I have a 350 Mhz G3/B&W with an internal DVD drive. I would much rather have an internal CD-RW drive. I would be willing to remove the DVD if necessary, but would rather have both.

Anyone know whether this is possible and if so what CD drive will work?

Thanks

Tom White

[blue]

i was in the same boat as you a few months ago.

my b/w g3 will not accomodate 2 cd drives without taking a hacksaw to the case, which i am loath to do (investigating other tower cases though, may be able to swap the motherboard to a diff. case which would accomodate 2 drives)

however if you just want to replace the dvd w/ a cdrw i recomend the sony cdrx100, works like a charm!

I'm assuming that you're going to be installing Toast.

Make sure you install the software first, then swap out the drives.

TOAST CD READER has to be installed before you can read things with the CDR drive.

If you don't have TOAST CD READER installed, nothing will show up when you put a CD in the CDR drive.

I've found Intech's CD/DVD Speed Tools to be mush more robust than Toast CD Reader... and it doesn't get in the way of toast either.

[QuatermassX]

Has anyone tried one of the combo DVD-CD-RW's in their first gen B&W G3/350/DVD yet?

Ricoh MP9060A
Toshiba SD-R1002 4X/4X/24X CDRW and DVD ROM
http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drived....drivedb.lasso

It would be GREAT if they worked ... Apple even promotes them on the Mac Products Page!

[Cipher13]

You don't need to have the Toast Cd Reader installed or whatever, somewhere in the forums (sorry I can't be more specific - I'll have a look for this post) there is a post about hacking the CD/DVD driver extensions, which allows all SCSI CD drives to work with that single driver - works beautifully.
Also, anyone tried taking a Yamaha CRW8424 out of its casing (its an external SCSI) and putting it in a sawtooth tower? Preferrably where the Zip drive goes, so I don't have to take out my DVD drive.

Cipher13

[Zwilnik]

The only problem with using the zip bay on the B/W G3, is that the metal casing is only big enough for a zip drive or a normal size hard disk. definitely not enough for a CD-RW unit.

I've used a Sony CRX-100E in place of the stock DVD-ROM in my B&W G3 and it worked wonderfully.

But like many others, I wish there were another 5.25" drive bay available...

[Cipher13]

Is there any reason I can't just cut out the Zip housing, put in one big enough for my RW, and use it like that? Or is there something I'm overlooking? I'm pretty new to cutting up Macs (towers anyway), so...

Cipher13

[blue]

You would also have to cut out 2 1"square blocks of the actual case, and these two blocks are where the cd/zip bay is fixed.

it is possible, just tricky.

b.

[blue]

however, i'm all intrigued now, so i'll give it a whirl as soon is i finish moving house from germany to england.

i'll keep y'all posted.

b.

[Zwilnik]

It might be more practical to see if any of these combined DVD-Rom, CD-RW drives are available with Mac drivers yet, and just replace the DVD drive.

[blue]

it might be more practical for you, but as i already have separate dvd + cdrw drives, and a low budget, this is much simpler.

b.

[Cipher13]

Well,I've decided that as soon as my warranty has expired (not long now), I'll get out the old hacksaw, scrape off the inch of rust, and see if I can get that 8424 in where the zip drive goes...
Its gonna take some serious modding though, as its a SCSI burner - I'll see if I can take out the 2906 and turn it around, mount it below the power supply, and plug it in with a shortened SCSI cable - anyone got any ideas about the power?
The power supply is in the external case, so I need some way to get power to the drive while its out of its case. If theres room (which I very highly doubt there will be), I'll just put the whole damn thing in (yeah, right) and have the power cord come out the lower PCI slot...
Anyone know where I can get a mini power supply thing? Or any way to get power to the burner without its external casing?
Here we go, M:I-3

Cipher13

[This message has been edited by Cipher13 (edited 05-30-2000).]

[tonymac]

You won't need a power supply. Once you get the CDRW out of its case, there's a standard power connector on the back. There should also be a power cord at that bay for the internal zip. Just plug it in and you're all set.

[blue]

well, i did it. took about 15 minutes - the hardest part was sawing off the lip on the lower edge.

been running stable for a few days now - dvd's play fine + cd's burn.

just need to drill a couple holes to properly mount the drives, maybe add a hard drive fan onto the lower drive - it get's a tad hot.

show us photos!!!

[blue]

ooooh....ahhhhh...



snazzy, eh?