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anonymous.magi · Jul 11, 2006, 11:58 AM

Hi,

I have a "QuickSiver 2002" model PowerMac G4 Tower with 933mhz processor. It came with a 1x SuperDrive. I have never used the SuperDrive that much. I've burned maybe 65 discs in 4 years. At any rate, I just bought some new DVD-R media and out of the last 6 burns 5 have failed to verify. So I'm thinking the drive is failing and I'm looking for some advice.

First, is there anything I should do to verify that the drive is indeed failing? Should I try buring only CDs and see if those fail? Should I buy one of those cleaning CD things? Try different media? I have already tried booting up under a different OS install and the burns still failed.

Next, assuming that the drive is in fact failing I am looking for some advice on replacements. In looking around I found the Pioneer DVR-111D drive from Other World Computing for $48. It does 16x burns, which sounds really nice after being used to 1x burns! Does anyone have any views on this drive, or should I get another one or buy it elsewhere? One problem is that the product description at the URL below says "To achieve the specified writing and reading performance it is important that the DVR-111D is connected to the IDE port via an 80 way ribbon cable and that the IDE port is at least UDMA 66 or above."

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Pioneer/DVR111D/

However my PowerMac doesn't have IDE ports with the number of pins. The current Superdrive in the machine has an ATAPI/IDE cable with 40 (39?) pins. I assume that means that I either need to get some type of adaptor card or get an external drive. In looking around it looks like I can get an external 5.25" exclosure for about $35, for example this one from Meritline. What I don't know is if cases like this support the 80 pin cable that the drive requires. How would I know?

http://www.meritline.com/usb-2-firew...-aluminum.html

The other route seems to be to find an IDE controller PCI card. And this is where I really run into a wall. NewEgg lists like 49 different PCI IDE cards, but only one of them explicitly lists Mac support (and its out of stock). Is this one of those situations where all of them really work with the Mac, but the box just doesn't say it? Or do I need to search out a Mac compatible card? Any suggestions?

I'll greatly appreciate any and all help offered. Thanks!

memory-minus · Jul 11, 2006, 12:59 PM

First, make sure this update has been applied:

http://www.apple.com/hardware/superdrive/

Second, try a different brand of media and see if the results are the same. If so, then yes it's probably your drive.

imitchellg5 · Jul 11, 2006, 01:19 PM

It is very common in Quicksilvers for the SuperDrive to die. My uncle has an 867 Quicksilver that has gone through two original SuperDrives.

anonymous.magi · Jul 11, 2006, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by memory-minus

Second, try a different brand of media and see if the results are the same. If so, then yes it's probably your drive.

Well, ran to Staples and got some different DVD-Rs. Same problem - verifications still failing. So I assume the drive is just dying. Any suggestions on finding a PCI IDE card that will work with that new Pioneer drive?

holstien · Jul 19, 2006, 01:53 PM

A few things:

1) Ultra ATA (ata66 and better) cables have 80 wires, but only use 40 of them for data transfer, the other 40 are to reduce cross-talk. Chances are you already have one in your mac.

2) The Quicksilver has an ATA-33 bus for the removable drives... this will bottle neck you to a 10x (or so) DVD-RW drive. If you only have 1 HD in your mac, you can buy a longer ATA cable and use the same bus that the hard drive is on, which is ATA-66.

3) The superdrive in the 2002 QS is capable of 2x burns, but the list of media it supports is impossibly small... and probably not even made anymore.

4) My friend had his drive get flakey. He ended up bringing it back to life a few times by cleaning it out with a air-duster. It ultimately croaked.

Hope this helps.

Gossamer · Jul 25, 2006, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by holstien

3) The superdrive in the 2002 QS is capable of 2x burns, but the list of media it supports is impossibly small... and probably not even made anymore.

Hope this helps.

I've got an 02 quicksilver (Dual 1GHz/1.5GB) at work with the stock superdrive that burns generic DVDs just fine, not sure if that has anything to do with what you said though.

imitchellg5 · Jul 25, 2006, 02:30 PM

Wasn't the 2002 Quicksilver just a single 867MHz model?

angelmb · Jul 26, 2006, 01:43 AM

2002 QS top of line was certainly a Dual 1 GHz model. I have installed the Pionner DVR-111D onto my 2003 MDD single 1,25 GHz, it works flawless, no need for PathcBurn… iLife likes it, it is bootable… you just need to take the front bezel off to let the drive door open/close properly, I think it would be the same with the QS models.