2006 Mac Pro with a dying ODD - what should I get as a replacement?

This thing's ODD is dying a slow and painful death - the eject mechanism seems to be borked completely, and it's a bit noisy when reading discs.

It's IDE, and I know Apple was picky about drive compatibility. What should I get to replace this drive? Is there a particular make/model known for its longevity? This will pretty much just be to image discs as ISOs and DMGs.

I had good luck with Pioneer ODDs. Recall the usual incompatibility was about booting. So it probably doesn't matter much for reading purposes.

You could also go the USB ODD route. Or steal a SATA connection from an unused HD bay.

The drive I have is Pioneer. Any thoughts on what I might do to make it behave? Should I dismantle it and replace anything?

I can hear gears moving when it tries to eject a disc, but the tray just does not move. If I manually eject the tray with a paperclip and push it back in, the drive doesn't even pick up that there's a disc present. I have to push it in until the mechanism picks it up and closes the tray fully, which doesn't always happen.

I've had sketchy drives where I have to apply a little pressure to the tray to get it to open, but that doens't work with this guy. The only way to open it at the moment is with a paperclip.

Have fun. Could be sensors going, or broken plastic gearing. Not sure about getting replacements for either.

I'd just replace it. But checking prices shows ODDs have gone up a bit. I remember them being in the $20-40 range, last time I needed one.

I think I'm just going to do the SATA route, the more I think about it. IDE is just so effing slow compared to SATA.

Damn kids don't appreciate their bandwidth these days.

I don't recall if ATAPI is supported on the SATA connectors. Better check that before ordering. Or you'll need an adapter IDE -> SATA that supports ATAPI. Or a USB adapter ... that supports ATAPI.