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Suggestions for 2nd optical drive

post #1 of 4
12/30/02 at 9:03pm
Thread Starter 
I'd like to fill in the second optical drive bay of my MDD with either a read-only DVD/CD drive, or a faster-than-the-SuperDrive's 8x/4x CD-RW drive.

Any suggestions for drives that will work well and will fit properly inside the MDD's case?
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post #2 of 4
12/30/02 at 9:58pm
Pretty much any half-height 5.25" drive will fit.

You could look at any of the bigger webtailers like PCConnection, Zones.com, Amazon, Outpost, Buy.com, or even office supply stores like Staples and OfficeMax.

The best places are probably the smaller, PC hobbyist places like NewEgg.com, MWave.com, googlegear.com, etc.

<a href="http://forums.anandtech.com/" target="_blank">http://forums.anandtech.com/</a> has ongoing links to Hot Deals where you can possibly find great deals like $30 Memorex badged Lite-On 48/24/48x CD-RW drives at Staples (allegedly firmware hackable to 52x.)

You might want to compare model numbers of the internal mechanisms. I know the Memorex drive I mentioned above is a LTR-48246S.

<a href="http://www.apple.com/itunes/compatibility" target="_blank">http://www.apple.com/itunes/compatibility</a>

[ 12-31-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
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post #3 of 4
12/31/02 at 5:25am
Thread Starter 
[quote]Originally posted by Eugene:
<strong>Pretty much any half-height 5.25" drive will fit.</strong><hr></blockquote>

It seems to be a little more complicated than that. After asking the question at the start of this thread, I found this:

<a href="http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso" target="_blank">http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso</a>

The main concerns when selecting a drive I've heard are these:
  • If it's a R/W drive, will it be recognized as writeable? Sometimes a drive will only function for reading discs when you want it to write. This concern is related to the issue of iTunes compatibility that you linked to above. Installing new drivers (often hacked, unofficial drivers) can help.
  • Will the disc tray catch on the edges of the Mirrored Drive Doors' drive opening? If this problem occurs, it can usually be fixed by removing part of the front edge of the tray -- but a few drives work well without this bit of surgery. All else being equal, I'd say it's better to get a drive that needs no such modification.
  • Will the drive fit lengthwise in the drive bay well enough that the shielding panel at the back of the bay will fit back on when you're done.
  • Can you boot from the drive? This might not be important so long as you have another drive you can boot from, but might be a concern in some cases.

[ 12-31-2002: Message edited by: shetline ]</p>
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Declaring us the nicest of the damned -- They Might Be Giants          See the stars at skyviewcafe.com
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post #4 of 4
1/1/03 at 3:03pm
If you decide to go the DVD/CD ROM route, I've got an Apple OEM DVD/CD ROM drive that came from a Powermac G4/400 Gigabit Ethernet machine. Email an offer if interested.
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