Compatible Connector For CD Burner

Thread Starter

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
I have a 1999 vintage CD burner that has a DB25 pin connector. However my newer computer has just USB ports.

Is there an interfacing connector between DB25 and USB or is my burner obsolete and a 5 LB. paper weight?
 

shteii01

Joined Feb 19, 2010
4,644
Is that external cd burner?

If it is external, then you could take it out of the case and it should be just IDE/PATA interface (40 pin connector), then just use PATA connector on the motherboard.

Alternatively, there are interface cards that add older serial ports to pc. There are might be usb to db25 cables too, I have not looked for one.
 

BReeves

Joined Nov 24, 2012
410
I wouldn't spend anything to try and make that old drive work. As hard as it is to suck it up, sometimes you just have to cut your losses and buy new equipment. Odds are pretty good that even if you get it plugged in the software won't work.
 

tom_s

Joined Jun 27, 2014
288
one of these you need. provided the drive still works

usb2/ide/sata adaptor


edit: people still using these? (optical media drives)
 

shteii01

Joined Feb 19, 2010
4,644
one of these you need. provided the drive still works

usb2/ide/sata adaptor


edit: people still using these? (optical media drives)
The trouble with that one is that cd drive still need power so you are going to crack open the pc case to get to power cable/connector and once pc case is open, well, just use the power and the ribbon cable to hook up cd drive to motherboard.
 

shteii01

Joined Feb 19, 2010
4,644
Hey Glen, this reminded me. I still have external modem, I bought it new back in 1998/99. It has db25 connector on the modem, but I plug it into db9 connector on the pc. Meaning that the cable I use for it had db25 on one end, db9 on the other end. So the question is: Do you really need db25 on the pc? You might just need regular serial port on the pc that has db9 connector.

In my case. The mobo I have does not have serial port (db9 or db25). But it does have a serial header on the motherboard, so what I did is that I bought a ribbon cable with the bracket and db9 connector, installed it and now I have my modem hooked up to pc, it work fine since I have sent faxes using it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200516

In conclusion.
Check if your mobo has serial header.
Check if you can use db9 to db25 cable.
 
Last edited:

bertus

Joined Apr 5, 2008
22,266
Hello,

I have seen drives with separate cards to drive them.
Some indeed had the 25 pins D connector.

They could be a version of an SCSI interface.
See here for more info:
http://rajblogroom.blogspot.nl/2011/04/scsi.html
http://superuser.com/questions/664983/what-types-of-scsi-connectors-are-these

There also have been the zip and jaz drives from iomega:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iomega_Zip_drive
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iomega_Jaz_drive
There where types of them that used the parallel port for the communication.

Bertus
 

MrSoftware

Joined Oct 29, 2013
2,186
It's most likely a SCSI interface. Most (all?) CD recorders from back then used SCSI interfaces. So you would most likely need a SCSI controller, a good SCSI cable and a terminator or two depending on if the CD recorder and SCSI controller are self terminating. And even then there's no guarantee that it would work well with modern software. Google or post the brand and model and see what turns up.

Are you trying to make it work for fun, or do you really need to use it for something? Modern CD+DVD burners are under $20 including shipping here in the USA, I imagine they're pretty cheap in most other parts of the world too.
 
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