Optical Drive replacement?

[Spiteful]

Hi,

Over the past few years ownership of my mac mini, I've had the Disc Drive replaced twice (both times under warranty). It's now broke again out of warranty and I've decided not to try and source a replacement Mat****a UJ-846 drive for it.

Funny thing is they were hardly ever used, I've found them to be terribly unreliable. I need snow leopard on my mac to get iTunes 10, then that gets me iOS 4.2 for my iPhone.

If anyone knows of a cheap optical drive that would be compatible with my Intel-based mac mini I'd appreciate it.

Or would it be possible to use an external hard drive or a usb flash pen to install it?

Obviously the cheapest route would be the best.

Thanks.

[Slydude]

Try entering your system information into Accelerate Your Mac! Mac Drive Upgrades/Compatibility Database. It should show several user reports of which models have been used successfully.