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Q: Snow iMac G3 internal optical drive with issues

Hello

 

I have an old iMac G3 Snow 600 MHz.

 

The issue the optical drive has is that it reads fine but discs are almost always stuck after inserting them and the mechanism struggles to get them out, most of the time unsuccefully unless I help with a paperclip.

 

I will be opening up the iMac to investigate the issue but in the event that I need an external optical drive, what is recommended. I do prefer a drive that will let me boot to the original discs. Now, I also have a PowerMac G4 quicksilver and a firewire cable. Can I use the powermac G4 as an external CD ROM?

 

I actually want to resintall from the original discs.

 

What are my options?

 

I understand that the G3 can only boot from firewire due to PPC so if this is the case, what external optical drive can I purchase. I can only find USB optical drives.

 

Thank you in advance for your reply.

iMac, Mac OS 9.2.x, Snow 600 MHz

Posted on Dec 17, 2014 3:24 PM

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Q: Snow iMac G3 internal optical drive with issues

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  • by Jeff,Helpful

    Jeff Jeff Dec 18, 2014 12:25 AM in response to LostAccount
    Level 6 (11,559 points)
    Dec 18, 2014 12:25 AM in response to LostAccount

    This is a common problem with those optical drives - the rubber rollers that grip the disks for insertion and ejection become dried out with age, causing the slippage that you're experiencing.  After removal of the drive from the chassis, some have opened it and attempted to clean/rejuvenate the rollers.  Unfortunately, you really can't restore a like-new condition to rubber.  You could always hunt down a replacement drive on ebay, but since all of these drives are the same age, the likelihood is that you'd have problems again.  There is a company that sells a new DVD±RW optical drive for the slot-loading iMacs, but at a price of $149, it easily exceeds the market value of a 14-15 year-old iMac.  For an external FireWire optical drive that will boot your iMac, check out this one for $99 at Other World Computing.  Some third-party drives won't boot a Mac when trying the usual methods, so be sure before you buy one.

  • by Jeff,Solvedanswer

    Jeff Jeff Dec 18, 2014 12:41 AM in response to LostAccount
    Level 6 (11,559 points)
    Dec 18, 2014 12:41 AM in response to LostAccount

    In answer to your question about the use of the G4's optical drive, you can connect the G4 and iMac via FireWire in "Target Disk Mode."  As the target computer, the iMac's hard drive will appear on the G4's (host) desktop, the same as an externally-connected drive.  When running the OS installer program, select the iMac's hard drive as the destination disk.  This solution doesn't involve investing any $$ in new hardware for the iMac, which may be preferable if you don't plan on using it much.

  • by LostAccount,

    LostAccount LostAccount Dec 20, 2014 2:07 PM in response to Jeff
    Level 1 (125 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 20, 2014 2:07 PM in response to Jeff

    Jeff, thanks a million for the reply. You went overboard with your answers. I absolutely appreciate the time you took to investigate and the links. I am most grateful!

     

    One question, if the iMac is in target disk mode, won't the installer be installing componenets based on the PowerMac G4 which is actually up and running?

  • by Jeff,Helpful

    Jeff Jeff Dec 22, 2014 7:28 PM in response to LostAccount
    Level 6 (11,559 points)
    Dec 22, 2014 7:28 PM in response to LostAccount

    "I actually want to reinstall from the original discs."

     

    Depending on when your iMac was manufactured, the summer 2001 model shipped with OS 9.1 and 10.0.4, but the January 2002 model shipped with Jaguar (10.2) and OS 9.x.  Since you'd be using the iMac's Restore disk, if the installer "determines" that you're attempting to install the original software build on an unsupported Mac (such as your G4), you'll likely get an error message related to incompatibility rather than a software build that's tailored to the G4's hardware.  If using a retail/universal OS installer disk, you may or may not have that problem.  I've never used Target Disk Mode to install the OS software from the host's optical drive to the target computer, but others have reported success when doing so.  I'd try it and see what happens.  You won't affect anything on the G4's hard drive, as long as you navigate to the iMac's hard drive as the destination disk. Here's the spec page for your 600 MHz Snow iMac at EveryMac.com

  • by LostAccount,

    LostAccount LostAccount Jan 4, 2015 5:56 PM in response to Jeff
    Level 1 (125 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 4, 2015 5:56 PM in response to Jeff

    Hello Jeff

     

    I sincerely appreciate your replies and although you've never tried installing from a host optical drive I will give it a go. It may or may not work, I have nothing to lose.

     

    Thank you ever so much for all of your support!