoever.

Just make sure that the card that you get specifically supports optical (ATAPI) drives.

[LeftCoast]

Another option might be to get an external enclosure(usb) for the dvd drive. I've seen them around for @ $20 (usb, 2.0). Gives you a little more flexibility, but the downside is you may need to get a usb 2.0 card to utilize the full speed of the drive (if the server doesn't support 2.0). USB 2.0 should work with 1.1, but be slower.

Link: http://www.dealsonic.com/synecchusb20.html

Dell support says that server supports one ide cd-rom drive. Does it have an existing cd-rom drive you could swap with the dvd-rom? Support also says you should have 2 usb ports on the back. http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/systems...g/127kwab0.htm

Dell: http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/systems...g/127kwaa0.htm



EDIT: Wait, I just saw you're from Calgary; I'm not supposed to be helping you! That Cup is BEAUTIFUL!

[FatalException]

He said he doesn't have USB, so I didn't even think about that option - but you are right, with an add-on USB card and an external enclosure, that should work. Bravo on thinking outside the box, literally!