OT...add a DVD burner to a G4 Mac

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

Our ad/marketing person needs a CD/DVD burner in her older G4 Mac. Is it
safe to assume that installing this in place of her existing drive is just a
matter of replacing the drive? (I've done this many times in Windows
machines, where this is one of the easiest upgrades one can make)

I assume I can pick up a high-quality burner from any online retailer,
right?

Does OSX have built-in burner tools, or will we need to locate some software
to make CDs/DVDs? (What's the best software for a completely non-tech
designer?)

-John O

[Buko@adobeforums.com]

Is it safe to assume that installing this in place of her existing drive
is just a
matter of replacing the drive?





Yes. just get a Superdrive from OWC they are about $59 -$79 depending on the software and accessories that come with it.

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

What is a superdrive? Is this unique Mac hardware?

I was looking at something like this:
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131031[/url]

Obviously, this does not come with Mac software.

-John O

[Claudio_González@adobeforums.com]

John, the drive you mention does not list any Mac OS amongst the systems supported. Why not spend a little more and be on the safe side? For example:

<http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/DVR109VB1A/>

[Claudio_González@adobeforums.com]

Oh, and "superdrive" is the name Apple gives to drives sold by them that can write CDs and DVDs.

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

Thanks, Claudio. The prices aren't much different so we'll go with a drive
that's meant to be in a G4. I still wonder (just a little) what's the
difference in the hardware.

-John O

[Buko@adobeforums.com]

they are even cheaper than the last time I looked.

[Buko@adobeforums.com]

I stay with the Pioneer for the Mac.

[Eric_@_MCA@adobeforums.com]

Basically, if you buy an Apple OEM drive you know it will be plug-n-play. However, there is software (donation-ware) called PatchBurn that essentially adds support for a lot of unsupported drives. Just pop the new drive in, launch PatchBurn and it generates a new profile for the drive so that the OS can use it. According to the FAQ, it pretty much supports all DVD drives out there with the possible exception of a couple by Samsung.

[Kathryn_Jenkins@adobeforums.com]

JohnO, I've added Apple Pioneer OEM DVD-RW drives as well as "regular" Pionner drives to various Macs. The most recent was a Pioneer DVR-111D, which went into my MDD G4. It replaced a DVR-106D.

They have all worked fine. One small advantage to getting the Apple pulls is that the tray front bezel is already removed. It has to be removed in order to to fit through the opening in the front of most Apple G3 Blue and White and G4 towers. When I've bought non-Apple Pioneers, I have removed the tray bezel by quickly hooking them up in a FW case (just hooked up enough to power on the drive), opening the tray, then shutting off the power. This lets me safely remove the tray bezel, after which the drive goes into the target machine.

I'd recommend geting Toast Titanium 6 or 7 software.

If burning from within i-apps is desired, you might need to run PatchBurn.