Can i use ANY external CD/DVD drive with the NEW mac mini?

We just got the newest Mac Mini and want to get an external drive for importing and burning CD's and DVD's.
Can we use ANY external CD/DVD drive or do we NEED to use the "Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive."
Thanks
Eliot

Maybe.
I've had some situations where a non-Apple DVD drive would not do a particular job.  When I tried the same project with the Apple SuperDrive everything worked perfectly.
This is an area where I would not try to save money.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC684ZM/A

Similar Messages

  • How can i use 3(or more) hdmi monitors with the new Mac Pro(2013)?

    I've been looking around, trying to find a solution to this problem.
    I saw at one place that an active thunderbold -> DVI will work with the older mac pro model.
    Will this work with the new one as well?
    Will i be able to connect 3 screens if i use 2 passive thunderbold->hdmi and one
    active thunderbold->dvi and then a dvi->hdmi?

    If you need to buy Apple's $99 Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapters you may find you need to return and replace the adapter/s till you find one that works.
    Recently, after my nMP arrived I bought two adapters. It took 3 trips to the Apple store to find a second one that worked properly. This also happened a few months ago when I was buying those adapters.
    You should be aware that you'll also need the DVI cable that has the full set of pins, not the one with the row in the middle missing.
    If you check on the Apple customer reviews in the online store you'lll find the issues and possible solutions to this situation.
    Eventually I returned the second adapter when I found a way to get 2560 x 1600 through the HDMI port. I now have two 30" monitors that display 2560 x 1600.

  • Will a external Apple iSight work with the latest Mac Mini?

    with a firewire 400-800 if it will what software do i need to take pictures and videos.
    Many Thanks

    Will a external apple isight work with the latest mac mini.
    Yes (if the external iSight works.)
    External iSights are great webcams, but they are getting old (as consumer electronics go) and some have had pretty rough treatment. You can test yours using the suggestions from this page:
      http://www.ralphjohns.co.uk/EZJim/EZJimpage4.html
    I suggest you disconnect other Firewire devices until you get your external iSight working with your mini.
    If you do not already have an external iSight and are considering buying one now,
    a new webcam (with warranty) may be a better choice.
    Many available alternatives are listed here: http://www.mac-compatible-web-cam.com/
    THEMACMINIMAN wrote:
    with a firewire 400-800 ...
    Use one of the following ways to connect your FW400 external iSight to a FW800 Mac port:
    • To use the FW400 6pin-6pin cable that comes with iSight, you can use a 6pin-9pin adapter
      like one of these:
      http://tinyurl.com/ydsbb6m  (I use this one.)
      http://tinyurl.com/cgll7o
      http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fw_adapter.html
    • This Firewire 400-800 cable can work:
      http://store.apple.com/us/product/TP320LL/A (I use this one.)
    • Some report that this low-priced alternative cable works:
      http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189097
    I suggest you disconnect other Firewire devices until you get external iSight working with your mini. Once iSight works when it is the only FW connected device, you can try connecting other Firewire devices to determine whehter you can use any of them without conflict.
    ... if it will what software do i need to take pictures and videos.
    With your 10.6.3 mini, you can use QuickTime X, iChat, Photo Booth, iMovie, and some of the other apps that are installed with OS X. Your Mac's Help for each of these apps can tell you how to use them with iSight (or other connected cameras.)
    Some more apps you can use are shown in this list:
      http://www.ralphjohns.co.uk/EZJim/EZJimpage7.html
    The web links for each app gives details on what functions is offers with your webcam.
    Many Thanks
    You're welcome.
    EZ Jim
    Mac Pro Quad Core (Early 2009) 2.93Ghz w/Mac OS X (10.6.3)  MacBook Pro (13 inch, Mid 2009) 2.26GHz (10.6.3)
    LED Cinema Display  G4 PowerBook  1.67GHz (10.4.11)  iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9)  External iSight

  • I urgently need to know how I can connect 8 thunderbolt display, I was thinking with the new mac pro will come out, but I wonder if it is possible to connect an iMac to 4GB of graphics card, but suffers from the imac. thanks

    I urgently need to know how I can connect 8 thunderbolt display, I was thinking with the new mac pro will come out, but I wonder if it is possible to connect an iMac to 4GB of graphics card, but suffers from the imac. thanks

    I tightened all HD screws and it didn't help. With the machine running and side of the case off, I physically stopped both the video card fan and the front case fan with my finger for a couple seconds and the noise continued. I also took all hard drives out one by one and rebooted each time. Again, the noise continued until I took out the Mac HD in Bay 1, rebooted, and I had a very quiet, silent machine. The issue is the hard drive in bay 1 that shipped with the computer, it's without a doubt causing the hum/woosh sound. I still need to know if I can safely swap the Mac HD from bay 1 to bay 4 without any issues to the operating system. I would like to try that to see if it dampens the noise but I also want to make sure this swap won't screw up my machine at all.

  • Using ADC Monitor with the new Mac Mini

    My husband has an Apple monitor with an ADC connection. I would like to purchase the new Mac Mini, but would like to use his current monitor. I know there is an ADC to DVI adapter, but the new Mac Mini uses the Mini Display...could I use yet another adapter? I am trying to save money, but don't want to the display quality to be really poor. Space is not an issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    I have located that, but my concern is the DVI connection to the Mini Display connection on the Mac Mini. My understanding is that they are different.

  • Which USB external MODEM will work with the latest MAC MINI?

    Can anyone recommend an external USB modem (other than Apple's) that will work with the latest MAC MINI?
    Thanks!
    Captain

    Hello!
    I am very happy with the APPLE USB MODEM "MA034"
    http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?find=ap ple%20usb%20modem#overview
    You cannot find smaller and it never crashed or anything whatsoever.
    Oh yes, and it is white!

  • Replacing Internal DVD Drive with HDD in Mac Mini?

    Has anyone tried replacing the internal DVD drive with a hard drive, giving you TWO internal hard drives? I think you need a cable to match up the SATA connectors. Then you could use a USB external enclosure for the DVD.
    Thanks.

    Very interesting, thanks el Duque. Too bad MCE doesn't make a carrier for the Mac Mini. I wonder if one for a Macbook Pro can be easily modified to fit?
    I have just learned that the SATA connector on the logic board for the optical drive in Macbooks and the Mini is called a "Slim-SATA" connector. Instead of the power side of the connector having 15 pins, it only has 6, with both types of connectors having a standard 7-pin data side. Both power and data hook-ups are achieved in a single connector -- a power side and data side.
    Since the ports on 2.5" hard drives are "standard" SATA connectors, AND they don't match up to the logic board's connector location (like with the connector location on the optical drive), a cable is needed to run between the HDD and the logic board connector.
    Unfortunately, such a cable is not available -- yet. Instead, one has to be fabricated out of two types of SATA cables -- a Molex 4-pin to SATA 15-pin power cable and a combination cable that looks like this:
    http://www.byteccusa.com/product/SATA/SATA-XP118/SATA-XP118.htm
    The fabrication involves replacing the molex 4-pin power end of the combi-cable with the SATA power end of the molex 4-pin to SATA power cable (cutting and soldering). The BIG question now is whether a HDD will work with just the two-wire power cable (of the combi-Sata cable) that an optical drive normally uses? Anyone know if it will? Thanks.

  • How to use hard drives with the new mac pro

    A few quick questions about upgrading to new Mac pro desktop
    I currently have 4 internal hard drives for a total of 8T
    What will the solution be to add storage to the new desktop?
    I assume it will be thunderbolt options?
    Lets say I wanted at least 8TB of storage to add to the computer
    and attached the storage via thunderbolt will it be as fast data throughput
    as the harddrives in my current computer hooked up to the external bus?
    I also have a pci card running my audio plugins for Universal Audio how will those pci
    cards work on the new mac pro?

    Also will the transfer rate with the pegas be as fast as if the drives were connected to the bus in the machines like the old mac pro?
    To answer that, think of this as a Bottleneck problem. The overall performance is as slow as the slowest device.
    At this writing typical rotating drives can produce a momentary burst at 125 MBytes/sec or 1,000 Mbits/sec. Only FireWire 800 is starting to be a limit for that -- EVERYTHING else is faster. Thunderbolt-1 is 10,000 Mbits/sec -- ten times faster.
    The best SSD can produce a burst at maybe 800 MBytes/sec or 6,400 Mbits/sec. There is not a big speed difference in an SSD RAID, because the latency is already low. But the 10,000 Mbits/sec of ThunderBolt-1 is still plenty fast enough for that as well.
    If ThunderBolt-2 devices really can run a single data stream at 20,000 Mbits/sec, that does not make ANYTHING faster -- it just moves the ceiling (potential bottleneck) a bit farther away.

  • Can I use my old AIr Port Extreme with my new Mac Pro with Lion installed? It has worked well with the G-4 that I'm replacing.

    Can I use my old Airport Exteme with my new Mac Pro with Lion installed? It has worked well for years with my G-4.

    I'm smarter now. It worked fine.

  • Will any of my old displays work with the new Mac Mini

    I am thinking of getting a new Mac Mini.     What I need to know is if any of the monitor/displays I have here can bem used.
    I have two old video monitors I used to used with my old  mac mini (Samsung Symc Master 770 and old little Princeton  - VL158) , a
    n early 2006 iMac 20" (which I don't think I could use as a monitor from what I read) and an little Samsung TV with USB and HDMI connectors.,
    Can I use any of these? 
    Need new connector cords?   Mini-DVI to VGA adapter?
    Thanks

    I am a writer though  and a photographer (strictly point and shoot) for a couple of orgs.  I just don't want o run out of space.  And I hate!! slow response time.  
    Is the i5 adequate as well?
    Glad to have found an Apple guru so quickly.  May very well buc you more in the future.

  • Can I use an external cd/dvd drive on my iMac?

    I have a 5 year old iMac (2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM) running OSX 10.4.11. We purchased Snow Leopard to upgrade only to find out our cd/dvd drive is broken. It would be about $150 to replace and we're looking to see if we could buy an external drive for any less to get up to speed. We almost never use the disc drive so are hoping to do this in the most economical way possible since we'll also be looking to replace this computer in the next two years or so (or give it over to the kids to play on).
    Thanks for any help or insight you can offer!

    Here are some from Other World Computing, a well respected company on these forums:
    http://eshop.macsales.com/search/cd+burner

  • Using an external optical DVD drive with A665-S6050

    I recently purchased a refurbished Satellite A665-S6050; everything about it is nice and working fine. The one and only problem I'm having is trying to transfer (burn) images from a memory card reader directly to an external DVD drive, without having to first transfer images to a new folder on the desktop. Sending the image file directly to the internal optical drive from the memory card reader works fine, no problem, but for some reason the transfer to the external always fails. The process stalls and never completes.
    I need to use an external DVD optical drive to save the internal from wear and tear, and potential damage due to excessive usage over time; I burn 20 to 30 discs a day. Cheaper to replace an external drive than the one built into the notebook. Several conversations with tech support failed to get the issue resolved. Finally it was suggested that I send it in for repair, where it is right now. Hopefully I'll get it back soon with the issue fixed.
    I'm curious, has anyone come across this issue before? What was done to get it working properly? Thanks for your feedback. I'm planning on getting another Toshiba, and want to know just in case this issue pops up again so I can correct what may be a simple resolution as adjusting a setting.

    I have not run into this problem yet however I do know if you use your computers RAM to do this and then x-fer yourimages onto your drive, from thecomputer you are utilizing, that it is much faster.

  • Can i use my ipod as hard-drive with pc and mac??

    hi
    ive been using new classic ipod with pc for a while.
    now i have a new macbook.
    can i use the ipod as a hard drive to transfer files to macbook??
    like say if i download some software onto pc, i put that onto ipod,
    and then transfer to macbook via ipod hard drive........
    is this ok?
    can i use my ipod on macbook and pc? or is it just one of the other?
    thanks
    (transfering my pc itunes library to macbook is not urgent yet....but would it be as easy as just copying the song files across? something like itornado usb wire....)

    *can i use the ipod as a hard drive to transfer files to macbook??*
    Macs can read Windows formatting so if your iPod was first used and formatted on a PC you should have no issue with using it as a removable hard drive on the Mac: How to determine your iPod's disk format
    Just for reference, iPods formatted for Mac it won't run natively on a PC because Windows operating systems don't recognize Mac OS-formatted disks (HFS or HFS Plus formats). Mac formatted iPods can only be used on a PC that has a third party helper program such as XPlay or MacDrive installed.

  • Can I use my old iPhone AC Adapter with my new iPad mini

    Just bough myself a new mini retina but was wondering if I could use my old iPhone 4 AC power adapter with it i.e. plug the new lightining to USB to AC Adapter.
    The iPad's power adapter is a bit bulky and anything so I don't end up taking a hundred power adapters on holiday tomorrow!
    Looking at the details they say:
    Old charger:
    100-240v ~ 50/60Hz 0.15A
    Output 5V == 1A
    New charger:
    100-240v ~ 50/60Hz 0.45A
    Output 5.1V == 2.1A

    Another option is that you can take ONLY the iPad mini's 10W charger with you instead of the iPhone's 5W charger. It's not that much bigger than the iPhone's 5W and will safely charge BOTH devices. It's really not recommended (& not considered compatible by Apple) to use the 5W charger to charge devices requiring a 10W or 12W charger. Yes, as was mentioned above, you CAN use the 5W to charge the mini Retina. It will take longer and the charger will likely generate more heat. Personally, I'd just take the 10W charger. It's safe and compatible (officially by Apple) with both your iPhone 4 and the iPad mini Retina.
    Compatibility for 5W charger: (scroll down to compatibility)
    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD810LL/A/apple-5w-usb-power-adapter
    Compatibility for 12W charger (10W is not listed) (scroll down to compatibility)
    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD836LL/A/apple-12w-usb-power-adapter?fnode=3c

  • What's the best way to configure my thunderbolt drive with the new mac pro?

    I have an external pegasus drive connected to my mac pro.  Obviously the computer is limited in space and I was wondering whether I should move my "user" folder which will include documents, pictures, videos, etc onto the pegasus.  That way the 256gb hard drive on the mac pro is dedicated solely for the os and and apps.  What do you guys think?

    I concur. See the following:
    How to use an SSD with your HDD
    If you are going to use an SSD as a boot drive together with your existing HDD as the "data" drive, here's what you can do.
    After installing the SSD you will need to partition and format the SSD using Disk Utility. Then, install OS X on the SSD. After OS X has been installed boot from the SSD. Use Startup Disk preferences to set the SSD as the startup volume.
    Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and authenticate. CTRL- or RIGHT-click on your user account listing in the sidebar and select Advanced Options from the context menu.
    You will see a field labeled "Home dir:" At the right end you will see a Change button. Click on it. In the file dialog locate the Home folder now located on the HDD (HDD/Users/account_name/.) Select the folder, click on Open button. Restart the computer as directed.
    When the computer boots up it will now be using the Home folder located on the HDD.
    Another more technical method involving the Terminal and aliases is discussed in depth here: Using OS X with an SSD plus HDD setup - Matt Gemmell. This is my preferred approach because I can select which of the Home's folders I want on the HDD and which I don't want. For example, I like to keep the Documents and Library folders on the SSD because I access their content frequently.
    Be sure you retain the fully bootable system on your HDD in case you ever need it.

Maybe you are looking for