[ronc01]

The optical drive had been making some excruciating sounds for sometime, (inserted cd's sometimes took days ejecting after repeated attempts)
Well in trying to burn a cd recently, it finally gave up the ghost -
There is now no sound whatsoever from it - nothing whatsoever when hitting the various eject options.
Any advice or experiences of this situation appreciated.

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac4,1 (Early 2006)
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 2 MB
Memory: 1.5 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K05:

[ronc01]

Has anyone replaced a Superdrive either Internally or Externally?

[markuswarren]

This should get you a PDF file for the 20" Intel iMac. It's a service source file, so essentially it's what the Apple Repair Technicians would use to fix the machines. It has sections on how to take apart the mac, including the optical drive.

This will take you to a page with pictures showing disassembly of an iMac.

I used both these things to allow me to replace the hard drive in my iMac, which seems to be the same model as yours.

It is probably worth having a read of this thread, as it does seem to mention a few options for replacement internal drives.

If you want to go external, then, in theory, most external USB CD/DVD drives should work with OS X.

[ronc01]

Marcus, Thanks very much for your reply.
Had a quick quint at the links and I think I might go with an external Firewire Drive.
Much Appreciated.

[ronc01]

Local Dealer would charge £300 to replace internally:-
Am going to go for an external, I assumed Firewire would be the quickest connection, the Mac Dealer suggested Lacie -
If anyone has one I'd be interested to know their thoughts
Cheers