Hi everybody!

I have an extra notebook CD/DVD drive that I want to install in a desktop. After searching the www I found information on 50 pin to 40 pin adapter which allows the notebokk CD to be connected to the desktop system. 50-pin side is connected to the CD/DVD drive and 40-pin side is connected to IDE cable. There are extra pins for 5V power supply and sound signal included in the adapter.

Now I have problem with the mounting. As the height of the notebook CD/DVD drive is about half of the standard CD drive that fit in the spare bay, I can not mount it in the desktop. I am not able to find the suitable drive bracket so far.

I hope some of fellow posters will be able to help me. Thanks in advance.

If the width of the laptop cd is the same as for the desktop then you should still be able to mount it, it would just end up leaving empty space where a desktop drive would fill the slot.
Unless it does not have any holes for screws, in which case you may be reduced to trying to make a mount from scratch.

There are also a number of 2.5 inch drive enclosures that will allow you to set it up as an external drive and connect through USB, USB 2 or Firewire....

Thanks pave_spectre and Budfred for your advice.

I have had considered the external enclousers, but there are two reasons I have excluded this option: First of all, it is cost, bulkiness and necessity of external power supply. With small children playing and fighting around I need to exclude too many tangles whenever possible. Secondly, most of external enclosures support 2.5 and 3.5 inch drives only which should be too small for a 5.25 inch CD drive.

You could sell the drive and buy a desktop DVD for about $35 or a DVD/CD-RW drive for about $65.