Re: USB or Firewire?

In article <260420061115448839%garner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Garner Miller <garner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <anyone4tennis-36DAC2.23321326042006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Stewy <anyone4tennis@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm using an 800mhz iMac with a combidrive. I'd like to upgrade to an
external DVD R/RW drive. Would I get any other advantage (besides write
speed) using firewire instead of the cheaper USB?

The 800MHz iMac only has USB 1.1, which won't be fast enough to keep up
with a DVD burner. I have the same machine, and was faced with the
same issue when my original DVD burner finally died.


Option 1: External Firewire burner.

You can save some money here by going with a quality drive, but
assembled by the reseller with a generic case. Something like this:
http://www.meritline.com/pioneer-dvr-111d-with-combo-enclosure.html

It's the latest Pioneer drive, in a generic external enclosure that
does FireWire and USB. (The USB-only one is $16 less, but as I noted,
it won't work properly on your Mac.) A branded external Firewire
drive (from LaCie, etc.) would be around $140, for comparison.



Option 2: Replace the internal drive in your Mac. That's what I did,
using a bare Pioneer DVR-110D drive. It fits perfectly with its bezel
removed. Its successor, the DVR-111D, is currently just $36 from
Supermediastore:
<http://www.supermediastore.com/pioneer-dvr-111d-16x-dvd-burner-bulk-bla
ck.html>

My 110D works great, the Apple software talks to it just fine, and I
can boot the Mac with it -- it's perfect. I had the right sizes of
Torx wrenches to open the Mac, so the installation only cost me some
time and a $3 tube of thermal conductive paste from Radio Shack. But
if you're not very comfortable working with delicate electronics, I
wouldn't recommend cracking your iMac open. Here's the procedure I
used to install it; it was a huge help:

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/iMac_g4/imacg4_takeapart.html

Answered my question.

Many thanks. An slightly mechanically disinclined. Will get the LaCie
drive.

Stewy
.

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