Buying new MB: Super Drive or none and other ?s

Need info/opinions on:
Super Drive worth extra weight? What to use if I buy MB without?
Is Air upgradeable? (Differing info on Disc. Brds)
Disc. Brds: "SSDs allow only so many writes to the drive..." What does this mean and is it true?
Can I buy a MB without an SSD and add one later? How and brand recommends, please?
Please explain pros/cons of Flash storage vs SSD vs Hard Drive.
Can I have a MB configured with exactly what I do/don't want? How?
Thanks!!!

You should also ask this in the MacBook Pro forum. This is the forum for the white and black plastic MacBooks that were discontinued in 2010. You should also post this question there to increase your chances of getting an answer.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro

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Can a new Apple Super Drive be connected to a Powerbook Pro using a USB to Thunderbolt adaptor?

Can a new Apple Super Drive be connected to a Powerbook Pro using a USB to Thunderbolt adaptor?

Assuming you mean a Mac Book Pro (Powerbooks haven't been sold for almost 10 years, and a Thunderbolt port would only be present in the MB Pro) I have a couple of observations
I don't believe there is such a thing as a thunderbolt Super drive. SuperDrives are USB.
Converting a USB super drive to use thunderbolt interface will be an expensive ordeal. Almost as expensive as the super drive itself. And i doubt the interface would support the Superdrive anyway. i.e the Mac is not expecting an optical drive through the TB interface.
There's no benefit in doing it. Speedwise, you would still be limited to the USB speeds. And port usage wise, it would be a waste of a powerful port.
Any reason you can't use a USB port?

New iMac new usb super drive but disc keep ejecting

I am a new user of a new imac, installed new usb super drive but disc keeps ejecting.

A reply to similar question (Q & As , in product page Apple Store) says:
"...dissable the internal reader hardware from devices setup. Then plug the external usb superdrive and that's it." Answered by Enrique T from Lima Oct 25 2013.
If you can locate an external Apple USB 'Air" superdrive for earlier model MacBook Air, that should work. The newer one for the Air is the same as for iMac, now.
You may be able to use other brands of external USB optical drive with your older intel-based iMac, as some of them function capably. A few should also be able to see system discs or other bootable utilities on DVD.
Hopefully this helps.
Good luck & happy computing!

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Partion drive with TM and other data already on it

hi folks
I'd like to partion an ext. FW drive with TM and other data (music files) already on it. can this be done w/o erasing the data already on the ext. drive?
Thanks,
Chuck s

rhyhman32 wrote:
thanks V.K. So, this process will not erase my data?
If I already have, as I mentioned, my iTunes music and Time Machine data on this ext. FW drive, can I place the data in each new partition?
that's right, the data should be preserved. it will remain on one partition and a new empty partition will be created below it. you can move your Music library to the new partition. DO NOT move your TM backups. they can not be moved using Finder.

I,ve bought a new USB Super Drive and have plugged it in, but can't get the disc ejected from the drive.

I've bought a new USB SuperDrive, but don't know how to set it up. HAve put the cd in the machine, but now cannot eject it!

Have a look here for some suggestions for ejecting a stuck disk:
http://osxdaily.com/2009/08/28/eject-a-stuck-disk-from-your-mac-dvd-super-drive/

Need to buy new internal hard drive ~ suggestions of where to buy online?

My 3 year old Mac Mini needs a new internal hard drive. I'm trying to find one online, but when I go to macsales.com for instance, I can't figure out the item I should be buying that will work. I'm clueless.
Is there any online place anyone would suggest in particular?
And what do I look for? Will it say 'mac mini internal hard drive' and will I know it will work in my old mini? (not intel).
Does anyone know of a good place to take to have it installed in the Seattle area?
Help! Thanks!

With a little experience, replacing the drive on a Mac mini would take a little less than an hour, so I suspect you're being quoted the standard minimum for the job by those two sources. Whether you take that up or do it yourself really depends on your level of confidence. Opening the mini is a daunting proposition since there's no clear way to do it, and the plastic creaks and clicks as it's being levered apart with the putty knives, but it's actually very simple to do. Once the top is off, it is a fairly simply process to get to the drive, remove it, fit a new one and then reassemble. The only common issue from doing this work is failing to reconnect the fan control cable (symptom of having forgotten it is that the fan runs continuously on start up).
I would suggest that if you have a flat, clear table, an hour to spare, two putty knives and a suitable screwdriver, you would likely find it a fairly easy job once you get started. Indeed, you might even think about increasing the system memory at the same time!
One thing I would suggest is that if you have a digital camera, once you have the top open, start taking pictures as you progress through the job. That will help overcome the 'where does this go?' syndrome, should it strike!
In terms of sources of drive, the reason Boece suggested OWC in the first reply is that they have already done the work of figuring out which drives are compatible and which are not. If you are in any doubt about which drive will work and which won't, it would make sense to source the drive from them, knowing it is suitable, than through another vendor where you may be less sure!

Brutalizing my Hard Drive... and other problems

I just got an iBook G4 a month ago, and I am first trying to edit a movie now. I can't buy Final Cut pro, and I don't feel like I should have to based on the kind of movies I would like to make. But I have the following problems:
1) I would like to be able to import video at a lower resolution or something that would make my project take up less space... my internal HD is only 40GB and my external is 80, and small amounts of video take up huge amounts of space. And as someone noted, trashing these clips seems to do nothing. Which is very frustrating. I do not see the reason for "non-destructive" editing.
2) I don't know how to make the project originate on an External HD. Is this because it is USB? On my old (windows) computer I could use USB to import from the camera at a lower resolution, and now with only the firewire option and apparently no way to downgrade how much space the file takes up, putting it on the external drive would be a great help.
3) I have used final cut, and it actually seemed easier to do things such as trim the length of a clip at either end, slow it down, speed it up, reverse it, and more. I do not see any intuitive options to do these things (other than awkwardly clicking on the ends of the clip in the timeline to shorten it... but why can't I work with the clip alone?) , and I feel stupid. But the help option has nothing on it either. iMovie must have these capabilities, yes?
I am sorry for the long post, but I am frustrated. I find this to be the opposite of GarageBand, which was so intuitive I could mave music even though I had no goal in mind. I know exactly how I would like my simple movie to go, and I feel that the software is standing in the way. Would iMovie 4 be better? How do I downgrade?
Thanks.

David B.
I'm presently working on a wedding video, to go onto a DVD ..a bit more than 20 mins! ..And also on a video of some people doing Qi Gong (Chi Gung ..however you pronounce it ..you know: slow-moving oriental exercises) and both of those DVDs will need Chapters ..guests arriving; wedding ceremony; reception; speeches; dancing; people falling over and being ill ..we-e-ell; you know.. and the other has Chapters for each of the different exercises (..twisting left and hurting your back, touching your toes and getting cramps, swinging arms above head and smashing the lampshade, etc).
So I often make movies ..and DVDs.. which are longer than 20 mins ..though the last one was only 9mins or so, but that was a copy of some old VHS tape from 20 years ago for a cousin who's getting married next(?) week.
Chapters let you jump (..forward or back..) to a particular element of the video/DVD which you want to play again, without having to negotiate menus.
And other videos - of the eclipse, etc - often last 35 mins or more.
Over the years I recorded (..or shot on 8mm!..) a bit of what was happening with friends in Cornwall almost every time I visited them. This now amounts to 3hrs worth or so. Put onto a DVD - or two! - they can jump between chapters to see their daughter the day she was born; then the same girl aged three; then the same girl getting married, etc!
So I make long-ish video with iMovie, add Chapters for ease of navigation, then burn onto long-ish DVDs.

New internal hard drive (URGH!) and can't open iPhoto library on my ex HD

I just had to replace my first HD since buying my first Mac in 1989 so I'm starting fresh again. I have about 12 GB of photos on my backup external hard drive. I want to view them and see that they work and try to figure out if I lost any photos in my crash. My ex HD photos were stored in iPhoto 5 and I now have iPhoto 6 on my computer. I had MAJOR troubles with version 5 and I do not want to import the photos back into my computer, I want to be able to view them and work on them from my ex HD.
I have no photos on my computer's HD at this time. I cannot get my photos on my ex HD to open. When I hold down the option key while opening iPhoto, I get no prompter to allow me to select my storage photos. What am I doing wrong?
PS - I've gone into Preferences>Advanced and unselected the import photos function. Is there a way to override that for portions of my huge library on my ex HD?

Since I last posted I downloaded about 900 new photos into my computer's iPhoto program. I've been busy organizing them and didn't try opening my photos on my external HD again until tonight.
The first thing I did was transfer my new photos to the HD. I renamed the folder for the original 12 GB library on the ex HD and I gave the new photo folder another name. After that I held down the option key while opening iPhoto and I got the prompter to pick a library! Yippee! I opened my huge old library. I had to upgrade them to work on iPhoto 6, so it took some time for it to get processed. I can now see all those old photos again.
I was stuck not being able to get the prompter back again to let me see my new photos, but I just figured it out! I was holding down on the icon in my dock to open the program, which brought up the menu to Open, Show in Finder, etc. Holding down the option key did nothing. I tried holding it before I selected the iPhoto icon or after and nothing changed. What I just discovered is that I have to hold down option and then DOUBLE CLICK on the iPhoto icon and it works. Then it asks me what library I want to open.
Jeez, I think that's all I've been doing wrong all along. If not, I'll be back. Otherwise, thanks for your help.

Help!! Managed to erase a new second hard drive I added and now the system won't boot up

I can't believe it!! Having un-successfully tried to add a 2nd 2Tb HD, which wouldn't identify itself properly or erase. I took a HD out of one of my PCs and tried again. This time the hard drive was identified correctly and using disk utility I erased it and formatted it successfully. I then shut down, restarted and all I got was an initial white screen and then a black one with a flashing cursor. What have I done wrong...? How can i get the OS to start properly?

Hold down the Alt/Option key while you restart.
This invokes the All-in-ROM Startup Manager, which very slowly inspects each drive and draws an Icon for each potentially-bootable Volume.
If it finds one, select it and click proceed arrow.
If not you will need to boot fron your Installer/Utilities DVD and use Disk Utility from there to look around.
¿Is there a possibility a new drive is messing up the SATA Bus and precluding booting?

Buying new iMac - swapping drives?

I want to get a new iMac 27", and my wife wants my current one (it's only 10 months old). I have all my music and digital photos stored on my drive. How much trouble is it to swap the drives, or is that even something that should be done?

Crash777 wrote:
1. If I transfer the User Account (mine) from the old to the new, will I be able to change the old iMac to reflect my wife's new account info?
Sure. You can delete your account from the old Mac if you want or leave it as a backup of sorts for your account on your new Mac. If you delete your account on the old one, you will need to either create a new admin account or make sure your wife's new (?) account on that Mac is an admin one. (Every Mac must have at least one admin account.)
The old Mac will retain all its applications for your wife to use, but she will not be able to access any documents you have created in your account on that Mac unless you change permissions and put them somewhere she has access to. One way to do this is to move them to folders in the Shared folder in the Users folder. There are other ways to do this as well.
2. I only have one table to work with so I've put both iMacs on it side by side. But I didn't know how the tweo systems would react to having two keyboards and mice. Will it allow one set for each, or is it going to get confused?
I'm assuming you have wireless keyboards, right? If so, make sure they are paired with the appropriate Mac.

Buying new internal hard drive

hi, would this work with my imac g3 400mhz (family m5521):
http://tinyurl.com/qew8e
many thanks
az

I put a 60Gb 7,200rpm drive in my old iMac 400 about 4 years ago and it's still going strong now - although I suppose in England it hardly gets subjected to the hottest temperatures/___sbsstatic___/migration-images/migration-img-not-avail.png
mrtotes

New T430 hard drive is bad and Lenovo won't supply replacement preloaded software

Placed order for Lenovo T430 with preloaded Microsoft Office 2010, Adobe Elements, and Adobe Lightroom on 1/13/13. I received the computer in January and have had ongoing problems with it since that time, requiring multiple contacts with tech support. Overall, I could use the product (minus the thinkpad laster bluetooth mouse I also purchased from Lenovo that would not stay connected to the computer) up until this last week, when it would not start without going into the boot menu, but could not get out of the boot menu.
I called tech support, who thought it was the operating system and sent me recovery discs to reinstall the OS. I had help from a computer servicing company who checked my computer and found the hard drive is bad. They have called Lenovo, who are sending the hard drive out to be replaced. However, Lenovo is refusing to replace the preloaded (by Lenovo) software I purchased from them.
Case # A05LT3Q
Tech support says that my account where I registered the product would be able to provide the software. I called customer service about that and spoke with Hason about the problem. He stated that he would have to start a customer advocate case for me. He says he does not yet have a case # for me, but will call me before he leaves at 7pm tonight. I will post that case # when and if I receive it from him.
Am more than frustrated with this case and the problems I am having.

If I remember correctly, the recovery discs should have everything that came with the system. I could be wrong though.
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Need advise about using NAS drive for TM and other storage

I have 2 macs. One is running Snow Leopard and has a FW 400 drive connected directly to it for TM backups. I have another older mac (G5 PPC) running Tiger and I plan to update to Leopard so I can also do TM backups for it.
So, I'm thinking of getting the following NAS enclosure, adding a 2TB drive to it, so I can do TM backups on the old mac (and maybe switch the other mac to use it too).
The questions I have are:
1. is it fast enough to do it over the network, compared to the direct FW 400 connection?
2. Can I partition the new NAS 2TB in half and move the TM backup folder over there and then tell my new mac that it needs to do the TM backup there?
That's all I have for now. Hope someone can help.
Thank You!

That does not appear to be compatible with Time Machine.
See the pink box in #2 of [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Where can i buy a SUPERDRIVE for my powerbook? and other Qs

I just wanted to know if someone out there recommends an online seller from whom to buy a superdrive for my mac, apple doesnt seem to sell these parts independently. also...
when did the NEW powerbooks come out? AND what's the difference between the powerbook titaniums and aluminums? is one newer? i just need help bevause im considering buying a used powerbook.
thanks.

Superdrives are available from a number of different vendors, both internal and external models.
The titanium was the previous model PB. The last release of it was on November 6, 2002.
15.2inch, 867MHz, 256MB RAM, 40GB, combo, $2,299
15.2inch, 1GHz, 512MB RAM, 60GB, Superdrive $2,999
The Aluminum PB is the newer model.
The lastest release of the AlPB was January 31, 2005.
12inch, 1.5GHz, 512MB RAM, 60GB, $1499
15inch, 1.5GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB, $1999
15inch, 1.67GHz, 512MB RAM, 80GB, Superdrive, $2299
17inch, 1.67GHz, 512MB RAM, 100GB, Superdrive, $2699

Buying new MB: Super Drive or none and other ?s

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