is there any way to covert an internal cd-rw to external. Is there such a thing as IDE to USB or IDE to parallel adapter cable?

Indeed there is such a device. You want something like this (http://www.bixnet.com/parporidecdr.html). Pretty expensive though...

The easiest way is to buy an external drive box, you just pop the drive in the box and then (they come SCSI, USB1.1, USB2 and Firewire flavors, so you need to find one that will work on your system) go.

Here is a page at pricewatch.com showing the variety of items available....

http://www.pricewatch.com/1/74/874-1.htm

I thought it would be relatively easy to make the adapter myself. Anyways, I think I'll search for a good old external Cd-rw with parallel interface so I could connect it to any computer. Any suggestions on a reliable external CD-rw? Speed is not a concern.