Set your drive on FireWire
Fred Teo
Here is a step-by-step guide to help Macintosh users assemble a FireWire CD-RW drive.
By Fred Teo, February 20, 2002
Apple has always been at the forefront with its technological breakthroughs. FireWire - otherwise known as IEEE 1394 or iLink - is one of the many technologies that Apple has spearheaded.
A few years ago, when the first PowerMac G3 came equipped with FireWire ports, few could understand why such an IO port existed as no device used this technology then.
But now, FireWire connectivity is implemented on devices ranging from digital camcorders to scanners, hard drives, DVD burners and MP3 players.
Doing it yourself
Why would you want to go through the trouble of assembling a CD-RW drive when you can buy one off the shelf?
Well, to save money, for one. You can then buy Mac CD-burning software such as Roxio Toast 5 (www.roxio.com/en/products/cdrmac.jhtml) that will give you the ability to burn VCDs and more.
Required components.
Casing and cables
Connect your FireWire PowerBook.
Connect your FireWire CD-RW drive.
Here's how you do it:
* First you have to shop for a casing with a FireWire bridge board. These casings can be found in numerous shops in Sim Lim Square or Funan The IT Mall.
Preferably, buy one that says Mac-compatible on the box, though it should work even if it does not say so.
* You will then need to shop for an IDE CD-RW drive.
Check out www.xlr8yourmac.com/IDE. html#cd and look under what readers had to say for comments on working drives before parting with your money. Once you have made the purchase, the fun begins.
* Disassemble the FireWire casing by removing the various panels with a screwdriver.
Remove the CD-RW drive and ensure that the jumper at the rear of the drive is set to master or MA.
* After the jumper is set, slide the CD-RW drive into the casing.
* Attach the IDE cable leading from the FireWire bridge board of the casing into the IDE port of the CD-RW drive.
Make sure that the side with a red wire is nearer to the power connector.
* Insert the power connector (which has four wires connected to it) into the power port of the drive.
The connector can only be inserted one way, so do not force it.
If there is too much resistance, simply flip it around and try again.
* Next, connect the audio cable to the drive.
This cable provides the audio signal to the RCA port of the casing when you play an audio CD from the drive.
* Tighten the screws that secure the drive to the casing.
* Finally, replace the panels and reassemble the casing.
* Once you are ready, you can power up your Macintosh and your newly-assembled FireWire CD-RW drive.
Connect one end of the 6-6 pin FireWire cable to the FireWire port of your Mac and the other end to the FireWire port of the CD-RW drive.
* Launch the Apple System Profiler which can be found under the Apple menu (Mac OS 9) or in the Applications-Utilities folder (Mac OS X).
* Select the Device and Volume tab to verify that the drive is detected by the system.
If the drive is detected, you are half-way there.
If not, the CD-RW drive or FireWire casing may not be supported or there might be a problem with the connection.
Switch off the power to the drive and re-check all connections and ensure that they are connected correctly.
* Insert a blank CD-R into the drive and a system prompt will pop up asking you whether you would like to prepare it for burning.
Choose Prepare and after a few seconds, a CD-R icon will appear on the desktop.
* You can now drag and drop files and folders into the CD-R icon.
* Once you are done, drag the icon into the Trash and a system prompt will appear asking whether you want to burn the disc. Click Burn and the burning process will begin.
Fred Teo is the President of the Macintosh Users Group Singapore. Website: www.macuser.org.sg