G4 PowerBook combo drive or superdrive

I have a 12" G4 PowerBook (6,4) which was available with either a combo drive or superdrive. System profiler doesn't say either/or but it says it burns DVD's. Looks to me like I have a superdrive because looking at the spec it looks like the combo drive doesn't burn DVD's. Am I right?

If it says it can write DVD's, then it's a Superdrive.

Similar Messages

  • Replace Combo Drive with Superdrive

    2 years ago I bought this Pbook G4 with Combo Drive. Then, during "our" journey, I found out that this Combo Drive was not quite satisfied me. So I have plan to upgrade/replace the Combo Drive to Superdrive.
    My question: is it worth to replace my old Combo Drive with Superdrive? And do you know how much does it cost? Including labor?
    Many thanks.

    Ok, thank you for the infos.
    It'll cost me Rp. 2,5 million plus Rp. 200 thousand (labor) for trading my old combo drive with new superdrive. It's a little bit expensive here.
    I live on Jakarta, Indonesia.
    Note:
    Rupiah=Indonesian Currency
    US$1=Rp. 9.000 (more/less)

  • Combo Drive or Superdrive?

    I'm going to be purchasing my Macbook around mid-March and I'd just like to know if I should purchase the $1099 model or the $1299 model..
    The reason I have a dilemma between the 2 is because of the optical drive. I'm not worried about the HDD capacity or processor, because the processor is good enough for me and the HDD is easily replaceable.
    So I'm wondering, which is better, the combo drive or superdrive? I just don't feel I'll need to burn DVDs on my Macbook, and I've heard that the combo drive reads CDs and DVDs as well as burns CDs faster than the superdrive.
    Which should I go with?

    I have seen quite a few posts just like yours. They end up buying the cheaper Combo drive. In 3 to 6 months they are back on the boards asking how to upgrade the combo drive to a superdrive because they find out they do need to, or desire to burn a DVD. Their choice is send it to a third party company pr Apple and pay a lot of money fro the work. Try to do it themselves possibly voiding the warranty. Or they opt to buy an external DVD burner. None of these are optimum.
    One other thing to consider. If you decide to do a back up of your iTunes to disks it takes a lot of CD's for a large library where it takes much less dvds to do the same back up.

  • Change combo drive for superdrive

    How can you change a combo drive for a superdrive and where can I buy a superdrive? Can it be done without technical know-how or special tools?

    Welcome to the discussions, Binkie.
    Changing the optical drive in a 12" PowerBook is quite a challenging procedure.
    It basically involves completely dismantling the PowerBook, taking out the keyboard, hard dive, modem, heat sink, fan, DC-to-DC Board, and logic board (as well as the case and numerous cables, supports and screws) in order to reach the combo drive. Then it all has to be put back together again, in the correct order.
    Here's a guide to the process: http://www.pbfixit.com/Guide/53.18.1.html
    I'm just posting it to show how difficult it is, not to encourage you to do it. It will void your warranty, and with such a complex procedure, it's very, very easy for something to go wrong. I wouldn't even consider doing it unless I was very confident with successfully tinkering inside expensive electronic equipment.
    The drive itself can be bought here: http://www.pbfixit.com/cart/catalog/product919_G4_Aluminum_12_4xSuperDrive.html for $299.95.
    Personally, I'd say you'd probably be much better off buying an external FireWire DVD writer. Not only will you save yourself the significant trouble of the internal procedure, you'll also be able to get a faster drive with better features (dual layer, -/+ support, etc) at a cheaper price.
    If you do use a FireWire drive, you'll need to use the freeware Patch Burn software to use it with Apple's applications (the Finder, iTunes, iDVD etc.). Toast will automatically recognise an external FW drive without trouble.
    Check out Accelerate Your Mac's excellent Drive Compatibility Database if you want to see other user's experience with specific brands and models of DVD writers.

  • Upgrading iBook  combo drive to Superdrive?

    Suppose I have a DVD pulled from a dead Titanium Powerbook 15" G4/867 (it had a really bad accident) and I want to replace a 12" iBook G4/800 CD-RW combo drive with the DVD SuperDrive.
    (a) Will the salvaged SuperDrive fit inside the iBook?
    (b) Are the power and data cables and connectors and connector locations identical?
    (c) Will I have to reinstall the operating system?
    (d) If the answer to (c) is "yes" do I just rerun the 10.4.4 update or do I have to do an "archive and install" or .... ???
    Thanx!

    I dont think you should mess with that. But if you want open your ibook and look if the cables and size are the same. If they are.... get a second opinion and try it. Also if you put a new cd drive your OS will not get lost

  • Combo drive and Superdrive

    Last summer I bought a Macbook for $1099 that came with a combo drive. I know that it doesn't burn dvds but the superdrive will. I don't know if there is a possible way to upgrade to the superdrive now, or what the best thing to do would be as far as getting a dvd burner. Is it best to get an external and if so, any suggestions on which kind?
    Thanks,
    Kyle

    That's exactly what I'd do.... get an external. Preferably a FireWire (although not exactly necessarily a requirement). LaCie is pretty popular and they offer both a desktop and mobile solution.

  • Upgrading combo-drive to superdrive

    I Was wondering if anyone has any advice as to the best way of going about upgrading my combo drive to a super drive - I wouldn't be particularly confident about doing it myself unless it is really simple.
    Any recommendations to brands, where to get it done etc.. would be great,

    Hi Graham,
    Welcome to discussions. Here is a drive that reportedly works well. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will find the PDF files for the installation instructions. After reading them, you'll find it is fairly easy.
    Steve
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MG5SL8XDLK/

  • Is the combo drive noisy?

    Any MacBook users with the combo drive (not Superdrive) find it's noisy and/or vibrates when inserting and playing CDs/DVDs?
    Is this normal? Anybody had their's fixed for this?

    Mine is noisy when I insert and take out CDs. It sounds like a bug is being slaughtered in there. The guy at Apple said it's normal to make sounds when inserting and taking out discs.

  • Combo Drive Replacement?

    Hello Everyone,
    Since I have my MacBook's Birthday tomorrow, I was thinking of getting a desktop companion to replace my Blueberry 350 Mhz iMac, which sadly passed away 2 days ago.
    I am about to purchase a Blue Dalmatian iMac from eBay. I know it has a CD-RW Drive in it, but I would like to replace it with a Combo Drive if I can find one. I know that there never was a "Combo" CRT iMac, but could someone direct me to a place where I can get a compatiable Combo Drive for very cheap ($25-$30)?
    Thank you!
    -Brian

    I haven't come across a Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive for the slot-loading iMacs, but MCE Technologies had an internal DVD±RW SuperDrive for $149. That price and the resulting decline in demand for it probably explain why it has been "Out of Stock" for months now. I can only assume that it's discontinued. You'd be much better off connecting a FireWire drive, because it's unlikely that you'll find a compatible, internal Combo drive or SuperDrive for $25-$30.

  • Mac Book 1.83ghz w/combo drive-using external Superdrive??

    OK, I hope this isn't a dumb question. I am going to buy a Mac Book tonight. I was going to buy the 2.0ghz because it had a Superdrive, but then I realized I have an almost new DVR-110 at home, so I could just get the 1.83ghz with the Combo drive. It is my understanding that with iLife 06, I will be able to use an external dvd burner. Here's my question if anyone knows.
    Because this Mac Book will be sold as the combo drive model, will it have iDVD installed? It seems I remember that iDVD cannot install if there is not an internal dvd burner.
    If this is the case, does anyone know how I would install it? I would assume that the iLife discs will come with the purchase.

    Thanks Rob,
    I know the DVR-110 works, I have it installed on an older G4 that is close to dead (power up issues).
    My plan is to pull that DVR-110 out of there, put it in an external enclosure and use as external burner for the Mac Book. I think that'll work now that you've enlightened me on the iLife 06 pre-installed status of the Mac Books. Thanks for that:)
    Can't wait to get to the Apple store!

  • Can I replace my combo drive with a superdrive??

    hello all,
    Can I replace my combo drive with a super drive? I see on some of the tech do it yourself pages the G5 17" original imac is supported for changing it out by your self. but how do I go about buying the superdrive...and from whome??
    thanks,
    marc

    As to the DIY installation...I purchased an OWC Mercury 8x dual to replace my combodrive, but the installation directions that everyone refers to on the apple support site says nothing about removing the mounting cage to use in the replacement installation. Am I missing something here? Sure, I can remove the three mounting screws that holds the cage to the drive, but then I'm left with the welded bracket that does not seem to want to move. OWC support was no help at all. Is there a trick to this?

  • Superdrive only recognized as Combo drive

    I installed an HP 300n DVD+RW drive in my Power Mac G4, running Mac OS 10.5.6. Reading CDs/DVDs works fine as well as burning CDs. Somehow, part of OS X is only recognizing it as a Combo drive. System profiler recognizes it as a fully compatible Superdrive as seen in this picture: http://i42.tinypic.com/wa6pg2.png
    The rest of the system thinks it is a combo drive as seen here: http://i40.tinypic.com/f359uu.png
    When I insert a DVD-R, nothing happens. The Finder presents no dialog, it does not show up on the desktop, and Disk Utility does not realize that anything was inserted. Nothing happens differently than if I closed the drive with no disc in.
    Why is it only working as a combo drive?
    EDIT: Is it possible that the drive is +R only?
    Message was edited by: Hippy Dippy Hippo

    I noticed that all the Superdrive macs I have contain DVD+/-RW drives. I do not think any macs were shipped with DVD+RW drives ever. Therefore, the eject menu is confused and calls it a Combo drive. Different companies have different definitions of "combo" drives. The Compaq I pulled this from actually called it a Combo drive on the sticker on the front of the PC, despite having the ability to burn both DVD+RW and CD-RW discs. I think that the fact that it was DVD+RW drive confused the mac into thinking it was a "Combo" drive, though just in that eject menu.
    The real problem was that I was trying DVD-R discs when I should have been using DVD+R. As long as I remember to use DVD+R rather than -R, then all will be well.

  • Swapping combo drive for a superdrive

    Hi: I am considering purchasing a 1.5 ghz macmini (off of ebay with remaining apple warranty) that contains a combo drive. If I do, is it possible to replace the combo drive with a superdrive, or am I left with only the possibility of an external dvd burner? Thanks in advance.

    I've done it to four Mini's so far. This Pioneer DVR-K05 works great and is dual layer.
    http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=1585
    There are many guides on the Internet and I'm assuming you are comfortable working on a computer.

  • Differences In "Combo Drive" vs. the "Double-Layer Superdrive" ?

    i was looking at the base macbooks on the apple mac website and there is two different white models and one has the "combo drive" and the other has the "double-layer superdrive". is there much of a difference?
    also, on those two base models, one has a 2.0Ghz processor and the other is a 2.2Ghz... is there really going to be much of a noticeable difference?
    thanks!

    The difference is that the combo drive cannot burn DVD - it can only burn CD. The SuperDrive can burn CD or DVD.
    Both combo and SuperDrive can play cd's and DVD's.

  • Superdrive dead, can I use iBook combo drive

    My superdrive had died, can I hook up to my iMac my iBook so I can use it's combo drive?

    Re my message below regarding the dead superdrive, my computer is an iMac G4, not G3.

Maybe you are looking for