Upgrading optical drive in PM G5

[vtprinz]

Someone just brought this up in another thread, and I wanted to ask everyone, how easy is it to upgrade the optical drive in the PM? Is it a better deal to buy the PM with the combo drive (saving $90 edu), and then buy an internal 16x DL DVD-R/CD-RW?

[vtprinz]

Would this work?
http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/prodBlock.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&expansionOID=-536892754&prodBlockOID=537399914

Cheaper than the superdrive, and it's 16x double-layer.

Do I need anything special for it? I'm curious because of the way the optical drive works in the PM, with the metal cover over the drive. Would it automatically work with the eject button on the keyboard?

[vtprinz]

No?

[Rod Rod]

Upgrading the optical drive is possible. It's easiest if you upgrade to a burner that OS X supports. At the moment as far as I know, OS X supports up to 8x burners. Some PM G5s have relabeled Pioneer 108s with retarded firmware that makes them 107s. The point is that right now if you want 16x / dual layer in a PM G5 you need to use a patch. Check www.patchburn.de (http://www.patchburn.de).

If the combo drive will be useful to you after the upgrade, go for it. Otherwise, what I'd do is buy an external DVD burner on clearance from LaCie (http://www.lacie.com/products/clearance/products/?id=10008).

The new iDVD lets you burn to an external and allows burning to disk image (without using an easter egg), so the internal superdrive isn't as big of an advantage. The remaining advantage is neatness of your work space / less clutter / less stuff to plug into your surge protector. But if you have the room (as I do) and a lot of your gear is out of your line of sight anyway, that doesn't even matter.

When you install an optical drive in a G5 you'll have to remove the bezel on the tray. Other than that, it'd look better if the burner you install has a black tray (for the times that the thing is open anyway).

[sphereboy]

OK.
So i'm starting to itch for a dual-layer DVD burner on my PowerMac G5.

I currently have a Super Drive and want to upgrade to a dual layer burner.
Has anyone replaced the internal super drive on their G5 to a dual layer burner? If so, what do you guys recommend if any, or is it better to go with an external dual layer burner.

Upon further research I found the following link informative:
http://www.scribent.com/osx/xtip/comments/dual_layer_dvds/

[topgunn]

The best way to go is to find out what the newest Power Macs are currently shipping with and buy that. In the past, they have been Pioneer 105,06,07,08,09 but I am not sure what the current DL 16x drives are.