Another lucky strike: I went back to the same place today and found a Formac external Firewire CR/RW drive sitting amongst the rubbish. The power adaptor was there too but (unsurprisingly) no Firewire cable. However, Firewire cables are pretty easy to get hold of. I can't believe the University is throwing this stuff away but I guess when you think about it, most modern computers have CD/DVD burners built in these days.

This is exactly what I was after for my G4, as it only has an internal DVD ROM drive. I haven't tried the Formac drive yet but even if it doesn't work I can stick another CR/RW into the (rather snazzy) external case.

Sadly I have reached the stage now when I do not have any more space for stuff, which is unfortunate as there were some Performas piled inside the department waiting to be put in the skip. So future conquests will have to be something really special that I don't already have, like an Apple II (crosses fingers)!