Adding a Superdrive to my G4
 

I'm thinking about adding a superdrive (pioneer 105) DVD burner to my G4 Quicksilver 800. Is this an easy process? Will i have to get the screwdriver set out and take it to bits? The older G4's were fairly easy to remove the CD drive, but the newer Quicksilver look a bit more complicated. I can only find diagrams on the net for the old G4 removing the panels on the front.

Please advise

Thanks

AstroBhoy

I just added the Pioneer A05 drive to my Dual 867 MDD and it was relatively easy. I don't know what the inside of a Quicksilver looks like, but I would say you should follow this procedure (yes, you will need a screwdriver):

- Remove the screws from the optical drive chassis
- Remove the cables from the back of the drive(s)
- Add the new drive into the chassis
- Plug the cables back in
- Screw the chassis back in.

Was really easy when I did it (last week).

Its not hard at all. Infact I just did one yesterday. Just slide that metal back plate off the mount bracket. then unscrew (i think) 2 screws. Next slide that whole metal mount rack back and it should come off. Jumper your drive for installation. You will probably have to pop the face plat off the tray. not the face plate off the actual drive but the face plate off the tray. manually open the tray with a paper clip and pull it out. The tip of the tray is the face plate it should pop off by either pusing it up or down. then slap the drive in and hook up power/data cables, and voila you are done. the pioneer drives work very well also.

Is the Pioneer 105 the same as the Pioneer A05
 

Is the Pioneer 105 the same as the Pioneer A05? I've seen the 105 in my local PC shop, and it's £195.

AstroBhoy

what do you mean by "jumper" the drive?
I could see that black plate you mentioned either.
Also not sure which screws to take off. There's one on the top, connecting it to a hinge which looks as though it's connected to the power mains box!? do i take this one off?

AstroBhoy

Re: Is the Pioneer 105 the same as the Pioneer A05
 

I have a dvr105 installed in my G4 yikes 400, and it works perfectly.

Jumpering the drive means to configure it to be either master, slave, or cable, depending on your setup. For example, if its in the first position on the ribbon cable, you might try making it Master, if the second position, try making it Slave.
In almost biblical terms, you cannot serve two masters (or two slaves) one drive will have to be the master, and one the slave, unless there's only one drive on the cable, them make it a master. If you're having troubles, try switching them back and forth until it works.

to set the jumpers, if you're lucky, there will either be a diagram or indicator on the drive itself to show you which two metal pins the jumper needs to be attached to make it master or slave. Its different for various types of drives.
If there is no diagram or indicator, you'll have to go to the manufacturer's website and find a diagram there.

masters......, slaves,..........I thought you yanks had done away with all that years ago!!!?

Cheers

AstroBhoy

Ooops! You have a quick silver, those were for a MDD. Sorry for a quick silver you have to pop off the face plate from the inside and then the drive bay should slide out.

but it's getting the fave plate of that i'm finding the problem. I take it the whole front comes off? There were some pictured instructions on the web (must have found about 4-5) but they were all the older G4's, where you just push the two tabs in and the tray lids come off. Looking at the quicksilver, the optical drive lid is too small to get the optical drive through the front. Must either have to take it off from inside, or some way of removing the whole front of the Quicksilver to take it out the front. – Don't have a clue!!!!

AstroBhoy

should be on the inside front right behind the tray doors. the bay should slide right out. unscrew all screws that attach to that drive bay

G4 867 Quick Silver take a part pain the neck
 

G4 867 Quick Silver take a part pain the neck:

If you Find a proper take apart diagram that people post follow it slowly. I did the upgrade with out the Diagram and it was quite time consuming. I will detail (not as the min. number of steps) but what I had to do.....

Some of the older and newer cases were a few minute affair.

The G4 Silver entire front benzle can be removed not just with the Tabs, but by removing all the allen screws that hold the Lucite Case Handles in place. Then you remove the entire sculpted front Benzle.

Revealed are the metal front chasis, Indeed the slits on the Front that the CDR/DVD Drive stick the CDR Tray loading Mechanism through is too slim to bring the whole CDR or cage out the Front as one did in the older cases.

Besides the Allen Keys and a few Screw drivers. It is Handy to have two people or a spare medium size screw driver to help hold the case open. The screw driver can be wedged carefully in a metal to metal spot to hold the hood open so to speak. ****This because you will want the large part of the case laying flat for most of the surgery insead of the Motherboard/Hood part that lies flat Naturally when the case is open (for most of the work).

The are about 5 screws around the Drive cage that have to come out. All the ones facing the Front Benzle and including the one around usused 3.5 drive inch cage. With drive cage Free the Whole Drive Cage Lifts out and you can then swap 105 for 102 to 104 you had.

Dont be tempted to remove all the screws for the power supply and other parts of the case.

You will not have to change jumpers as the new and Old Drive should both been set to master.

Please note the Clearances are very tight inside. You may need a pair of pliers to gently wiggle the power Connector free from the old Burner, because the case is so tight. Be Very Gentle but firm with the Ata cable removal too.

One Last note, when you have the Drive Cage with Burner in your hand out side of the case, and you have removed the 4 screws that hold the Drive to the Cage itself do not be surprised by the unuusal look of the original Pioneer mechanism.

It is longer and has has an obvious fan housing of its own and silver tape 3/4 up the end. It almost looked home made:) The 105 mechanism looks much more like a traditional CDR burner.


Good Luck.

P.S. Leave yourself a couple of hours min. if you have not done it before.

P.P.S The new 106 just came out and it like the new Sony reads/writes to all formats not just the minus flavor that apple Favors. You might want to go with that one.

Re: Is the Pioneer 105 the same as the Pioneer A05
 

WAAAAAAAY too expensive...

I got my Pioneer A05 drive from http://www.dabs.com, but then a fortnight later, I saw the Pioneer 105 a LOT cheaper here: http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/

The A05 and the 105 are exactly the same drive. The A05 is just the retail version. The 105 is the OEM version. The retail version (A05) comes with PC-only software (don't need it for the Mac if you have Toast or just the Finder), and one Pioneer DVD-R and a DVD-RW.

It's currently £139.99 with £3.99 delivery. A REAL BARGAIN!!!

Regards,
darkpaw.

Re: G4 867 Quick Silver take a part pain the neck
 

It's not that Apple favours it, it's because that is the accepted standard. The '+' format is not recognised by the DVD Forum - check out the logo for the '+' drives. They can't use the DVD disc logo on it.

It's swings and roundabouts (if that's the right phrase to use). They both have plus points, but the chances of Apple switching to '+' drives is slim to nothing. I'd go with the '-' drives for now, since you might be wasting cash on buying a drive that you might not even use the features of.

I agree with DP.

The '+' format drives have no drivers for Apple and probably never will. They were developed bt a PC consortium for.. more money to nickel & dime (err.. pence & pence?) confused consumers out of.

Avoid 'em to avoid headache, tears, etc..





P.S., DP, you said 'fortnight' :)

Kids the Pioneer 106 and Sony do minus
 

Kids the Pioneer 106 and Sony do minus just like the Pioneer 105:

However they also give you the option to use the other formats, should you have the need.

The 106 is the newest and will be the fastet with minus as well as other formats. Simialr to the Sony. There is no down side to having additional formats available, should the need arrive.

I aggree that minus is more popular more, Comptaible with DVD players....

But if for the same money and more speed one can get a drive tht does more formats there is no harm.

By annalogy it is like having a VCR that read and write to every format that ever existed (e.g. VHS, SVHS, Beta, etc.).

Yeah? What's wrong with that? A fortnight is two weeks...

Re: Kids the Pioneer 106 and Sony do minus
 

But there's no point in getting a drive that can do xyz formats if you're not gonna use format z. For the cost saving, I'd go for the A05/105. (Just noticed www.dabs.com have reduced the A05 to £159 and the 105 to £141.)

two sennights :D

For a while we were getting deals on cendyne dvdrw- drives that were actually pioneer 105 drives, we were getting them for like $120.00 or something crazy like that, I dont work in purhcasing or anything, but I know we were getting them cheap. If you install them in a mac, system profiler lists it as a pioneer 105 drive. So you may want to check out what other companies use what parts. Almost any drive you buy thats made from either LG, hitachi, or pioneer parts will probably work.

DP, thanks.. I know what a fortnight means.. I've just not heard/read it in ages!

Hehehe, we use it all the time here in good ol' Blighty.

In fact, I think I used it about a fortnight ago...

yeah and you guys call elevators lifts and apartments flats...and you guys spell color - colour. The english language is whacky.

No, the American-English version is wacky... You sailed from Plymouth with a copy of the English dictionary, and somewhere along the way - maybe some water splashes, I dunno - the 'u's were lost!!! ;)

"Lifts" and "flats" are quicker to say and type ;)

Anyways, back to the subject. I can recommend http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk for blank DVD-Rs. 4x ICE Branded certified for use with the Pioneer A05/105 drive... and they do work!

Don't you know, in Puritan society the u is the symbol of the devil? Well, except in Puritan. :)

ok ok so putting a drive it lost its alure
 

ok ok so putting a drive it lost its alure, but a whole page of drift...

I tried valiantly to get it back on topic with my link for blank DVD-Rs... ;)

I'm not sure if this is the cheapest drive you can buy, but I found a cendyne DVD-R drive, for only 179.99. After installing it in a G4, apple system profilers says its a pioneer a05 drive.

PS just kidding about the english jokes :)

Yeah, that's 179.99 USD yeah? Bit difficult to get a drive over to the UK, especially with shipping and import taxes. £139.99 with £3.99 P&P is a real bargain... (Check my earlier post.)

Yeah, VAT is a killer on stuff like that.

I thought the original poster was from the US???:confused:

Yeah that was $USD

iDVD
 

The big question is......Will any aftermarket DVD burner like the A05 or the 105 or the 106 work with apples software. I bought a lacie that works with studio pro, but I like the ease of iDVD because of the iLife suite that it works with. Any help on this would be great. Thanks in advance

Most DVD Burners Particualry Pionner and Sony
 

Most DVD Burners Particualry Pionner and Sony work inside but not outside.

Apple does not sell Externals and does not want its Mostly Free Software to be used by people that did pay for an Apple Drive.

Course with IDVD being a For Pay product now and part of the ILife suite it seems if Apple wants you to pay twice (once for the Software and once for the Hardware).

*** And yet this is a legacy of the previously free status of All the Apps. And that you can upgrade IDVD2 to 3 for Free.

So in a nutshell does it work? I'm thinking of getting the 106 (seen it for £128 on blankdiscshop.co.uk) and installing into my Mac Quicksilver. Will it work with

iMovie 2 or 3
iDVD3 2 or 3
Will it record + and – format on the Mac

Adios

Martinos

Yes the pioneer drives will work fine. Apple just recently switched over to a sony that does + and -. Apple uses the pioneer, the sony's, and hitatchi combo and dvdrw drives in their laptops and desktops. So there is support written in the OS for them.

I don't see why the 106 (A06) won't work.

do you know what sony drive they are using for the + and -, that would be a lot better bet over the A05/6!! But I think im going to get a 105 I saw them for 153 online today off of pricewatch, anyone else seen them lower?

I forget which model it is but its sony's newest + - drive.

so that should work inside huh, I may have to go get one to check it out, and if it doesn't work bring it back. That's going to be my thing for this weekend, find one that works!!!

Inside Worky OutSide No Worky
 

Inside Worky OutSide No Worky

Last I checked, the Sony drive that apple used had the + features disabled in firmware by apple. The Pioneer drives that they use are NOT just DVR-105, even though that is what Apple System Profiler reports them as. The apple drives are DVR-105aa where "aa" is two more letters. If you read about people's experiences with the 105 over at the xlr8yourmac drive compatibility database, you will see that almost everyone has reported that iDVD works, but if you do not turn off drive sleeping, it will cause the machine to kernel panic (apparently the system doesn't know how to wake the drive up properly, so it crashes). In fact, the drive compatibility database is a good place to look in general for others' experiences with various dvd burners, to see what features and caveats they have that you can live with.

MCE Technologies is selling a G4 superdrive that they say is completely compatible.

I have put a Pioneer 105 into 867 Tower and
 

I have put a Pioneer 105 into 867 Tower and it works with everything no system issues.

I followed Saint/XLR8 URL and another see below for comments (the only interesting thing I found was that some people has gotten there hands on a Pionner 106 that required a Plug In for Full Compatailty?). Apple has used Apple RE-Branded 102-105s and Sonys and probably many others (Powerbooks/Ibooks) and there software works with many units inside. I have not heard about (does not mean untrue System issues with non Apple Drives).

Saint Duo URL seems to take you to main XLR8 Page where you can search 45 user reports with various DVD. There is a Format manufactur popup search, but unrestricted serach off all types=45.

This URL below Really Long URL Takes you to XLR8 DVD FAQ. It Answers intersting questions.... A lot of them refer to older Macs and DVDs not so much on newer.

http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/action...st=yes&-search

The new sony drives do have the + enabled yellow posted 2 articles in a previous thread. The first one stated that the plus features were disabled in the firmware, the second one says that apple is using both the + and the - in the new sony.

Maybe if yellow reads this he can repost the link to that article....

http://www.dvdrw.com/press/industry-news.htm

[edit: fixed URL that has changed]

Hey good timing yellow.....

The page cannot be found
 

RE: The page cannot be found

http://www.dvdrw.com/industrynews.html

Yellow DVD main site up specefic Page Not Found now

Thanks for notifying..
It seems they changed the site within the last week, so I fixed the link above.

I want to put a DVD burner into my G4 1.2.5 GHZ tower. Which ones will work on my Mac? Can I use the Pioneer DVR-106D 4xDVD+/-RW OEM?

Here are some other ones I can buy from one of our nearby stores:

http://www.oemexpress.com/items.asp?...%7D&cc=OPTICAL

You can use Virtually anyone
 

You can use Virtually any one are long as put it on the inside or outside (outside means no iapps though as we have commenntetd apple started selling the iapps so you would think they would relent [except most still get it free]).

When you disassemble (Most recent cases I have taken apart is the 867 so someone may need to correct me [or you mean to search web for min. effort take apart diagram on your particualr model]).

Edit}

Here Apple How to Care to follow correct directions as there is both Silver and Mirror in one Doc...

http://www.info.apple.com/usen/cip/p...dd-opdrive.pdf

A lot easier then what I did:)