iMac G3 Repair

[ajarix]

Hey guys! I would like to start out with this post by acknowledging that the iMac G3 is in fact very old. I do not plan to use this as my main system by any means as I have a very capable computer for that. When I was younger however, I used to use this machine so there is a huge amount of nostalgia surrounding it. My problem however is that both the hard drive and slot loading disk drive are dead.

My questions are as follows:

Would a simple convertor such as this allow me to use my SATA 80GB drive? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-3-5-P...878864?hash=item337564e610:g:Yn0AAOxyHt9R3oPZ

Will a simple IDE hard drive such as this work (assuming i partition the drive to less than 128gb - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WD-WD1600...700475&hash=item283078fd50:g:Uo0AAOSwVctY5OeD

Secondly, I cannot for the life of me find a replacement cd drive. Whilst I know that I can use an external cd drive, that takes away from the nostalgia so is there anyone out there that knows how I can get a hold of one? Links would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your time!

 

[Dronecatcher]

Will a simple IDE hard drive such as this work (assuming i partition the drive to less than 128gb - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WD-WD1600...700475&hash=item283078fd50:g:Uo0AAOSwVctY5OeD

I put a 7200RPM IDE drive in mine years ago - still going strong

 

[philgxxd]

Regarding the CD drive I would try to clean the lens if it's only reading problems.
You can also try to repair the "suck in" mechanism. It's probably that the rubber belt has rotten or the rubber who surrounded the pole(?) has come loose. It's possible to glue it.

 

[0248294]

If you want to get an external CD/DVD drive, I'd suggest looking for a used FireWire one, since that will most likely allow you to boot your Mac from an OS X installer disc. USB won't work out of the box and while some Open Firmware commands could fix the problem, sometimes it doesn't.

 

[ajarix]

I put a 7200RPM IDE drive in mine years ago - still going strong

Thanks! Will most probably get one too then!
[doublepost=1500560625][/doublepost]

If you want to get an external CD/DVD drive, I'd suggest looking for a used FireWire one, since that will most likely allow you to boot your Mac from an OS X installer disc. USB won't work out of the box and while some Open Firmware commands could fix the problem, sometimes it doesn't.

I currently have an external usb drive and have installed osx from it before so for whatever reason, this one seems to work fine. However, I would really like to just use the internal disk drive since it is more nostalgic. Thanks for your reply though!
[doublepost=1500560847][/doublepost]

Regarding the CD drive I would try to clean the lens if it's only reading problems.
You can also try to repair the "suck in" mechanism. It's probably that the rubber belt has rotten or the rubber who surrounded the pole(?) has come loose. It's possible to glue it.

Originally the only problem I had with the CD drive was that it would not eject disks far enough. I had to take the iMac apart in order to retrieve the disk using a card. However, the careless fool that I am made the problem worse beforehand by poking things inside the drive trying to retrieve the disk. Now, the disk drive no longer even tries to suck in the disk nor does it make any sound like it is trying to read the disk when pushed in all the way and ofc no longer ejects the disk in the slightest. I believe I have killed the drive unless you have any other ideas as to what I may have broke when poking around in there? I also need to buy myself a smaller screwdriver if i am to take the dvd drive apart since the screws it uses are like that found on jewelry.

Thanks for the reply!