I have a iMac G5 iSight with a defective optical drive. I am looking for a resource to help me open up my iMac G5 iSight computer and in order to replace the optical drive? The drive will read CD's & CD-ROMs, but fails to mount DVD disks, namely the OS installation DVD. The drive also will not mount commercial movie DVD's. The DVD's that I tried will mount just fine on another Mac computer.

Also I am looking for any recommendations for where to buy a replacement slot loading optical drive for an iMac G5 iSight. The system profiler shows the optical drive as being a MATSHITADVD-R UJ-846, Revision FA0G, but I have not been able to find anything with that nomenclature when I searched on the internet.

Any help will be greatly appreciated - Thanks!

Hi Mark,

Welcome to the FineTunedMac forums. I was merging your two separate posts concerning your iMac optical drive into a single thread as they are closely related and all the info will be more easily followed in one thread....as you were making the same edit on your end.

As a short aside, were you formerly in Poway?

If you haven't been there yet you might try looking at the searchable database at the xlr8yourmac web site....very informative and quite possibly a large part of your solution.

As to how to get into your iMac to make the swap internally, it may be simpler and less exposure to damage potential to simply put your replacement optical drive into a Firewire/USB2 external enclosure. I believe that there are several photo/video tutorials on how to open your machine from reputable sources....have you tried a Google search yet?

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

Lee
(aka MacManiac)

Hi Lee,

No, I have never been in Poway (California?).

Sorry for the confusion about the 2 separate posts. I thought that the final one looked a lot better than my two originals.

I am new to forums and I guess that I have a lot to learn.

Where abouts are you located?

Thanks for the note, and the referral to the xlr8yourmac web site.

Hi Mark,

Far far away is my temporary location, my work carries me pretty far afield....my home is in San Diego.

Be sure to let us know how you resolve your issue....and stay in touch as your topic develops. I'm sure that there will be other additions with more specific links / info on getting your iMac opened up for replacing the optical drive.

As I recall from previous posts here and elsewhere (most recently at the MacFixitForums, now archived) there have been several conversations regarding the details you seek.

Howdy neighbor,
Have a look at OWC for your optical drive. Easy to replace. Comes with detailed instructions. A good place to buy Mac stuff.

Gary

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the referral to OWC. Do you know if the OWC Mercury Drive is a direct replacement for the OEM drive that came with my iMac?

Yes. Same drive Apple uses. Read the info under professional installation service. Installation instructions are near the bottom of This page

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the information and the link to the installation instructions. However, the instructions are for the non-iSight iMac. In steps 4 & 5 the picture is not the same as my iMac. There are not 3 screws at the bottom of the iMac, but there are 5 screws and a removable cover for the memory slot.

The instructions on the OWC site seem to be for the iMac released prior to the iSight model. These instructions seem to be for the iMac model M9250LL/A, and my model is the MA064LL/A.

Thanks for the reply.

I believe that's what I have, and they are sadly, very hard to take apart. just getting an external drive would seem to be easiest.

Why don't you call OWC's toll free number and see what they say about instructions for the iMac w/ iSight?

I called OWC and they said that the optical drive is the same one that will work on all of the iMacs, Ambient Light Sensor, iSight models, and the newer aluminum case models. The main difference is the disassembly of the outer case, and the fact that I will have to remove the LCD screen in order to gain access to the hard drive and the optical drive.

OWC is in the process of making a video for the newer iMacs, but it isn't out yet.

seriously, if you haven't looked at externals: OWC externals, they start at $67, and opening that iMac isn't a clam-bake...

I strongly agree with Roger....

I've been inside MANY Mac models with great success, but even I would consider having someone else (Apple or OWC) do the installation for me, or simply add an external optical drive to my already tethered desktop computer.

Having to remove the front glass and exposing the interior surface to dust intrusion or smudging or breaking is pretty much a show-stopper in my view.

replacing an ODD on an isight imac requires a fair amount of work. I don't recommend it for anyone not comfortable with digging deep into taking a machine apart.

There's no single task that's hard to do, but a combination of several intermediate challenges and tool requirements.

We are now stocking a lacie external optical drive for imac owners that prefer to just get an external FW drive instead of replacing their internal. The external is easily the better value when you factor in their paying for the labor of replacing the internal. It also is a heartier drive - the slot loaders are always lower life expectancy.

Hi Virtual 1,
When you say that you stock LaCie external optical drives for the iMac, where would I go to access where you stock the drives?

Here is the best set of instructions that I could find on how to replace the optical drive in my iSight G5 iMac:

http://macboostfr.free.fr/?p=196

Has anyone followed the above referenced instructions with success?

FineTunedMac members are proscribed from promoting the sale of their own merchandise but some sources of LaCie optical drives are

• Apple Computer
• SmallDog Electronics
• Other World Computing (OWC)

Thanks, Joe, for the pointers to the three suppliers of LaCie drives.

we used to get our replacement ODDs from mcetech.com but they've really slid downhill lately. OWC currently looks like the best bet for upgrade/offbrand replacement gear for mac.