Do I really need an optical drive (external) for my MacBook Air to install Win 7 with Bootcamp?

I have a Macbook Air (11" if it matters, the tiny one) that was purchased late last year, new. I would like to install Bootcamp and be able to boot into Windows 7, 64 bit. I have a Windows 7 Professional disk, which I would have to find an optical drive of some sort to install. The Boot Camp PDF guide doesn't mention the use of any kind of USB bootable install. In fact, I often see (on Apple support pages) that an external optical drive is required for Macbook Airs.
Is this the case? If not, does anyone have any advice on how to make sure this goes smoothly? I'm a bit of a newbie to Macs. Thanks.
(Note: I didn't select my OSX operating system, but it's been updated regularly.)

Thank you Rysz, but (if you scroll up & read my original post you will discover) I don't own my new MacBook Pro...yet! I'm just researching ahead of time to help me make the decision. The customized MBP I have saved in my cart is over $3000 (incl the 3-yr support plan). So it's going to take me a little bit of research before I decide or before I can really justify the purchase.
I just wanted to be prepared for all the inevitable technical / learning-curve headaches that I will experience IF I take the plunge. And as everyone has experienced, when you're new to and making your first purchase of a different technology, and you don't know what to expect about a purchase, you ultimately get it home, set it up and find it didn't come with all the necessary interface devices, converters or cables, etc. And of course the online purchase procedure wizard doesn't tell you or ask you what else you will need if you want to perform a specific task.
But I'm sure (if) once I do make the purchase, I will definitely be back here to pick everyone's brains! These communities are fantastic. Thanks again!

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I need to buy an external hard drive for my MacBook Air as it is almost full. Which one should I buy?

Do I need to buy an Apple external Hard Drive for my MacBook Air?

There is no such thing as an Apple hard drive, ...Apples doesnt make same.
avoid western digital if possible.
Yes, having an external HD is necessary for data backups and keeping large media files for packing around etc.
you need data redundancy.
best options for the price, and high quality HD:
Quality 1TB drives are $50 per TB on 3.5" or $65 per TB on 2.5"
Perfect 1TB for $68
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-Hard-Drive/dp/B005J7YA3W/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379452568&sr=8-1&keywords=1tb+toshiba
Nice 500gig for $50. ultraslim perfect for use with a notebook
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B009F1CXI2/ref=s r_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377642728&sr=1-1&keywords=toshiba+slim+500gb
Best small HD for the money:
2.5" USB portable High quality BEST FOR THE COST, Toshiba "tiny giant" 2TB drive (have several of them, LOT of storage in a SMALL package) $117
http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Canvio-Connect-Portable-HDTC720XK3C1/dp/B00CGUMS48 /ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1379182740&sr=1-4&keywords=2tb+toshiba
*This one is the BEST portable external HD available that money can buy:
HGST Touro Mobile 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive $88
http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Mobile-Portable-External-0S03559/dp/B009GE6JI8/ref=sr _1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383238934&sr=8-1&keywords=HGST+Touro+Mobile+Pro+1TB+USB+3.0+7 2 00+RPM
Most storage experts agree on the Hitachi 2.5"
Hitachi is the winner in hard drive reliability survey:
Hitachi manufacturers the safest and most reliable hard drives, according to the Storelab study. Of the hundreds of Hitachi hard drives received, not a single one had failed due to manufacturing or design errors. Adding the highest average lifespans and the best relationship between failures and market share, Hitachi can be regarded as the winner.

I have a tesco router and an external hard drive attached to it as a network drive (shared) for my macbook and MB-Air. Have no problems with my MB accessing it, but with MB-AIR it says - 'the version of the server you are trying to connect to is not supp

I have a tesco router and an external hard drive attached to it as a network drive (shared) for my macbook and MB-Air. Have no problems with my MB accessing it, but with MB-AIR it says - 'the version of the server you are trying to connect to is not supported. pls contact your system administrator to resolve the problem'. MB-Air uses maverick downloaded yesterday - upgrade from mountain lion. MB uses snow leopard still, as i am quite used to it and am thinking of upgrade if mavericks work fine on air. Also have parallel on snow leopard but it is no longer supported according to mac website - if i upgrade am i going to lose my parallel and will have to buy a new one!!!

Yes, the Old Master file has a folder for each year where I find all photos from that specific year. I am attaching a screen shot of the file.
In the meantime i have managed to download all photos (it did not download any video files though in mpg, avi, 3gp, m4v,mp4 and mov format) to a new iphoto library. Unfortunately the photos are quite mixed and often doubled up. I ma considering to purchase iphoto library which checks all duplicates in iphoto. this will save me a lot of time. What do you think?

Is there a way for my macbook air (running Lion) to access an external hard drive on my Imac (running snow leopard) specifically for Iphoto and itunes?

Is there a way for my macbook air (running Lion 10.7.2) to access an external hard drive on my Imac (running snow leopard 10.6.8) specifically for Iphoto and itunes?

Yes. For those two applications specifically there is sharing. This presumes both computers are on and connected to the same network.
In iPhoto, enable sharing by (on the iMac) going to the iPhoto menu > Preferences > Sharing > check Share my photos. You can either share the entire library or only selected albums. Now on your MacBook Air, in iPhoto, go to the same preference pane and select Look for shared photos.
iTunes has something similar. In the iTunes menu > Preferences > Sharing > check Share my library on my local network. On the other computer, look in the left column for SHARED and select the iMac. You can now play that music on the MacBook Air.
There are other ways to share files but for those two applications this is the simplest way.
Best of luck.

Optical Drive Accesses for No Apparent Reason

I have a new HP Pavilion dv7 laptop with Windows 7 64-bit OS. My question concerns accesses to the optical drive for no apparent reason. While it seems reasonable that when booting up the system the firmware will check the optical drive to see if there is a startup CD in it I do not understand other apparent attempts to access the optical drive. For example, after bootup and running within Windows 7 I attempt to play a mp3 music file residing on the hard disk I can hear the optical drive being accessed. Specifically, I double click on a mp3 file on my hard disk but before the music player application pops up I hear several clicks and clacks as the computer checks the optical drive for a disk...I assume. Is there a setup file someone where this kind of activity is enabled? IMHO, the computer should not be attempting to check the optical dirve when attempting to play a mp3 file on the HD.
Another scenario I've noticed is during the logon process. Specifically, as the computer boots up there is a typical click-clack of the optical drive as the firmware checks to see if there is a startup CD in the drive. Next, Windows 7 in up and running but sitting on the user logon screen. When I type my password to log onto my account I hear more click-clack accesses to the optical drive. This may be a typical thing for Windows 7...I'm not sure as I'm new to Windows 7. However, the description I gave above concerning playing of mp3 music seems odd.
The sound I hear is definitely not the hard disk. It is the same sound that the optical drive makes if you open the drive and close it without inserting a disk. That is, the laser tracking motor moving the laser pickup from the outer edge to the inner edge and back to check to see if a CD or DVD is sitting in the drive. Playing an mp3 music file residing on the hard disk causes this to happen. It only happens once when starting up the music player.

Hi There,
What is the media application you have in the computer? Such as Intervideo windvd. cyberlink etc…
Few applications keep checking the media even though these applications are not in use. Fixes for such applications are posted on respective support websites, you may want to check and update. or if you do not wish to use such applications you can try un-installing these applications and verify the functionality.
Hope it helps.
Thank you,
Waseem – HP 2LS
**Click the KUDOS star on the left to say 'Thanks'**
Make it easier for other people to find solutions by marking a Reply 'Accept as Solution' if it solves your problem.
Regards,
WW
“I am an HP Employee“
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Which optical drive is good for my macbook air?

which optical drive is good for my macbook air?

That's a bit like asking what type of car you should buy ...
I have used Apple's USB SuperDrive, and am happy with it.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD564/apple-usb-superdrive

I bought a used macbook air, it didn't come with the flash drive to do a factory reset. Can I download the info needed and save it to my own flash drive and then do a factory reset? If not what can I do?

I bought a used macbook air, it didn't come with the flash drive to do a factory reset. Can I download the info needed and save it to my own flash drive and then do a factory reset? If not what can I do?

If it originally shipped with Mac OS X 10.6.8 or earlier, click here, phone Apple, and order a replacement.
If it originally shipped with Mac OS X 10.7 or newer, restart it with the Option, Command, and R keys held down.
(113079)

USB 3.0 external drive extremely slow on Macbook Air 2014

Dear Apple Support Team & Folks in Apple Community,
Seriously, I have a problem with my new Macbook Air 2014 which has equipped with USB 3.0 port. I read through the forum and hardly find a solution for this.
Recently, I plugged in my USB 3.0 external drive and expect that it would reach the same file transfer speed as that on my PC. Instead of 625 MB/s (5 Gbit/s), it was hardly reaching 60 MB/s (480 Mbit/s) to my surprise! Sounds like Macbook Air doesn't recognize USB 3.0 device properly. I have tried Western Digital and Seagate devices but failed to get reasonable transfer speed on my Macbook Air.
I tried it again with my USB 2.0 external drive on Macbook Air and only got the transfer speed around 15 - 20 MB/s which is disappointing.
Any patches or Firmware updates would be appreciate!
I have OS X 10.9.3 already with EFI and SMC update patched by App Store.

I would be interested to know which consumer grade non-raid external harddisk that could reach 6xx mb/sec.
The speed you mentioned should be normal, since most of these are 5400rpm drives (asumming it is 2.5 inch).

I've bought an optical super drive for a macbook air but although I can hear there is power I can't see the drive in menus

I've bought an optical super drive for a macbook air but although I can hear there is power I can't see the drive in menus

Unless there's a disk in there, you won't see it.
Matt

Have a canon dc310 camcorder that uses mini dvd's. How can I get my new Imac to read these dvd's?Camcorder unable to connect to computer. Will a mini dvd adapter work or do I need to purchase an external dvd rom device? Which device works well with a mac?

I have a Canon DC310 camcorder that uses mini dvd's and doesn't have the ability to connect to a computer. How can I get my new Imac to read these dvd's? Will the mini dvd adapter work or do I need to purchase an external dvd rom device? Which device works well with the Mac? Do I need anything else to get the dvd material onto my mac? Thanks!!

No DV port in camcorder. Just a yellow AV port/hole. I did find a Canopus ADVC110 device in a box that was bought several years ago to convert VHS tapes onto DVD's. Can I use this with a Mac? Could I connect a dvd player to the Canopus and transfer the disks onto my Mac? Or, connect the camcorder via AV port to the Canopus and that to the Mac and transfer that way? Thanks again!

I bought a MacBook Air and wish to connect with old iMac 2003-5. The screen on the iMac is black. Can anyone tell me the cable I need to do this please. I have music and photos on the iMac I cannot access. Many thanks. Jax

I bought a MacBook Air and wish to communicate with old iMac G5 2003-5 (sorry can't remember the year). The screen on the iMac is blank and will not come on but the hard drive still works. Can anyone tell me the cable I need to with the iMac & how to do it. I have music and photos on the iMac I cannot access.
Also, do I need to special CD/DVD external drive/burner to import music CD's into iTunes? I have tried and it keeps coming up with formatting problems.
Many thanks. Jax

dwb
I have looked for what you said and come up with these 2 cables. Are these the correct ones I need?
http://store.apple.com/us/product/HA833ZM/A/belkin-firewire-800400-9-pin6-pin-ca ble-2-m66-ft?fnode=51&fs=s%3DpriceLH
http://www.tekserve.com/store/networking-cables-adapters/cables-adapters/apple-t hunderbolt-to-firewire-adapter.html
Many tx again.
JAx

Using superdrive as an external for my macbook

I have a powerbook that died last year (spill). I was able to salvage the HD, and I was wondering if I can use the superdrive as an external for my macbook. If so, what kind of cable/adapter do I need.
Thanks in advance.

It's almost impossible. The new iMacs have a Target Display Mode, but it's built to do that. Without ripping your screen out, finding an acceptable power supply, frame, and whatever electronics to convert a Thunderbolt signal to the screen, the cost will be much larger than buying a cheaper HiDef monitor that runs with an HDMI to Thunderbolt cable to your MacBook 15. In fact, you can sell your 17" MBP for a lot of money, unless it's broken or something, buying you a really sweet monitor.
By the way, I found your answer by searching this forum. I would suggest using the search function here in the futuere.

The backup disk image "/Volumes/3TB Seagate Expansion Drive-1/Toby's MacBook Air.sparsebundle" could not be created (error (null)).

Hi all,
Recently moved into a new place and now have my external HDD plugged into my iMac as a backup.
Just went to backup my MacBook Air, which has used the drive previously, but always through USB.
Now trying to backup wirlelessly so I do not need to remove from my iMac, but got this message:
The backup disk image “/Volumes/3TB Seagate Expansion Drive-1/Toby’s MacBook Air.sparsebundle” could not be created (error (null)).
Have tried to reset without success. Any suggestions?
Thanks

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is marked solved, less people are likely to look at it. You can link to this one.
The same error message? Try hooking your backup drive to your computer and run Disk Utility Repair Disk and Repair Permissions.

I want to remove the monitor from my 17" Macbook Pro 2008 to use as an external for my Macbook Pro 15" 2012. How can I convert lvds to Thunderbolt and power the monitor?

I want to remove the monitor from my 17" Macbook Pro 2008 to use as an external for my Macbook Pro 15" 2012. How can I convert lvds to Thunderbolt and power the monitor?

It's almost impossible. The new iMacs have a Target Display Mode, but it's built to do that. Without ripping your screen out, finding an acceptable power supply, frame, and whatever electronics to convert a Thunderbolt signal to the screen, the cost will be much larger than buying a cheaper HiDef monitor that runs with an HDMI to Thunderbolt cable to your MacBook 15. In fact, you can sell your 17" MBP for a lot of money, unless it's broken or something, buying you a really sweet monitor.
By the way, I found your answer by searching this forum. I would suggest using the search function here in the futuere.

TV for external display of Macbook air

Is it possible to use LCD TV as external display to macbook air?
I am planning to utilize the macbook air as both portable and station PC. When I am at home, I want to be able to connect it to the LCD TV via HDMI, and then still working with wireless keyboard and mouse.
Is it do-able?
Thanks

Yes, All you need is an MiniDisplay port to HDMI adapter and a HDMI cable.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/H1824ZM/A/Moshi_Mini_DisplayPort_to_HDMI_Adapt er?fnode=MTY1NDA3Ng
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Regards,
Captfred

Do I really need an optical drive (external) for my MacBook Air to install Win 7 with Bootcamp?

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