External CD Burner

Question

Level 1

6 points

External CD Burner

I have a 10-year old iMac - Power PC G4. Recently the CD burner stopped working. I checked with a local authorized dealer here in Springfield, Illinois, and repair could be costly and/or impossible (to get parts). I thought about getting an external CD burner, and they laughed at me. "Haven't made them for years." I remember years ago - Zip Drive, external burner. This type of thing no more? The dealer also said something about "no software." Is this all true? Or is there another option when the built-in CD burner/reader doesn't work? Or do I just have to buy a new iMac @ $1,200.00?

iMac-Power PC G4, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Dec 21, 2010 5:06 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Dec 21, 2010 5:17 AM in response to Don Gee

http://www.macsales.com/ not far from Springfield Illinois sells external DVD burners for under $100. They are well worth it. Get a Firewire one, as only that will boot your PowerPC G4 in Mac OS X. Zip drives, forget it, they are hardly used. External hard drives are cheap too. A DVD burner will also burn CDs.

Reply

Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Dec 21, 2010 10:00 AM in response to Don Gee

Just to add to the great advice so far, OWC & many others also have replacement internal Optical drives...

http://eshop.macsales.com/staticpages/Framework.cfm?page=superdrive/sdl_imacg4.html

Though I doubt I'd have that place install it.

Reply

Answer 3

Don Gee Author

Level 1

6 points

Dec 22, 2010 5:17 AM in response to a brody

Thanks for info. I’ll do further research. Just so I understand – I am not too computer/burner savvy. I can use an external DVD burner to burn CDs? My situation is that I have a body of PhotoMontage artwork done on my iMac. 1/2 are on CDs that I can take to a processor/printer to get copies made. The other 1/2 are just stored on my computer. I was in the process of transferring them to CDs when the internal burner went down. I think it would be cheaper if I could purchase an external device that I could plug-in, just like my scanner, and make copies to take to a processor/printer. So you are saying I could do this with an external DVD burner?

Reply

Answer 4

a brody

Level 10

82,841 points

Dec 22, 2010 6:18 AM in response to Don Gee

I can use an external DVD burner to burn CDs?

That's what I just said.

Any DVD burner will burn CDs. Note, there is some caveats to understand, but only if you want to treat CDs a certain way:

The original DVD-R burners only supported CD-R and DVD-R media.
Most of them by 2005 were replaced with full fledged DVD-/ RW/CD-/+RW/DVDR burners. This means they will burn:

DVD+R DL, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, CD-R, CD-RW.

And if you look at my FAQ* you'll learn the make of media matters and how you burn it matters:

http://www.macmaps.com/cdrfailure.html

As long as you keep those in mind you should be good.

- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Reply

Answer 5

Jan 18, 2011 7:41 PM in response to a brody

Greetings all,

I tried locating a topic related to my needs, but was unable to locate one. Please pardon my ignorance.

Question:

I need a driver for a QPS QUE! Fire External 6 pin firewire drive. Can anyone assist me with locating the original Que! Fire extension or a universal one? The unit will not get recognized in the system profiler until I install this specific driver. It will also not allow the drive tray to open either.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer. Also note: QPS website is no longer posted, so I can't go there to search for a driver.

JT

Reply

Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

238,979 points

Jan 18, 2011 11:58 PM in response to rodeo_joe

Hi Joe & welcomr! 🙂

I tried locating a topic related to my needs, but was unable to locate one. Please pardon my ignorance.

t's quite acceptable to start a new topic of your own, feel free to start a new topic to attract more helpers to your particular situation, as not many helpers look at Solved/Answered Topics for people needing help, here's a link if as is often the case, it's hard to find out where to do it...

http://discussions.apple.com/post!default.jspa?forumID=758

In the meantime, foes this help?

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7696/qps-que!-usb-cd-rw-driver-x

Reply

Answer 7

Apr 22, 2013 12:53 AM in response to Don Gee

Hi Don -

I find myself in the same boat. Can you tell me which burner you ended up buying and how well it's working for you ?

Thanks, Brian

Reply

Answer 8

May 31, 2013 5:02 AM in response to Don Gee

Can I use an external drive to re-install system software? Will a Que! Fire drive function with my machine?

iMac G3, with OS 9.2. I'm trying to revive my audio driver and I think the only way is to re-install some software. My internal CD drive has died. Afterwards, I'd like to do a clean install (I need this old OS for music sequencing and notation programs, which I don't want to give up). Possible? Thanks a lot for any suggestions.

Reply

Answer 9

May 31, 2013 5:03 AM in response to a brody

Can I use an external drive to re-install system software? Will a Que! Fire drive function with my machine?

iMac G3, with OS 9.2. I'm trying to revive my audio driver and I think the only way is to re-install some software. My internal CD drive has died. Afterwards, I'd like to do a clean install (I need this old OS for music sequencing and notation programs, which I don't want to give up). Possible? Thanks a lot for any suggestions.

Reply