Disk caddy needed for DVD RAM drive.

Question

Level 1

0 points

Disk caddy needed for DVD RAM drive.

Where can I find a disk caddy for the DVD RAM drive in the Power Mac G4 I just got? I have looked on the Internet for accessories but it doesn't appear to be something that is available any more.

The computer was dropped off where I teach and I'm trying to refurbish it so it will be useful but I cannot even install OS X as the drive needs a caddy. 😟

I was even going to replace the drive itself with a normal drive that has a drawer but all I have readily available are CD-ROM drives.

Power Mac G4 with AGP, Mac OS 9.0.x

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 6:58 PM

Reply

Answer 1

spudnuty

Level 5

7,128 points

Oct 16, 2008 7:25 PM in response to SpockST

Hey Spock and Welcome to Apple Discussions,

the drive needs a caddy.

Which drive was this? Look under System Profiler or About this Mac under the ATA bus depending on which OS you're running.
I don't remember a G4 tower with a caddy drive.
Are you sure it's not that weird DVD RAM the one that has a partial tray?
Richard

Reply

Answer 2

spudnuty

Level 5

7,128 points

Oct 16, 2008 9:27 PM in response to spudnuty

Spock,
Yes got that drive up and running it's sitting on my bench in what looks like a Sawtooth. It says "DVD RAM" on it what ever that is.
Anyway when you hit eject this kind of half thing comes out. It's not really a tray. You stick the CD/DVD into it, fits into two groves and the drive ***** it right in.
It is weird.
Richard

Reply

Answer 3

motsteve

Level 2

225 points

Oct 17, 2008 2:51 AM in response to spudnuty

Spudnutty,

Is this an Apple Sawtooth? It sounds like something out of the twilight zone. Thinking back a few years, I think I remember the DVD Ram logo and, like you, I said ***?! My only suggestion is "Get a DA" 🙂 I guess, in this case at least, that is not an option.

Steve

Reply

Answer 4

SpockST Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2008 9:13 AM in response to spudnuty

I don't have access to the system right now but will check in the System Profiler later.

Yes, I'm sure it's a DVD-RAM as I had the drive completely out of the console when I was thinking to replace it with a more normal CD drive. It is labeled "DVD-RAM" right on the front.

A DVD-RAM is similar to a CD-RW drive in that you can use DVD-RAM disks for read/write operations just as if it were a huge floppy disk. At least that's what I'm assuming it will do for an Apple since that's what it would do for a WinTell machine.

motsteve,
What is a DA? Please remember I'm a relative Apple newbie. My first PC was a 48K Apple 2 bought in 1977 (gave it away to someone who needed it more than I did) and I had an Apple Mac Classic and a Lisa back in the late 70's but have been using DOS/Windows machines almost exclusively since the early 80's. I still have an Apple 2 I built on a motherboard from discrete components and an Apple 2e with a 20MB HD and 3/4 MB RAM that still works but I got rid of my Apple 2c's.

I really liked Apple's computers but my work caused me to go another direction.

Message was edited by: SpockST

Reply

Answer 5

motsteve

Level 2

225 points

Oct 17, 2008 10:51 AM in response to SpockST

The DA is G4 like yours only a later model. I bought it new just because I needed another Mac and that's what they had in the store. It turns out this is one of the most popular of the other G4 towers. They're all good as far as I'm concerned. My iMac is super, but my G4 I love for sentimental reasons. 🙂

Reply

Answer 6

motsteve

Level 2

225 points

Oct 17, 2008 10:55 AM in response to SpockST

Also, take a look at: http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/installation.cfm

It shows you have easy it is to replace the drive with a real one. They're only $30. What the hey. It bets looking all over for something rare.

Reply

Answer 7

spudnuty

Level 5

7,128 points

Oct 17, 2008 11:28 AM in response to SpockST

Hey Steve and Spock,
Well I finally figured this out. It's this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3072?viewlocale=en_US
and was on the G3 B&W and G4s as well.
The reason it looks like that is that it was rewritable and had a cartridge that went in there.
Actually it turns out that I have one of the cartridges here. It's by Maxell and it's DVD-RAM 5.2 GB. Hee hee!
but it will also just take regular DVDs. It doesn't seem to be able to write DVD-+Rs.
Richard

Reply

Answer 8

SpockST Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2008 12:15 PM in response to motsteve

motsteve wrote:
... It shows you have easy it is to replace the drive with a real one. They're only $30. ...

I would still like to find the "caddy" for the one that's in there now if at all possible. I will wait a while to see if anyone else finds where I can find one. If nothing turns up in a reasonable amount of time, I will take your suggestion and replace the drive itself ... if I can find a DVD-RW or DVD-RAM drive for a reasonable amount. I'm not sure #30 is a realistic price for a DVD drive.

BTW, I had the drives out completely as well as removing the left side panel. I'm glad I did as it was crammed with dust! The only two things I learned fro the video is that I have a G4 "Sawtooth" unit and that I didn't have to disassemble the case quite so far to access the drive bays. 😉

Reply

Answer 9

SpockST Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2008 12:26 PM in response to spudnuty

spudnuty wrote:
... Well I finally figured this out. It's this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3072?viewlocale=en_US
...

Great! Thanks for that. I don't really need a caddy then, just insert the DVDs carefully. I just need to use it to update the OS as I have OS X to install.

... It doesn't seem to be able to write DVD-+Rs.

Thanks again. It probably doesn't write to DVD±R disks because it needs special DVD-RAM disks which, as I said earlier, can be used as huge floppy disks.

Note:
I really must learn how to easily combine posts so I don't end up "talking to myself" as above. 😟 I also need to learn how to access other options such as colored text, etc. This looks like it will be a very useful forum.

Message was edited by: SpockST

Reply

Answer 10

motsteve

Level 2

225 points

Oct 17, 2008 1:14 PM in response to spudnuty

How un Apple can we get? Not only that, but 5.2G? If it were my Mac, that drive would be hiding out in the Plantation incinerator. I'll go back to Kansas City standard cassettes first. Wait a minute! I take that back. Belay me last. 🙂

I wish someone had a page on embedding formatting in these posts. I tried the stuff in the help section of this forum, but the text came out literally. Do we use html, xml, whateverl?

Reply

Answer 11

Oct 17, 2008 2:51 PM in response to motsteve

Dear Motsteve,

Why so negative about DVD-RAM? Agreed, a very oldfashioned and slow media type by today's standards, but... in my own experience much more reliable than any DVD+ or -R you would burn on modern equipment and very easy to use, because it behaves like a hard drive in that you can record and erase files the way you wish.

I still have a separate LaCie drive which did a perfect job backing up my files then, and I now use these same cassettes in my Panasonic DVD-recorder as modern video cassettes and never burn "normal" DVDs, unless for people who can't use RAM disks. In my opinion DVD-RAM is still a brilliant format and I really would have liked such a drive as an bto-option in my G3 many years ago.

Best regards,
Robbert

Reply

Answer 12

motsteve

Level 2

225 points

Oct 17, 2008 3:58 PM in response to Mechanic man

What is DVD R/RW? I'm Mr Positive. I'm positive that Windoz is less than a good OS. How much more positive do you need? 🙂

BTW, RAM? Yes read/write, but cycles measured in days? 😉

TUX for president!

Reply

Answer 13

spudnuty

Level 5

7,128 points

Oct 17, 2008 6:30 PM in response to SpockST

Hey Spock,
Thanks for the star. I checked out one of those DVD-RAMs and they're very cool looking as far as the disk is concerned:
http://s291.photobucket.com/albums/ll306/spudnuty/?action=view&current=DVD-RAMCa ssette.jpg

If you want one to play with I'd be glad to send it to you. I have two.
Hey it's 5.2 GB. For the time that was huge. It's a lesson of the history of technology that what is currently huge will be a joke tomorrow. Hey look at the history of floppies here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk
I remember the first computer I saw was a gigantic wall of triodes (look it up) thirty feet long.
There was so much heat you couldn't get within 20 feet of it. The tech who serviced it (replaced the tubes when they blew out, every few minutes) said:
"16K of random access memory. It'll do square roots!"
and we were like:
"Ooohhhh!"
Standing there with our slide rules in 1962.

Richard

Reply

Answer 14

SpockST Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 18, 2008 10:40 AM in response to spudnuty

motsteve wrote:
What is DVD R/RW? I'm Mr Positive. I'm positive that Windoz is less than a good OS. How much more positive do you need? 🙂

DVD±R = WORM = Write Once, Read Many
DVD±RW = Write and read as many times as you want but it can be reformatted if you want to reuse it for something else.

I agree about Micro$haft Windoz ...

spudnuty wrote:
... If you want one to play with I'd be glad to send it to you. I have two. ...

Thanks for the offer but what I have works for what I need now. I would imagine DVD-RAM disks would insert the same way, so don't see any reason to bother with a caddy now.

Another problem has cropped up but I will start a new topic for that. I have started a new topic [here|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1757394&tstart=0].

Message was edited by: SpockST

Reply