Mac Discussion

I have a PPC G5 1.8 dualie, whose superdire burner appears to be, or about to be on the fritz. So, I am looking for an inexpensive CD/DVD burner that I could install in the current drive bay , when i take the old superdrive out. As long as am forking the $ ( am budgeting $30-45?), it would be nice but not required if it could burn DL too.

I guess what I am looking for in a nutshell would be:

1. Compatible with PPC macs
2. Capability to be installed internally ( my system profiler says my current drive is ATAPI, I dont know if I am limited to that)
3. OS X.3 -x.5 support
4. Capbale of burning/ reading CD, CRW, DVD, DVD RW
5. Bonus if it can do DL
6. EXTRA bonus if it can do Lightscribe.. tho really this doesn't matter to me.


I WAS about to get the Pioneer DVR-118L, but the mixed reviews are scaring me...

then there is the Samsung Internal DVD/CD 'Super-MultiDrive' (SH-S222L)on newegg, but it says it's IDE.. so i dont know if it will work natively on a mac



those seem the only two types I can find.. but any imput would be greatly appreciated! :)

Pioneer will be fine, but anything will work.

Unless its changed recently, Apple uses Pioneers in the MP and Sonys in everything else.

Sony, Samsung, Lite-on.

Lightscribe takes 20+ minutes per disc...

[www.newegg.com]

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Posting And You: [www.albinoblacksheep.com]

ATAPI and IDE amount to the same thing. I am pretty sure this is the standard for all disk burners (unlike hard drives, which come in PATA, formerly just ATA, and SATA flavors). Full size optical drive cases are also pretty standard.

I would definitely get one which can burn dual-layer disks. I doubt you will pay much more.


Good luck.

- Winston

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Be seeing you.

Winston,
when you say "ATAPI and IDE amount to the same thing." do you mean speed wise or are you saying the connectors are compatible ( the latter being my main concern)

Connectors.

My link is to all of the burners that will fit in your G5.

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Posting And You: [www.albinoblacksheep.com]

dead heaven Wrote:
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> > Winston,
> when you say "ATAPI and IDE amount to the same
> thing." do you mean speed wise or are you saying
> the connectors are compatible ( the latter being
> my main concern)


What Badger said. ATAPI and IDE are part of what amounts to the same standard. Here's a brief explanation:

[searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com]
Quote:

ATAPI (AT Attachment Packet Interface) is an interface between your computer and attached CD-ROM drives and tape backup drives. Most of today's PC computers use the standard Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) interface to address hard disk drives. ATAPI provides the additional commands needed for controlling a CD-ROM player or tape backup so that your computer can use the IDE interface and controllers to control these relatively newer device types.
ATAPI is part of the Enhanced IDE (EIDE) interface (also known as ATA-2)

Good luck.

- Winston

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Be seeing you.

To clarify, the standard for ATAPI uses the same connectors and commands as for ATA (now called PATA, Parallel ATA, to distinguish them from newer SATA, Serial ATA) hard drives. ATA and IDE mean the same thing.

[searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com]
Quote:

ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) is the official name that American National Standards Institute group X3T10 uses for what the computer industry calls Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE).

The newer SATA drives use different connectors, but I don't think any optical drives use a SATA interface.


- W

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Be seeing you.

"The newer SATA drives use different connectors, but I don't think any optical drives use a SATA interface."

Oh yes they do and it's getting more difficult to find IDE optical drives these days.

PW Wrote:
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> "The newer SATA drives use different connectors,
> but I don't think any optical drives use a SATA
> interface."
>
> Oh yes they do and it's getting more difficult to
> find IDE optical drives these days.


Thanks for the correction.

- W

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Be seeing you.

And the 20 minute Lightscribe burn is only for when you flip over the disc to the label side and burn your design. Writing data happens at the same speed as a similar non-LS drive, and you can use any data discs for that. Save the LS discs for when you "need" the LS feature. (And don't store them in disc wallets with PVC sleeves - I found out that the contact of the LS surface and the PVC causes fading. Damn.)