AFAIK, the only external option with a Sound Blaster would have been with a Sound Blaster 16 SCSI, but that only had an internal SCSI connector and would have required running a 50-pin IDC cable from the inside of the PC into an adapter and finally into an external SCSI CDROM (I am not aware of any Creative branded ones).

It did connect via parallel either way

Could you describe the cable and connector used in more detail ?

It might have been a Backpack CD-ROM drive bundle. There were a few different companies that bundled stuff together.

Did it look like the drive here?:
http://minuszerodegrees.net/backpack_cdrom/ba … kpack_cdrom.htm

Could have even been a store made bundle. Those used to be quite common back in the day.

Edit: If it was bundled with a Creative Sound Blaster 16 SCSI card, maybe it was a Texel DM-5024 drive as seen here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=v9TVJ_G_sk8 … dm-5024&f=false

Better picture on an ended eBay lsisting:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Texel-DM-5028 … =p2047675.l2557

Could have also been something else.. like maybe is was a PAS16 card bundle. A few options are listed here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=7k7q-wS0t00 … 0bundle&f=false

@Darry, it was a db25 connector (standard parallel style)

@cyclone3d, it definitely wasn't scsi or much wider than an internal drive and we only had 2 ISA slots- one was used for our modem and the other for the sound card. I suppose it could have been a backpack, yes. I just don't recall it saying Backpack on it anywhere and swear the disc tray said 'Creative' on the front of it... Hmm, perhaps it was a custom or store-made bundle. That's really the most likely, isn't it? Store-made bundle of a backpack with a Creative drive thrown in it for some reason. It was definitely 2x.

Creative Labs' CT2755, "EasyCD External Drive."

Wow Cloudschatze! First time I've heard of one of these . The drive bezel looks suspiciously like an OEM Matsushita CR-562/CR-563. Do you know if it is ?

Would this be the accompanying sound card/interface ?

https://reuseum.com/sound-blaster-easy-16-ct2 … -rom-interface/

I had (still do I think) and external enclosure for a CDROM drive) that connected to a connector on a slot cover (had a 4 pin molex plug for power) and a cable that went to your sound card or IDE forget which. It was pretty old.

darry wrote:

The drive bezel looks suspiciously like an OEM Matsushita CR-562/CR-563. Do you know if it is ?

CR-563-C, to be exact.

Would this be the accompanying sound card/interface ?
https://reuseum.com/sound-blaster-easy-16-ct2 … -rom-interface/

Yes, indeed.

I'd meant to add this to the "Gallery of Strange Sound Devices" thread, but never got around to it. The SB Easy16/CD is an interesting, and surprisingly solid combination (with a few caveats), whereby the CD-ROM enclosure itself incorporates much of the analog stage and I/O connectivity of a standard SB16, similar in design to Media Vision's PAS16-based CDPC and Memphis solutions.

Wow! That's it! That's gotta be it! I've been looking for months for this!

Thank you very much!!

😁 😁

Doubt you will ever see one in real life again though 🙁
I'm keeping 1/2 eye out for the far more common internal Panasonic/MKE drive but most have long gone either from legitimately dying or incorrectly diagnosed as a non working IDE drive (IDE cable fits the connecter but that's where the similarity ends) and thrown out.

I've seen that Easy 16 card a few times, but this is the first time I've seen a picture of the external enclosure that goes with it. It's actually pretty neat.

I believe that Creative may have had an external option for the CT1770 as well, using a ribbon cable that leads to an HD50 connector on a ISA back plate.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sound-Blaster-Pro-SB- … =item1a3381de67

This eBay listing has the pictured card. Definitely an External CD Card.

I recall such a drive but it was a 1x with a caddy loading system.
The drive must have been the Panasonic CR-521, CR-523 or CR-531 according to https://web.archive.org/web/19961225081615/ht … pec/techcd.html, but in an external enclosure: