[ajprice]

I'm looking at putting a better DVD-R drive in my G4, I've looked around on xlr8yourmac and the only ones rated on there are Lite-On drives, which work fine when the Patchburn app is installed. The model I'm looking at is the SOHW-1673, or maybe a SOHW-1653 model (if I knew what the difference was!), either of these will cost me £40-50, bargain!The 1673S is a new model not yet rated on xlr8. Are there likely to be any problems or things to look out for getting this drive?

The drive is a half height drive, which going by the review here means it is about 1/2 an inch shorter than a standard drive. If I remember right, this is the size of the bay in my G4, so this should fit, right? Picture from review is below, half height on left, standard drive on right

EDIT: this 'half height' drive is 170mm deep.

Also, does dual layer writing work on a Mac, in system burning or in Toast?


Thanks people!

[Captain Egotist]

It'll bolt in fine, but I'm not positive it'll work. My guess is yes, it'll work fine. Go for it!

[discotronic]

You could alway try PatchBurn.

http://www.patchburn.de/

[ajprice]

I know about patchburn and what it does. I was asking whether the drive will physically fit into the G4's bay, because its shorter than the a standard optical drive.

[Captain Egotist]

Of course it will. It takes up less space, so you'll have even more room.

[Waragainstsleep]

What's wrong with the Pioneer 108/9s?

[ajprice]

So I went to the local computer show yesterday and picked up a Lite-On SOHW 1653S for the grand total of £42, took it home, it is a lot shorter than the standard drive, the back of this one is set inside the carrier, the original superdrive stuck out and was very close to the PSU box. Only troubles were getting the power plug out of the back of the original drive (it was really stiff, needed brute force and pliers to get the thing out! thanks to the people on macnn IRC lastnight, by the way), and the power plug wires needing to be bent back a bit on the new drive because its set inside the carrier. I installed patchburn 3, and it works fine, its recognised in the System Profile, Toast, Finder and iTunes. I've watched a DVD and burned a CD so far (about 2 minutes for 400mb or so of movie clips). Oh and its beige , but for 42 quid I'm not complaining!

[MORT A POTTY]

sweet, nice cheap upgrade... I want to do this cause I got a Pioneer DVR-106D right now... I want a 109...

[Nivag]

the 1673 seems to be cheaper than the 1653 see here linky

i can't found out what the difference is either?!?

i'm thinking of doing the same with my QS, i may go with the 1673

[MORT A POTTY]

Originally posted by Nivag:
the 1673 seems to be cheaper than the 1653 see here linky

i can't found out what the difference is either?!?

i'm thinking of doing the same with my QS, i may go with the 1673

and for those of us in the US, here's the same drive for 59 bucks

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...965&depa=0

BAM!

that's a steal.

[bikerbob]

I just bolted in a Pioneer 109 into my dual 1GHz Quicksilver - it rocks. It even actually fits better than the old superdrive that died.

I used patchburn 3 and it's as though it was a 100% supported drive.

So I for one would recommend these drives, they rock