External burner?

[Laure]

Hi!

I am using I g3 imac that doesn't have a burner, could anyone tell me what kind of external burner that I can get. I really feel I should be backing up some of my files. I'f like to find a "pre-owned" one on ebay of something but I don't know if I can just hook up any old burner or if it need to be mac compatible. Any ideas?????

 

[frankblundt]

pretty much anything should work. what OS is it running - OS9 or X? for X you may need Patchburn (it's free) to make a driver for it so it work with Finder, iTunes etc (Toast will work with just about anything)

xlr8yourmac.com has an extensive database of drives that people have tried, although it can be a confusing to work thru the vast number of reports on there

 

[iEdd]

Go with a Firewire 400 External DVD-R if your iMac has firewire. Otherwise get a really cheap usb 1.1 CD-R burner (I don't think usb 1.1 dvd ones exist).

 

[Artful Dodger]

FireWire if you have it. What was/is the buget for one?, better yet try here
http://www.lacie.com/products/clearance/products/?id=10008

This might help you out some

 

[Sly]

Don't bother with an iomega USB CD/RW there are no drivers available for anything above OS 9.1 and it dosn't work with Toast either. OS X 10.2.8 & 10.3.9 will read from it but not write 10.4 won't play at all.

 

[ImNoSuperMan]

Hi!

I'f like to find a "pre-owned" one on ebay of something but I don't know if I can just hook up any old burner or if it need to be mac compatible.

I`ll never buy a second hand optical or hard drive. These things have a very short life and that too depends greatly on usage and maintainence. Better buy a new one. And dont worry for the latest 16x. Anything over 6x will be just fine.(Assuming that you dont intend to make dozens of dvd every day.) In any case 16x media is also very costly as compared to 4x or 8x one.

 

[rickvanr]

I wouldn't buy from a company, it'll be very expensive, and no more reliable then a build it yourself model.

If you have FireWire buy an internal DVD-/+R of your choice. They're really inexpensive right now, ~$50 CDN will get you a top notch Pioneer drive. Then go and buy a FW 5.25" enclosure, usually around $30-40 CDN, plug the two together, and then plug it into your mac. I've made two before, and they work like a charm.

 

[Johnny Rico]

I wouldn't buy from a company, it'll be very expensive, and no more reliable then a build it yourself model.

Totally build external devices yourself. You'll save money AND you get to pick the components that go into the external! This said, I think a G3 imac will handle an external hard drive for backups better than it will a dvd burner.. G3s and dvd burners will work together, but I've had problems with hicupping and failed burns in the past. Also with a hard drive you're not as limited by the size of the media and copying files over to an hd is faster than burning to optical.