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'Internal' 5.25" CD-RW in a Tray-Loading (Rev. A-D) iMac
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: The Chaotic Blue
Status:
Offline
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I've been looking into using an internal CD-RW externally using a dual connector ATA cable and power splitter on my 233MHz Rev. B iMac (10.2.6, 40GB & 384MB RAM.) Been looking around for some good cables and I have a few questions:
- Are IDE cables reversible? That is, if I buy an ATA cable with three connectors, one for the mobo and two for hard/optical drives, can I plug one of the drive connectors into the mobo, the next connector (middle, normally the other drive connector) into the internal HD, and the connector normally used for the mobo into the external CD-RW drive? The reason I ask is because I need the longest end to be threaded out through the Mezzanine slot cover on the side of the machine...I can't fathom a reason why this wouldn't work (connectors are the same, middle connector is inline) but I have no experience with this.
- If I can do the above, where is a good place to buy a black (or silver), round, preferably shielded dual HD 36" ATA cable?
- Where can I get an equally long Y-power cable to replace the one currently residing inside my iMac? Or will I have to fabricate my own? (buy a normal Y-cable and lengthen it.)
- XLR8YourMac.com lists many compatible CD-RW's, which is probably best?
Lastly, some background on my machine and optical upgrades: The iMac logic board has two IDE connectors, one 50-pin ATAPI connector for the built-in notebook CD-ROM 24x drive, and one 40-pin ATA connector for the hard drive. Because each device has its own dedicated channel, they are both set to master. It is possible to replace the iMac's internal tray-loading CD-ROM drive with a newer CD-RW or combo notebook drive, however most of the time these drives look like crap and ruin the looks of a beautiful machine. Because there is only one device on the HD's channel, it is possible to insert a dual connector ATA cable in place of the stock one; thus a user can have two internal hard drives or a second optical drive, contrary to what Apple would lead you to believe. Conveniently, there is a slot cover under the rest of the ports through which you can easily fit a 40-pin ATA connector and its cable through.
(Last edited by Spart; May 11, 2003 at 05:17 PM.
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: sLurrey
Status:
Offline
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ya i did all this, i dont know about the length of the ide cable, but any store u buy the cable from wont have cable that is to long, same with the power spliter, just by a Y-power splitter with one end longer
think i got the power splitter from radioshack
the ide cable is at any store that sells computer supplies
and the best cd-r drive is whatever one you think fits your needs i guess
i got a Lite-On burner, works great, 24x and it only cost me $80
and it did look like ass sitting on the side of my imac, so i made a case with old lego i had lying around
and everything else u described is right, seems you know what your doin
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w3rd..
surrey represent
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Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: The Chaotic Blue
Status:
Offline
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No, I *think* I know what I'm doing.
What I'm really looking for now is a good website (not a brick and mortar store) that sells nice cables and such, probably to modders.
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Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Appalachia
Status:
Offline
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Retired
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