[dusanyu]

The DVD Reader /CD Burner Combo Drive in my Venerable Powermac G4 is Dieing has aneyone had aney Luckreplaceing this drive or installing a third party moodle and wich ones work?

Thank you in advance...

[DMBand0026]

I, for the life of me, can't find the list of compatible drives for iDVD, maybe someone else can help you with that. However, replacing an optical drive is easy. Take out a screw or two, disconnect the data cable, disconnect the power cable. Than put in the new drive, screw it in, connect the power, connect the data cable, and you're all set.

Edit: For some reason I saw "DVD Drive" in your post and thought iDVD...don't ask me where I got that from. But there shouldn't be too many, if any, drives that won't work with a Mac.

[Luca]

The actual replacement is indeed very easy, as DMBand0026 said. There are several steps but basically it involves taking a screwdriver and taking apart the drive. If you have a graphite PowerMac, then this guide will walk you through replacing the drive. If you have a Quicksilver, then you can use Apple's own guide.

As for which drive to choose, there are several that will work if you install Patchburn 3. However, for the best Mac compatibility, you should go for a Pioneer brand drive. Apple has always supported Pioneer drives. This latest model, the DVR-109, doesn't have native support in OS X yet, but it'll probably be added soon. In the meantime, it works perfectly with Patchburn and it's not expensive.

EDIT: Oh yeah, if you don't need a DVD burner then you can of course go with a cheaper option that doesn't burn DVDs. If you want a combo drive (burn CDs, read DVDs), you can get this Samsung for about $40 that will work if you install Patchburn.

[dusanyu]

Thanks For the Help

Last night i took a Wyld stab and Decided to Try the HP DVD300i out of my linux Box. And it Works patch burn Reports that OS X 10.3.8 Has native Suport of this Drive (but i have yet to try iDVD with it) But i will grab one of those pioneer Drives so the HP can return to my Linux Box.

BTW http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/ has a nice list of Drives

my main wory was opening pulling but that was supriseingly Easy 6 bolts