PowerMac 6100 CD-ROM Upgrades
You should be able to install any SCSI CD drive in the internal CD-ROM bay, but there are some potential issues with power supplies and heat dissipation, especially with CD-R and CD-RW drives. You cannot install any IDE, EIDE or ATAPI drive in a 6100 without a hard-to-find adapter that is occasionally stocked by an Australian distributor. I haven't yed had any reader feedback on one of these doodads.
When my original Apple 300i 2x drive died, I replaced it with the same model because I had read that there were issues around booting from a non-Apple CD drive. As it turns out, that is no longer true (see below). As it turns out, I could have bought a much faster drive for the same money. Oh well.
Most recently, I purchased an external CD-RW drive for mastering CDs. So far it has worked quite well. I've burned a few usable CDs and made a couple of coasters, too.
| File | Most Recent Version | Function/Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple CD/DVD ROM Driver | 1.2.2 | Provides core functionality for reading CDs from a CD-ROM drive. Also provides DVD ability on newer Macs equipped with DVD drives and decoders |
 | Foreign File Access | 5.2 | Along with the extensions listed below, allows Macs to read other formats, such as ISO 9660, UDF, Audio, PhotoCD and High Sierra |
 | Audio CD Access | 5.1 | Permits Macs to read Audio CDs |
 | High Sierra File Access | 5.2 | Allows Macs High Sierra File format discs |
 | ISO 9660 File Access | 5.2 | Allows Macs to read ISO 9660 File format discs |
Even if you don't currently have a CD-ROM drive installed, you probably have the drivers installed. Use your Extensions Manager control panel 
to look for the files listed above. If you still can't find them, you can re-install them from your Mac OS installation disks. If you don't feel like messing with the installer, you can use TomeViewer to extract only the necessary files.
If you are installing a third-party (i.e. non-Apple) drive, it may require a model-specific driver. The most recent version of Apple's driver should work with most SCSI CD-ROM drives, though. Some CD-RW drives will require a special driver, such as 
Adaptec's Toast CD Reader extension, in order to read CDs. This driver is usually included in the bundled software.
If you don't have a third-party driver, there may be other options as well. I haven't tried any of these, but some of them may enable an "unsupported" drive to work:
This might be a good time to install the excellent freeware control panel SCSI Probe, too. You may not need it, but then again, you might.
Pull up on the small tabs at the back of the computer. Each of them should snap free, and the entire top of the case should rock forward. Rock it forward until it comes free of the computer, and set it aside.
Remove any residual static electricity your body may be carrying by touching the power supply (the big metal box at the back of the computer). Better yet, buy and wear an anti-static wrist strap. Also, remove any wool sweaters you may be wearing and banish the cat from the room until you're finished.
Set the SCSI ID number for the new drive. You probably want to use the same ID number as the old drive. Check the old drive to be sure, but it's usually #3. Your CD-ROM drive should have come with a diagram showing the location of the SCSI ID jumpers or switch. To pick a SCSI ID, use the following table:
| ID | S2 | S1 | S0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Off | Off | Off |
| 1 | Off | Off | On |
| 2 | Off | On | Off |
| 3 | Off | On | On |
| 4 | On | Off | Off |
| 5 | On | Off | On |
| 6 | On | On | Off |
| 7 | On | On | On |
On a 6100, the CD-ROM drive is almost always connected to the middle of the internal ribbon cable. In this case, the hard drive is the last device on this segment, and so you should turn the termination off.
If your chain is configured so that the CD-ROM drive is at the end of the chain, you'll need to turn the termination on.
Consult the documentation that came with your device to find the location of the termination jumper or switch.
Locate the beige plastic locking tab and lift it up gently while pushing the drive forward towards the front of the case. The drive and the plastic "sled" or carrier should slide out of the case.
Turn the drive over so you can see the screws that mount the drive to the sled. Gently remove the four screws. Place the sled against the new drive and replace the four screws. Do not overtighten the screws. If you're not replacing an existing drive and you don't yet have the carrier, you can buy one from Sun Remarketing for about $3. Look for catalog number 922-0850. If you don't have the front bezel (the faceplate with a slot for the CD tray), look for catalog number 922-0805, for $7.00.
Slide the sled and drive back into the case until they click into place, then reattach the cables. All connectors are keyed and will fit only one way. The power and SCSI connectors should be fairly obvious, as they're in the middle of the daisy chain cables that run to the hard drive. The audio ribbon cables run from a little 4-pin connector on the CD drive to a matching 4-pin connector on the motherboard that is labeled "J10." Boot the computer with the new drive before you close it up, just to make sure that it works.
| File | Most Recent Version | Function/Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple CD/DVD ROM Driver | 1.2.2 | Provides core functionality for reading CDs from a CD-ROM drive. Also provides DVD ability on newer Macs equipped with DVD drives and decoders |
| Foreign File Access | 5.2 | Along with the extensions listed below, allows Macs to read other formats, such as ISO 9660, UDF, Audio, PhotoCD and High Sierra |
| Audio CD Access | 5.1 | Permits Macs to read Audio CDs |
| High Sierra File Access | 5.2 | Allows Macs High Sierra File format discs |
| ISO 9660 File Access | 5.2 | Allows Macs to read ISO 9660 File format discs |
Even if you don't currently have a CD-ROM drive installed, you probably have the drivers installed. Use your Extensions Manager control panel to look for the files listed above. If you still can't find them, you can re-install them from your Mac OS installation disks. If you don't feel like messing with the installer, you can use TomeViewer to extract only the necessary files.
If you are installing a third-party (i.e. non-Apple) drive, it may require a model-specific driver. The most recent version of Apple's driver should work with most SCSI CD-ROM drives, though. Some CD-RW drives will require a special driver, such as Adaptec's Toast CD Reader extension, in order to read CDs. This driver is usually included in the bundled software.
If you don't have a third-party driver, there may be other options as well. I haven't tried any of these, but some of them may enable an "unsupported" drive to work:
This might be a good time to install the excellent freeware control panel SCSI Probe, too. You may not need it, but then again, you might.
The internal HD is usually set to 0, an internal CD-ROM drive is usually set to 3, and a Zip drive is set to 5 or 6. Your CD-ROM drive should have come with a diagram showing the location of the jumpers, push-button switches, or the rotary switch for setting the SCSI ID.
If your CD drive is the last device on your SCSI chain (physically, not numerically), then it must be terminated. If your drive did not come with a terminator (short, fat thing with a SCSI connector), either buy a terminator or else rearrange the chain so that a terminated device is at the end.
Your Mac has a 25-pin SCSI connector, as do Zip drives and most scanners. External drives can come with 50-pin Centronics connectors or 25-pin connectors, but you can buy adapter cables that convert from one to the other.
There are several ways to boot from a CD:
to select a bootable CD
If you are trying to burn a bootable CD, be sure to read Adaptec's tutorial on bootable CDs. Burning a bootable CD is tricky, and there's a lot of stuff that's just not obvious if you're new to this.
Personally, I have an external CD-RW drive--a Computer411-branded drive with Yamaha 4416S internals. It came fully assembled in an external drive housing with a power cable, one piece of CD-R media (worth about a buck), and a CD containing Toast version 3.5.6. PC software is included on the CD as well (EasyCD version ?.??). I chose a cheaper model that did not include a SCSI cable or terminator (I had these lying around) and saved myself about $15. A free updater to Toast 3.5.7 is available on Adaptec's website.
So far everything's gone fine. I can boot from the external drive, and it will mount CDs as long as I have the Toast CD Reader enabled. I've used the drive to make audio CDs, Mac-formatted CDs, a hybrid CD and a bootable Mac CD.
Most of the discs I've burned have worked. Some didn't quite work the first time and had to be removed and reinserted, which is a bit strange. Clearly there's some voodoo involved in burning CDs.
I've also burned a couple of coasters (CD-lingo for a useless disc). I haven't quite figured why things sometimes work and sometimes don't, but CD-R media is inexpensive enough ($1/blank CD) that it's not too big a deal. It might have had to do with conflicting drivers from CharisMac's Discribe, or with interruptions in the writing process from having virtual memory turned on.
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Thanks, and please come back soon!
