I need a external DVD drive for recovery on an Acer ultra portable. Can anyone suggest a model which will be recognised thru the BIOS? Thanx.
Anyone? Someone must be using an external drive???
Check if this Vantec external 5.25" USB case for Optical drives will work for you, APEX will ship to you. You should be able to use any IDE Optical drive in this case.
Thanks@Eazy. Tried a diff external casing but it was not recognised in the BIOS. Thing is the original ext drive was stolen and since I’m in the middle of nowhere, I need confirmation if the drive will be recognised@BIOS before I make the purchase. Also, once I learn about a model that works, I’ll have 2 find out where I can source it! Not easy when you’re in the NE.
Err… I have the Vantec Optical drive external case with a LG DVD writer in it. I have never had a need to use it in DOS so have never seen if the BIOS picks it up, I will connect it tommorrow and check it out. I have a feeling my current A8N-E board does not support USB devices on boot but my old ASUS P4C800-E MoBo did recognise these devices on boot. I could boot off a USB drive with that old MoBo. So I think my result may vary from what you may get with your setup.
Just tried it out, BIOS does not show DVD writer in USB case and I could not get it recognised after booting from a CDR from Internal DVD drive. 
Thanks for taking the trouble. Guess I’m stuck unless someone else has the solution here…
i might be wrong but i think bios wont/does not support the option of booting from usb attached dvd drive. it could support from pen drive though. or maybe u could try the costlier sony external dvd drive like in this link:
Sony External Dvd Writer - Compare Prices, Reviews and Buy at NexTag - Price - Review
Take out the notebook’s HDD and use a 2.5" external USB case or cable and attach it to your Desktop computer and backup/restore, will that work for you ?
It’s a tablet and I need to restore the OS with the recovery CDs so that idea^^ won’t work. The owner formatted the recovery partition too so can’t even do a D2D recovery:( . Guess I’m stuck.
The original external drive was recognised in the BIOS. The Sony you mentioned might do it, but I was hoping for a confirmation from someone who has used an ext drive recognised in the BIOS. Otherwise I’ll just be saddled with an expensive drive. Btw, Acer India has put me on hold for a replacement drive for ages, hence this thread.
^^ if u know someone who has a sony dvd writer, get it from him and try using a usb-sata/ide cable to power it. might work and its not costly i think.
^^tried it. I think the problem is not the make of the drive per se but the usb-ide cable. Vantec@eazy and the generic casing I used is not recognised in dos mode. Guess I’m stuck until Acer gives me a replacement drive!