Installing Pioneer A03 to a Powermac
 

Hi there,

I just got a G4 Dual1.25 Powermac with the DVD/CDRW combo drive only. I do have a Pioneer A03 dvd writer that I would like to install. Are there any issues anyone knows of? Should I install the writer to the spare ATA66 spot on the mobo? Also how will I eject the drive? Thanks in advance.

It can be installed in the other open bay, beneath the Combo Drive. The drive has a button on the front that ejects the disk. There is also the keyboard. The button in the upper right ejects the disk on the top drive and I believe Command>Eject will cause the bottom drive to eject. You can also purchase a FireWire enclosure and then you'll have an external burner.

Thanks for the info Jeff. The salesperson where I bought the powermac mentioned if I went with an external enclosure that iDVD wouldn't work with that drive. Any thoughts on that?

That is correct. Because of MPEG-4 licensing fees that Apple pays and corresponding restrictions, iDVD will not work with an external burner. There are hacks (unauthorized firmware revisions) that will enable this feature. The warranty on the DVD drive will be void once the hack is applied. If iDVD is your primary reason for purchasing the burner then you'll need to go internal.

Ok thanks that made my choice real easy! :)

i believe that iDVD 3 will not work with an aftermarket *internal* drive either ( without applying the hack i've seen in some of the shadier neighborhoods ). although i haven't tried yet.

I have an AO3 installed in my Dual 450 and it burns fine from iDVD. However, there are some reports of people not being able to burn from self installed burners. A complete reinstall of the system usually fixes the problems. It may not be that severe in your case. Fixing the permissions works for many. It seems to affect newer Dual systems more that single processors.