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Benq just released a firmware update for the 1620. Is there an article or something that describes how to go about installing the update.

you don't really need an article on how to update the firmware, it's really very simple.

You download the firmware. Double click on the file (which opens the firmware flashing program). Select your BenQ DW1620. And then hit the "flash" button. When it finishes it will tell you to reboot. Do *NOT* reboot until it tells you to. When it tells you you need to reboot, it even gives you a nice little button to press, which will reboot the system for you. Easy as pie

That's what I needed to know. Thank you.

I'm just wondering if BenQ drives can flash to an external USB2/Firewire enclosure without any (or little) problems. I don't have a desktop and I am thinking of buying the DW1620 very soon.

I've also noticed that when you click on the .exe file to upgrade the f/w, the program does it automatically for you. No need to use a 3rd party flasher, which is always nice). The primary reason I would get the BenQ drive is for the customer support they offer & the top quality of the product.

crea78 wrote:I'm just wondering if BenQ drives can flash to an external USB2/Firewire enclosure without any (or little) problems. I don't have a desktop and I am thinking of buying the DW1620 very soon.

I've also noticed that when you click on the .exe file to upgrade the f/w, the program does it automatically for you. No need to use a 3rd party flasher, which is always nice). The primary reason I would get the BenQ drive is for the customer support they offer & the top quality of the product.

I know BenQ is planning to release an external model of the BenQ DW1620 soon... so I assume that if their firmware flasher is unable to detect and flash external drives, it will be resolved by the point they release their drive.

BenQ does have an ext. version of the DW-1620 at the moment (EW1621). It's mainly sold in the UK online but costs a little too much here in the States. I can get the internal version + enclosure for about $30 cheaper than the EW1621. Here is a link to the drive on BenQ's website: http://www.benq.com/storage/storage_dvdrw_ew162i_specs.html

using just any enclosure may result in not being able to reach a sustained transfer rate great enough for 16x burning (or 12x). There was an article done on this, which can be accessed from the front page if you haven't seen it already. So doing lot's of research on the enclosure prior to buying it is a must.

dolph_rex, I'm considering buying the StorTecc USB3/FW combo drive from Dealsonic.com (http://www.dealsonic.com/stpmblsmbaco2.html). This particular enclosure has the Prolific PL-3507 which is used for both the USB2 & Firewire ports.

Someone on CDFreaks.com, used an ext. enclosure with this chipset (diff. mfg) on his BenQ and had bad results. It was probably be he had an older chipset (Pm37LV512) which doesn't flash at all, but the newer one (Pm39LV512) does have the ability to flash.

Btw, which article shows the BenQ used in ext. enclosures? I tried looking for it but haven't found it at the moment. If this enclosure I want to get from Dealsonic.com isn't compatible with the BenQ, then my choice will be the NEC ND-3500A.

It's not about compatability with the drive... if the enclosure cannot handle the throughput to handle burning media, it's not going to work. If that chipset is already known to have problems, I would suggest not buying that enclosure... if you do, make SURE you can return it for a refund if it doesn't work.