[Orion27]

I have a new dual 1.2 Power Mac w/combo
drive. I would like to add a superdrive
but have read there are some issues relating to iDVD compatibility. iDVD3
came installed on my hardrive. I would like to add a superdrive in the lower bay.
I would like a recommendation on a third
party superdrive and a heads-up on problems I may encounter. Should I switch
drive bays and install the superdrive as
master or is that a non issue? Can anyone point to an drive install document I could follow?

thanks y'all

[littlegreenspud]

You should head over to

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com

They have lots of users experiences on installing cd/dvd drives.

[Orion27]

Is there a certain paranoia about this subject or is it just me? Is it the proprietary nature of IDVD 3, lack of third party support, crippled ROM in the
new Mac's or what? all i want to do is add
a superdrive.

[bradoesch]

Originally posted by Orion27:
Is there a certain paranoia about this subject or is it just me? Is it the proprietary nature of IDVD 3, lack of third party support, crippled ROM in the
new Mac's or what? all i want to do is add
a superdrive.

Did you explore the Accelerate Your Mac site at all? If you do a search, you can put in your G4 tower, choose DVD-R, IDE interface, and then search. People will tell you their experience with using different DVD burners, how they react with iDVD, Disc Burner, iTunes, setting up the drive, etc. It's quite handy.

[Orion27]

I did research the site,and frankly, I was a little intimidated. I am new to OSX and from the documents I read there appears to be more problems with the current MDD Macs when trying to install aftermarket superdrives. The prospect of using arcane software,to me,like "Tinker Tool" to root around install discs to find and manipulate "packages" is somewhat disconcerting. This is probably by design and I don't particularl have a problem with that. I look at this as aa learning experience. I just want someone to hold my hand and walk me through the process. For instance. How about a recommended drive? Is the Pioneer consdered OEM, the A04? I'm looking at the A05. Is there a better drive with better software? Is there ROM tucked away somwhere which would stop an install cold on my dual 1.25? Perhaps the system is still so knew there is not very much anecdotal documentation to draw from.

[the weatherman]

I dont know if this would help. But from all posts I have read regarding third party drives-it does work. The thing to remenber is to make sure your new Pionner A04/AO5 is connected as master, especially if you updated to 10.2.4 and using the new MDD.

xlr8yourmac.com is a great place to learn, the only caveat right now is you can't register and ask people there first hand. But if you know what you're looking for, they probably have the answers--for normal installations or what not or hacks, just patiently search the site and its forums.

goodluck!

[the weatherman]

I dont know if this would help. But from all posts I have read regarding third party drives-it does work. The thing to remenber is to make sure your new Pionner A04/AO5 is connected as master, especially if you updated to 10.2.4 and using the new MDD.

xlr8yourmac.com is a great place to learn, the only caveat right now is you can't register and ask people there first hand. But if you know what you're looking for, they probably have the answers--for normal installations or what not or hacks, just patiently search the site and its forums.

goodluck!

[Orion27]

Thanks weatherman. Having reviewed the site several times, I did find a post specifying as you did, the preference for the install bay to be the master slot. No
problems reported with that install. I will post back here and let you all know how my install goes.