i vote usb NUMBER NUMBER as the chances are the cdr drive is not over NUMBERx write and thus fireware is of no real use but i cant see how you are going to get it working without a cradle i cant even get my dell laptop dvd drive to work as the connectors are not the same as my cd drive ones seems dell cant keep any standards going original message from paul kelly mailto longword esatclear ie sent NUMBER august NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER to ilug URL subject re ilug using normal ide device with a dell latitude cpx laptop john p looney wrote there is absolutely no way to use a conventional NUMBER NUMBER drive with a laptop directly ah they told me that about my aNUMBER worked a charm until i dropped the disk one day onto concrete go on tell them how long the first one lasted i vote external firewire if the laptop has the ports for it paul irish linux users group ilug URL URL for un subscription information list maintainer listmaster URL disclaimer the information in this message is confidential and may be legally privileged it is intended solely for the addressee access to this message by anyone else is unauthorised if you are not the intended recipient any disclosure copying or distribution of the message or any action or omission taken by you in reliance on it is prohibited and may be unlawful please immediately contact the sender if you have received this message in error thank you irish linux users group ilug URL URL for un subscription information list maintainer listmaster URL 