Caring for a G4 Cube

[CooperBox]

I've spent a little more time in trying to find an efficient solution to the poor-eject problem that plagues most G4 Cubes. Unfortunately none of my attemps have suceeded. I note too that the Cubeowner.com site has still not been resurrected, which may have offered a few additional ideas.
So as previously suggested here, I'm starting to look around for a FW external DVD super drive.
As FW was developed by Apple, can I assume that any make/model of FW external optical drive will be compatible for my needs?
I've seen one, which according to the description appears to be an LG external FW/USB casing which may take any make/model of IDE drive. Is my assumption correct?
Also a Sony DRX-710 UL. Anyone with experience of either of these?

 

[Slix]

Also a Sony DRX-710 UL. Anyone with experience of either of these?

I've used the Sony CD drive. However, the only experience I have had with it was after it stopped working already, I got it from my grandparents. Not sure if that's a good sign or not, but it either was because it didn't support my MacBook Air, or it was just broken, I didn't spend a lot of time trying to figure it out.

Best of luck trying to figure something out though! Just wanted to chime in with my little experience with the matter.

 

[bobesch]

I've spent a little more time in trying to find an efficient solution to the poor-eject problem that plagues most G4 Cubes. Unfortunately none of my attemps have suceeded. I note too that the Cubeowner.com site has still not been resurrected, which may have offered a few additional ideas.
So as previously suggested here, I'm starting to look around for a FW external DVD super drive.
As FW was developed by Apple, can I assume that any make/model of FW external optical drive will be compatible for my needs?
I've seen one, which according to the description appears to be an LG external FW/USB casing which may take any make/model of IDE drive. Is my assumption correct?
Also a Sony DRX-710 UL. Anyone with experience of either of these?
View attachment 690903 View attachment 690904View attachment 690905

I owe that white LG-DVD drive. Bought it in about 2006, as far as I remember, since my WinXP computer didn't sport a DVD-burner at that time. I didn't use it very much at that time - mostly to wipe off the dust from time to time, before it went into a shoe-box. Then, after looking desperately for an external optical FireWire-drive it somehow came into my hands again and I was pretty surprise, that it did sport both USB and FireWire and that booting the Cube from that drive worked without problem.
I don't know, if it's easy/possible to open the case since it came as a complete external drive, but I'm shure it's supposed to work...

 

[CooperBox]

Many thanks for both the feedbacks. I'm a bit tempted to go for the LG-DVD drive, probably worth a gamble at the equivalent of $8 plus shipping.

 

[drewcassidy]

I know I'm pretty late to this but I had the same problem, and fixed it. I posted what I did on my blog here.

 

[Lord Flashheart]

I went the even lazier route and connected an external desktop DVD burner via FireWire. Works great, and for me it's a faster+better solution than fixing the internal drive. But I have opened the Cube several times to upgrade the VRM, CPU (1.8 GHz Sonnet Encore), add a fan, put in an SD card-based Solid State Drive (SSD), and will do so again once I figure out how to flash and make quieter the GeForce 6200 (currently using a GeForce 2MX for Tiger). Undoubtedly my Cube has received a decent amount of love.

What SSD is good/fits in the Cube? I have mine in the garage (have not used it in a while, but I love it's style & looks)

 

[CooperBox]

What SSD is good/fits in the Cube? I have mine in the garage (have not used it in a while, but I love it's style & looks)

HERE's a good link for related info.
NOTE: Some of those very cheap SATA to IDE adapters have quite questionable soldering quality, but probably function ok. I recently purchased one costing USD10 instead of the very cheap USD3 variety, and even so noticed a fair amount of oxydation around a number of soldering points where the flux had not been suitably cleaned off. A few minutes of cleaning improved those aspects. Not yet had chance to install this adapter to a Cube or G4 iMac, so will report back in due course on the result.