Mac OSX CDRW

N

Nachohat

je suis donc je pense
I own a Tibook and an old G3 266 desktop model (not the tower). At first I wanted to buy a nice firewire CDRW but they are too damn expensive. So I decided I would install an internal CDRW in my beige G3.

What are good internal CDRW models (IDE I suppose) that I could put in my beige? 8X would be just fine I think, faster is always better as long as it's cheap. Which internal CDRW drives will be supported by OS X?

Also, I have a slight problem. My CD rom drive in the beige will have to be replaced by the CDRW because there is no room I think. Will I have problems installing OSX or booting from this drive? What about setting the new drive as the master drive, is that possible?

thanx for all the help
 
The beige G3 models were the last pro level macs to include SCSI, and it does not have built-in IDE. If you want to install a CDR, then it will have to be a SCSI model which will be much more expensive even than firewire.

You might Ebay or other similar places for an older external SCSI CDR. We have a 2x at work that we still use and it is very reliable. Just make sure that it is a name-brand. Most HP, Yamaha, and Sony CDRs work with the mac, just check the model on their website to make sure.

Another alternative is to buy an external 5 1/4 firewire case and install an IDE CDR inside. I know that this is commonly done with PCs but I am not sure how it would work with macs. If you go this method, again make sure your CDR will work with the mac. You usually cannot find internal CDRs in Mac magazines, so you might have to switch over to PCwarehouse or tigerdirect.com.
 
yeah, I suspected this would be a hard thing to do. I also though about that whole enclosure thing. How much does one of those things usually cost? what kind of drivers would I need to use it?

thanx
 
technically, the firewire enclosure should not need any drivers, but the CDR would. Make sure the CDR supports mac.

Another option that I just thought about is instead of an firewire case, you can get an IDE card for your mac.

Personally, I would go for the firewire solution. It would mean that you would only be able to burn from your tibook (unless you buy a firewire card for your G3), but chances are, you will always be using your tibook anyways.

Any other thoughts from anyone? Anyone try out the firewire external case with a CDR?
 
Actually, if memory serves right, beige g3's have IDE CD-ROM drives. Just open the computer and see if the cable from the hard drive bridges to the CR-ROM. I remember this, because when I would upgrade hard drives in these machines, I would disconnect the CD-ROM, attach the new drive to that connector, and copy files to it. It should be easy to check. RL
 
I don't know about the desktop form factor, but on the tower there are 3 total bays, two of which come filled with a CD and HD. I think the desktop ones have a free slot also.
 
I think the beige g3 desktop models were the first to come with IDE drives (CD and HD). I don't think there's a bay you could use for another CD drive though. I think you might have to do some surgery on the case so the new mouth fits the case (I might be thinking about other model... like 7300's case)

I'd just go with FireWire... If you buy an internal one, you'd have to burn from your slower machine all the time... If/When you upgrade your desktop, you don't have to mess around with the thing again...
 
Yes I believe the beige has IDE and I just have to find my old hardware specifications to make sure. There are two emply slots left but they are only for internal storage as they are not wide enough to put in a CD rom drive.

Assuming my CD rom is IDE, is it very complicated to remove the current master drive, replace it by a new internal CDRW and then make this one the master drive? It sound possible in theory, but it could be a hasle.

I just bought a Tibook in March and I missed the free CDRW deal by a few weeks. :( So I won't be buying a desktop any time soon. In fact, I think I will never buy a desktop computer again. This completely replaces a desktop for me, all I wanted more was a CDRW and a faster graphics card. Laptops are just so much more convenient, and with things like the new Radeon 2, who needs a desktop if they can afford a laptop? I can't afford both :D

back to the CDRW issue! :D
 
Ok, you guys are right and I am wrong. The Beige G3 does have IDE hard drives and IDE CD-ROMs.

http://www.info.apple.com/info.apple.com/applespec/applespec.taf?RID=271

As far as swapping out the internal, that is possible even with the 7100-7600 style case. You need to pop off the front, and make sure that the button for ejecting is in the same place as the Apple original. Again make sure the CD-R is compatible with mac.

Still if it were up to me, I would get a firewire one and let my G3 collect dust.

BTW, I heard that there is going to be a new standard for firewire soon. Firewire2 or something like that that would take the bandwidth from 400-800Mbps to a max of 3.2Gbps (not gigabytes, gigabits). Devices with this standard are going to be coming out towards the end of the year. I wonder when Apple is going to release their new machines with it, or if it is going to be a fireware upgrade.
 
I have a Beige G3 MT 266. I also got a Yamaha 16x10x40 CDRW.

I HATE people who say "Let your G3 collect dust" THis is a great computer. not everyone has millionair parents who can buy them a new computer every 2 months!

Even if I had the cash I wouldn't buy a new Mac just yet.

Anyways. Get a OrangeMicro USB/Firewire PCI card. it's great, and works perfectly under Mac OS X. My USB mouse works the seconds the happy Mac appears under Mac OS X. Then get a Yamaha Firewire CDRW. they are the best. it will work on your Beige G3 and TiBook.
 
Macwrite, finally someone who perfectly understands what I'm saying. Thank you!! Thank you!!

I have allready installed a USB card in my beige 266 about a year ago and it's live and kicking. I have a printer connected to it, a scanner by usb and it is serving as a router for my home network of 5 computers. When I come home with my Tibook, all I have to do is connect to the network and bam, I have access to a printer, scanner, internet and a 1.4mb disk drive. It's the only way of surviving since there is no external storage provided with the Tibook. So a beige G3 is definatly very usefull to me, I'm not playing Quake 3 on it, but for anything else it's just perfect.

Macwrite: You have installed an internal Yamaha CD burner?? Please tell me more, I want this to be as easy a possible. Could you give me a brief summary of the main steps? Also, are you runing OS X on you beige? I plan to format the drive as soon as 10.1 comes out and upgrade everything to X. I hope having an internal, non Apple CDRW won't make this difficult.

Thank you for giving me hope.
 
I've got a Powerbook G3 series "bronze" 33mhz, and need to look for a CDRW -- or a CDRW/DVD-rw, even.

I'm thinking along the lines of getting a firewire unit, whatever I get, since I want to only buy this unit ONCE in the next few years (hence the idea of the CDRW/DVD-rw in one, even though I really can't afford either). I'll probably get another powerbook when i do buy a new machine, so an external firewire is the way to go.

Would you all recommend this Orange PCI card with the Yamaha CDRW for the G3 series PowerBook, too? How about the compatability under OSX? With iTunes? With Toast PR1? I have been thinking I should just await the release of Toast final after 10.1, to see what is compatible.

How about recommendations on Firewire CDRW/DVD-r units?

thanks!
 
I got a Lacie USB and Firewire CDRW finally. It's great in Os 9 but I haven't tried it in Os X yet.

Thanx for all the help.
 
After lot of software updates and patches I found that I had a SCSI cable with wrong connections in pin 17,18,51,52 on the 68pin connector.
This happened me before with a scanner, now I can write CD's under OSX 10.1.5 with Toast 5.1.4 and an external Matsushita 8x Writer!
The correct conections should be:
***50pin > 68pin connector***
12 > NC instead of 17
13 > 17 & 18 instead of 18
37 > NC instead of 51
38 > 51 & 52 & 17 & 18 instead 52
So if you have an external SCSI CD-Writer and when you burn CD's your writer hangs buy a good SCSI cable!!!
 
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