[MrBenn]

Hello everyone.

I am on the point of buying a Formac FireWire CDRW drive for my iMac DVSE. (the 16x10x40 version with 'Burn Proof technology')

It seems to have recieved pretty good reviews, and I'm really being swayed by the fact that its 'bus powered'.

Are any of you living and working with this drive? I'd love to hear your opinions.

Cheers!

[pobodysnerfect]

yup, love mine! Even though it states not to use it with bus power my Ti seems to power it just fine with only the firewire bus. I haven't burned a coaster yet, burns fast and works well with iTunes. The only gripe I have is the eject button gets hidden when the tray is open, so you have to push the tray closed. Other then that it's great.

[MrBenn]

Thanks pobodysnerfect!

Thats all I needed to hear, I'm going to the store today!

[babywriter]

If I remember correctly, the Formac drive is a little pricey. Have you considered buying an off-the-shelf CDRW and a PYRO Firewire enclosure (you can get the enclosure at CompUSA for $99)? As long as you stay with a compatible drive, you might be able to get the same thing more cheaply, as long as you're comfortable installing the drive in the enclosure (it's really easy).

I have my CDRW in the PYRO enclosure and it works great. It's not bus powered - but it does have two additional Firewire ports on back, which is more convenient than rooting behind the G4 Tower.

Just my two cents.

--KAI

[MrBenn]

You're right, the Formac IS expensive, but I use my Mac is just one part of my home recording studio. My power-points are maxed out. So, the Formac being bus powered is a huge plus for me.

[Cucumber Jones]

You might want to give formac a call. I seem to remember the phrase "bus-powered" playing hide-and-seek on their site as of late. While their 8x was fine for the ti, i think that the 8, 12, and (possibly) 16 were the only ones that were assured to be bus-powered from a desktop. I think the 16 and 24 comes with a power block for just that reason.

This is all from memory, so give them a call to make sure.

[VerdeSpider]

I just bought the TDK Velo 16x and it isn't working out of the box ... so it is going back. Now I am looking at the Formac because it's bus powered. I am psyched to hear that it will run on bus power with my TiPB - my only question is will iToons record to it? It doesn't show up on Apple's list so I was considering buying the EZ Quest drive instead.

Anyone have a suggestion for me? I just don't like the look of the Yamaha external - or I would buy it in a heartbeat!

Thanks...

[pobodysnerfect]

Originally posted by VerdeSpider:
<STRONG>my only question is will iToons record to it?</STRONG>

Yes it records with iTunes just fine. In terms of bus power you might want to check the Formac site because I recall seeing something about the bus power working with only newer macs. With my Ti it does work just bus powered but I have seen the screen flicker slightly when it first starts to burn, almost a power draw. It does come with an external power supply which I have also used. I think Formac recommends using the power supply with a Ti, probably because of the power draw, but I have burned quite a few cd's with just the bus power and I haven't seen any problems.

I just hope the power draw doesn't affect the computer?

[Chunderkat]

i recommend the qps fire 12x10x32. sure it's a little slower than the 16 x formac, however, at www.outpost.com you can buy it for $200 and then there's a rebate for $30. $170 for a external firewire drive isn't too bad. and the qps uses either a teac or a plextor (earlier builds) which both have burn proof. i have the teac mechanism of the qps, and it's great. plus, it comes with an ac adaptor so it's not bus powered.

[Petter]

I'm running the Formac 16X on only buspower on my cube! =)
No coasters, no problem at all...
only one small detail with the first rev... the ejectbutton needs a bit of force to eject but thats the only one and what i know it have been fixed! =)