First look into the external 360 DVD-drive

After my succesful attempt to use the Hitachi drive with my 360 it wasn't "married" to before I did my first careful step in creating an external 360 dvd-drive.

I'm planning on using the USB-casing I currently use for my DVD-writer. This casing makes it possible to transform an internal device into an external device by providing a power source and incorporating a IDE <-> USB adapter. This is what the casing looks like with the current DVD-writer installed:



Time to look into the 360 DVD-drive vs a "normal" DVD-drive to compare measures:


The 360 DVD-drive is higher due to the legs it's using


The 360 drive is a little less deep

Currently I'm facing these challenges:

• Build a power-adapter for the 360 drive and incorporate this in the casing;
• Build a custom-eject button since the button is not on the 360-drive itself;
• Make a decision to either cut the legs from the 360 drive to make it fit in the casing or don't cut the legs and forget about closing the casing;
• Make a hole or (use an existing one) to lead the SATA-cable from the back of the 360 drive to the outside of the casing.

Basically all I wil use from the casing is the casing itself, the power Adapter inside of the casing is of no good for this project and neither is the IDE <> USB adapter.

To be continued (that is if I go through with it)