Advice needed for best internal CDRW

satchmosatchmo
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Looking to replace the old DVD drive in my Sawtooth with an internal CDRW drive.

I see all these Plexor(?) and Samsungs at 52x speed advertised really cheap at BestBuy. Can these be installed into my G4?



If not, what brand would you suggest? Sony? Yamaha? Any packaged deals that might include Toast?



thanks

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    mattarinomattarino Posts: 52member
    I installed a Plextor 48x writer back before summer in my mirror door drive 1g dual G4 (in addition to the Superdrive it came with). It works great. The speed is unbelievable. I didn't go all-out on my research at the time, but I seem to remember it being the only internal that listed Mac compatibility. I'm in OSX, so I'm not sure if it makes a difference if you run 9. As for deals, just check the net. I got a really great rebate back then from Amazon. Hope this helps.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    groovygroovy Posts: 6member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by satchmo

    Looking to replace the old DVD drive in my Sawtooth with an internal CDRW drive.

    I see all these Plexor(?) and Samsungs at 52x speed advertised really cheap at BestBuy. Can these be installed into my G4?



    If not, what brand would you suggest? Sony? Yamaha? Any packaged deals that might include Toast?



    thanks



    Lite-on 52x32x52 $40 I can burn 700 megs in 1 minute 18 seconds



    for $55 one that also reads DVD





    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...tby=14&order=1



    I own a bunch of lite-on burners and all have worked great.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Groovy



    I own a bunch of lite-on burners and all have worked great.



    Is there any fundamental hardware difference between CDRW for Macs vs. Wintel machines? Or is it just that one would need the appropriate software drivers?

    I'm always worried over Mac support with lesser known brands especially when it has this posted:



    "OS Support: 95 / 98 / NT / ME / XP / 2000 Model#: LTR-52327S"
  • Reply 4 of 12
    groovygroovy Posts: 6member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by satchmo

    Is there any fundamental hardware difference between CDRW for Macs vs. Wintel machines? Or is it just that one would need the appropriate software drivers?

    I'm always worried over Mac support with lesser known brands especially when it has this posted:



    "OS Support: 95 / 98 / NT / ME / XP / 2000 Model#: LTR-52327S"



    Should work fine. Mine all do
  • Reply 5 of 12
    jambojambo Posts: 3,036member
    Purchasing advice goes in General Discussion.



    Moving there now...
  • Reply 6 of 12
    progmacprogmac Posts: 1,850member
    head over to http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drived....drivedb.lasso @ xlr8yourmac. the drive compatibilty index lets you inpu all your variables and pops out dozens of user reviews on different models. it absolutely matter which internal cd-rw you pick. some won't work right.



    i got a samsung 52x (from best buy) and it has worked perfectly in my B&W. your mileage may vary.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Definitely check that XLR8 Your Mac link before you buy anything. Also remember that to take advantage of 52x speed, you must by 52x media. 48x media is easier to come by.



    There's no difference between CD-RW drives for Macs and PCs - they're the exact same. It's just that some models of CD-RW drives don't have drivers built into OS X, so you can't use Finder or iTunes to burn, and sometimes you can't boot from a CD with them. Toast usually works fine even if OS X doesn't officially support the drive.
  • Reply 8 of 12
    groovygroovy Posts: 6member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Luca Rescigno

    Definitely check that XLR8 Your Mac link before you buy anything. Also remember that to take advantage of 52x speed, you must by 52x media. 48x media is easier to come by.



    There's no difference between CD-RW drives for Macs and PCs - they're the exact same. It's just that some models of CD-RW drives don't have drivers built into OS X, so you can't use Finder or iTunes to burn, and sometimes you can't boot from a CD with them. Toast usually works fine even if OS X doesn't officially support the drive.



    99% of the drives SHOULD work on macs since it is ATA/E-IDE

    standards. Same thing with HD's and other interfaces like SCSI etc...

    Any drive that does not work almost always comes down to

    firmware or driver problem.



    Dell uses Lite-on in their PC's and all my Dell's came with Lite-on's



    As for needing 52x media that is not always the case. My 24x disks

    burn fine in my 48x drives but not 52x drives. I needed to use 48

    or 52 media in the 52x drive to get 52x burns on the lite-ons



    I guess some drive makers check media and only let you burn

    if you have the rated media but lite-on do not appear to do that.

    At least to the extreme.





    +++
  • Reply 9 of 12
    magicfingersmagicfingers Posts: 703member
    I wish I could add a second internal CD or DVD drive to my Quicksilver 867. "sigh"
  • Reply 10 of 12
    groovygroovy Posts: 6member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MagicFingers

    I wish I could add a second internal CD or DVD drive to my Quicksilver 867. "sigh"



    why can't you? Mine has 52x CD-R , a slower CD-R/DVD and 2 HD's



    I could fit two more HDs in if I wanted to but via a PCI card and a pop in bracket. better to just go firewire IMHO
  • Reply 11 of 12
    magicfingersmagicfingers Posts: 703member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Groovy

    why can't you? Mine has 52x CD-R , a slower CD-R/DVD and 2 HD's



    I could fit two more HDs in if I wanted to but via a PCI card and a pop in bracket. better to just go firewire IMHO



    I thought the second bay was just for jazz drives, but you are saying that you can put cd drives in that 2nd space?

    maybe you could enlighten me.\
  • Reply 12 of 12
    groovygroovy Posts: 6member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MagicFingers

    I thought the second bay was just for jazz drives, but you are saying that you can put cd drives in that 2nd space?

    maybe you could enlighten me.\



    yes you can. Just remove the bracket and insert one for your drive

    that you do want in there. Worst case you have to rig one of your own

    but that is easy to do.



    you can use pretty much all the free space in your PC/Mac to add stuff if

    you want. I see people add NEON LIGHTS and all sorts of things. If you

    have to drill a few holes here and there then do it.



    Heck I have even duct taped a 3.5 drive to the side of case once

    and ran cables and it worked great. You do what you gotta do.
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