# OWC offers SuperDrive burners for most Macs



## bobw (Mar 15, 2005)

Other World Computing (OWC) is offering internal SuperDrive DVD and CD burners for the Power Macs (G3, G4 and G5), the eMac G4, the iMac G4 and G5, the Mac mini, the G4 Cube and the PowerBook G4.

 Internal drives start around US$75 and feature up to 16X DVD (4.7GB per disc) burn speeds, up to 6X DVD Dual Layer (8.5GB per disc) burn speeds and up to 40X CD burn speeds.

Both bare drives and complete solutions featuring software and media are available. Instructions, including free Apple Quicktime movie installation guides, are available at OWCs tech center for most systems. External solutions also are available starting from $129.99 for just about any Mac or PC that operates on FireWire or USB 2 ports. All drive options can be viewed here.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Mar 15, 2005)

I'm gonna throw in my $0.02 for Other World Computer.  They're a pleasure to deal with, have really low prices for a lot of stuff, offer great deals on a lot of stuff you won't find anywhere else, offer products for Mac computers ranging from old 68k machines up through the newest G5s, and ship fast and easy.

I've ordered several SuperDrives from them, from Pioneer's DVR-105 to the newest 109.  All excellent quality, new units, with great prices, good shipping -- I can't say enough about them.  Without them my old 7600 would be collecting dust, but since they have the parts and upgrades I need for it, it's alive and kicking.

Great store.


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## whitesaint (Mar 15, 2005)

So if im reading this site right, you can buy internal upgrades for pretty much any drive on any fairly recent mac model and their dirt cheap. Could you burn discs with this on iDVD?  Could you burn dvds and cds on the finder with these?

I noticed alot of internal dual-layer dvd burning options for great bargains.  Does Apple have software installed to take advantage of these dual-layer DVDs?  Or am i missing somthing and could you just flip the dvd upside down?  Is is it possible to burn dual layer DVDs just by flipping it over?


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Mar 15, 2005)

Yes, and yes.  Burning is possible out-of-the-box on any DVR-105 through DVR-107, and the 108 and 109 require PatchBurn to be "burnable" (the 108 may be supported natively now, I dunno).  ANY of those drives will work with Toast or a 3rd party utility out-of-the-box, but for the later models mentioned above, you need PatchBurn to make it "seen" by OS X as a valid burner.

Apple currently does not offer any dual-layer solutions.  Dual-layer does not mean that both sides of the disk are burnable -- there's still only one burnable side.


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## texanpenguin (Mar 15, 2005)

whitesaint - dual layer is where the laser actually looks THROUGH the most external surface of the disc and sees more data beneath it. It's what makes Movies fit onto one side of a DVD.

You can also have dual-sided DVDs, which involves flipping (although I've never seen a writable one).

Best of all, theoretically you can have dual-sided, dual-layer on the one disc, allowing for 4.7*4 GB of space (forgive me if I'm wrong with that).


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## Robn Kester (Mar 16, 2005)

fyi mwave.com (good prices and selection on PC parts) has the Pioneer DVR-K04L for $115 USD, which I believe is the Dual Layer drive OWC is offering. (I've read reports of people putting these in their minis with no problems.)

But OWC's RAM price was unbeatable when I got my 1gig stick for my mini from them ($176 USD shipped).

Toast 6 Titanium will handle Dual Layer burning. However, the DL media is WAY over priced still. For what a single DL DVD costs, you could buy 5-10 DVD-R.

DL is the same technology that movies have been released on for years, refered to as DVD9. This is how they get a whole movie plus extras on 1 DVD without flipping.

Instead of 1 layer of data, there are 2 divided by a spacer layer. The lasers differentiate between the two to read the data from the DVD media. Since this has been part of the DVD spec for a long time, it means that any DVD compatible player will read the DL discs.

Double Sided is a different format, only offering 4.5 gig per side. As far as I can tell it is not possible to dual layer a double sided DVD.


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## whitesaint (Mar 16, 2005)

wow thanks for the claifications.  I thought dual-layer = dual-sided.  I had no idea DVDs have been that advanced for this long and had no idea DVDs could store 8-9 GB on one side, that is crazy.

So thats pretty cool, muh eMac has a DVD burner in it, does this mean i can burn dual sided DVDs (not dual layer)?  Just by flipping it over...? ::ha:: do they sell blank dual-sided DVD's in any stores?

Still im not arguin wit the fact that we can still burn 4.7 GB discs, which is still mind boggling to me.  ::alien::


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## Robn Kester (Mar 16, 2005)

whitesaint - actually yes on the dual sided question. A Dual Sided DVD actually gives you 4.7 x 2 = 9.4 gig of storage. Essentially it is just a regular DVD-R on each side.

I've never seen Double Sided DVD-R at any store locally to me, but then again I've never seen Dual Layer either and they sell the drives.

But, just like the Dual Layer DVDs, the price per unit is considerably higher than the equiv amount of regular 4.7 gig DVDs. Cheapest I've seen them online was 100+ for around $3 each. In comparison to say 75 cents each for a DVD-R.

And then there is the question of... where do you label a Double Sided DVD? on the inside clear part? You sure can't label the main area, lol.


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## mackace23@hotma (Mar 17, 2005)

I am interested in getting a superdrive for my mac. I have the digital audio version G4/466/640ram/30gb/10.3.8. I just wanted some more clarity on which unit I should get. Pioneer 105-109? What I really want to use it for is "backing" up my movies. What would be the best unit to do that with? What it be better if I did purchase the 109 dual layer? How difficult is it to burn the movies with that unit if osx doesn't recognize them? Or should I just get a single layer burner? What software would I need?  Any help is appreciated.


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## Robn Kester (Mar 18, 2005)

I put a DVR-107 into my 466 and it recognized it as if it were Apple's own. Any one of the Pioneer superdrives should work just fine without problems since that is what Apple uses.

As far as Dual Layer, Apple doesn't support it yet, but Toast does. And if the majority of the burning you will be doing is going to be done wiht Toast, I'd say you are good with whateevr one you choose.


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## Robn Kester (Mar 18, 2005)

FYI, I just ordered the $120 USD Pioneer DVR-K04L for my Mini today. I will let you guys know how it works/installs etc.


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## chornbe (Mar 19, 2005)

Robn Kester - I see in your sig block that you have a 1.42 mini. My main desktop PC (1.8ghz Pentium 4) is one that I'm considering retiring from desktop use and replacing it with a Mini. Give me the real deal... performance wise, will I be sorry I made the choice? I'm not a gamer... in fact Quake 3 is the only thing I still play and that I do for about an hour maybe twice a year... but I am a developer working in all kinds of things... Microsoft's .NET included. For that I'll load up Virtual PC and dedicate a couple of gigs of Hard drive and half a gig of RAM. Other than that, I do a lot of Java and Python with a smattering of Perl now and then.

Email, office apps, iPhoto and PhotoShop some, too.

So... whattya think? Will I be disappointed or is the Mini up to it?

I ask this in this thread because it seems it *might* be beneficial (cost wise) to not get the Apple superdrive upgrade and get some aftermarket stuff as money allows. My iBook has a Superdrive, so if I *really* need to burn anything to DVD, I still can.

Thanks.


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## Viro (Mar 19, 2005)

I have a 1.33 GHz Powerbook G4. The performance is roughly equal to a 1.8 GHz P4 on tasks like compiling using GCC and the like. Java performance is slightly poorer since Apple doesn't ship a server VM, but that's no real biggie.

I wouldn't run .NET via Virtual PC on anything less than a dual G5 Powermac. Virtual PC is really slow and you'll be pulling your hair out if you tried running Visual Studio.NET on it.

A 1.42 GHz Mac mini will be a fine performer. Just try to get as much RAM as you can afford. There's never too little RAM when OS X is concerned.


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## chornbe (Mar 20, 2005)

Cool, thanks.

I run Virtual PC on my iBook. I added a 1 gig stick to this and it doesn't fly, but it runs well enough for what I do. As I do more and more work at home, I'm not adverse to dedicating the Dell to a dev box with a dual boot for the kids. Maybe.


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## mackace23@hotma (Mar 20, 2005)

What kind of software would I need? Do I use ilife to burn movies? Will I need to compress the movies ? How do I get the movie on to my desktop?


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## ex2bot (Mar 20, 2005)

chornbe, I would think a keyboard/mouse/monitor switch, a Mac mini and your PC would be a very nice solution for you. Then you don't have to depend on VirtualPC for your .NET work.

(IMHO, of course)

Doug


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## eleveneastgate (Mar 20, 2005)

Greetings! I saw this advert too, and I agree, OWC is a very good Company. I purchased 1G RAM from them and had no problems with it!

Anyways... Will this SD work inna iBook G4 (1.07)?

Thanks!


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## Robn Kester (Mar 21, 2005)

chornbe - The Mini's are solid performers for most users. Mine's quite fast for my needs and handles everything I throw at it (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, DVD building, some gaming, etc) with pep and gusto. Obviously anyone who is doing current gaming or video work should get a tower. But for 95% of the users out there the Mini is probably the best choice they could make for the cost.

It's max is 1gig of RAM, so make sure to either order it with 1gig or buy/install yourself. The 256meg it comes with is woefully inadequate.

And I'd recommend the SuperDrive option, as backing up 40+ gig to CDs is downright silly and a pain. I currently backup over my network but it takes longer.

Gamingwise - if you are into older 3D games, you will find it runs them excellently, even some newer games work nicely. I have run Unreal Tournament and Quake3 on mine and they run smooth as butter in summer. Most newer games will definately tax the video on board. It's got a Radeon 9200 with only 32meg of VRAM, I think they should have gone to 64meg but nothing you can do about it. I've also tried some newer demos like Spiderman2 and Gooball and they run pretty well, all things considered.

For your programming needs, PS needs, etc, it should bring you much joy.

And, at the price, you can more easily justify the cost of a new machine down the line. I'm betting the next Mini's will have more Video umph at the very least. And Apple tends to refine their units with each release. Just look at the iMac when it came out and what they make now. Such a huge difference.


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## danfan521 (Mar 21, 2005)

When I installed iLife '05 it says that you must have a 766 Mhz or above processor for iDVD. So how can you take advantage of the DVD burner capabilities? I just need to know until I can upgrade the processors of my systems ...


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## Robn Kester (Mar 21, 2005)

I ran iDVD on my 466 for quite sometime with no problems. Those requirements are not really exact, as they are aimed for what Apple considers appropriate performance.

On a slower mac, iDVD just takes quite a bit longer to do its thing. I'd bet if you tried it, you would find it worked just fine, just slower.

Update... The DVD burner arrived today and install went smooth like melted butter. I have since tested it both with Toast 6 and iDVD 5 and both have no prblems burning on it.

Here's the System Profiler dump:

PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K04L:

Manufacturer: PIONEER
Model: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K04L
Revision: 1.00
Drive Type: CD-RW/DVD-RW
Disc Burning: Apple Supported/Shipped
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 1
Socket Type: Internal


For under $120, easy to install, fast and easy to use. And it does DL if you gottem!

r


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## kensteele (Apr 24, 2005)

This is a great thread, thanks for the information.  So I'm going to replace my combo drive next week per the info here.  What does one do with the combo drive, is there a market for it?


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