Help - Optical Drive Upgrade

I have a Tecra M2-630 that has provided great service for many years. I changed out the hard drive with a larger one that I took out of a dead HP laptop. I have an HP Model UJ-840 DVD RW drive from that same dead laptop and I found that I can change out the carriage and install in the Toshiba. I thought it might recognize the hardware and search for drivers but it seems that it won't. Anybody know if this will work, and how I can get the right drivers to make it work well?

Many will say there a lot of cheaper options.
However, MCE is one of hundreds of GOOD choices out in the market place.
Here is another option.
http://eshop.macsales.com/staticpages/index.cfm?page=superdrive0904/superdrive1004.html&&ref=Google%208%2F20%20Start%20general%20Superdrives&title=Superdrive% 20DVD%20and%20CD%20Burner%20Optical%20Drives
Cheers Don

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Optical drive upgrade. Successful stories. tell me

Hi all
I am looking to upgrade my PB 15 1.5 combo
Specs
to a superdrive with doudle layer burning facilities.
I first though of playing it safe and going through Camcon upgrade services, but their replacement drive isn't fully compatible because of some special apple firmware missing. Although they will be happy to install some equiment that I provide. 1h of labour charged, and they will also upgrade my hd in the process. The deal is not so bad.
So now is the issue of buying the right optical drive, and this is just driving me crasy. grrr
Most of the threads here presents difficult experiences as it is may be difficult.
Lets hear about the good stories at once.
Something in this sort of format will be great.
computer model:
drive model:
Original drive model:
Read/Write/speed:
Finder burning: y/n
iAppl burning: y/n
Short comment:
Remember that I have already read lots of the bad, patches and firmware stories, and I will really want to concentrate to the one working without modification.
Many thanks in advance

UPDATE:
If you have a 1.5GHz model A1106, the same as mine, I can tell everyone that I just successfully upgraded my combo drive to the "current" SuperDrive they used on the last PowerBook, the 15-inch 1.67GHz Double Layer SD model.
I took out the combo drive, model CW-8123-C from Panasonic, and installed the UJ-846-CA double layer SuperDrive into it.
So far so good! In fact, people claim the UJ-846-CA drive works in all PowerBooks (Titanium and up) and iBooks as well (G3 and G4, the dual-USB G3s). But I can't confirm that. I can only confirm that which I did.
Everything is recognized and no special drivers are needed. I did notice, since I also upgraded the hard drive, that in Panther (did a restore from my discs), it recognizes the drive, but doesn't support ANY burning, only reading. In Tiger, plain old 10.4, it says burning is supported, but not by Apple. In 10.4.11, it is "Apple shipped/supported."
And I did the installation myself. I totally went against my recommendations to people (such as in my previous posts above), about how the Aluminum PowerBooks are delicate to work with. I still won't touch my 12-inch PowerBook (maybe later down the road) but these 15-inch 1.5GHz models are easier than the previous 1.5GHz/1.33GHz ones that had a latch/catch over the optical drive.
By the way, the drive I chose was a 160GB Seagate 5400.3 because it has perpendicular recording technology and it's been said to be just as fast as the 100GB 7200RPM drive by Seagate. I thought about the Western Digital 250GB drive that I've been telling people about here on the forums, but I've had good experiences with Seagate and Maxtor, so I stayed with them.
The money saved was a lot!! Had I asked an Apple Authorized Service Provider to do it, it would have run me $1000, at least, for the options I wanted. Hard drive installation, LCD display casing, top case, and optical drive upgrade.
You can get the UJ-846-CA from resellers (both used and new), or on eBay. I got mine on eBay.
Here's what my profiler says:
Hardware Overview:
Machine Name: PowerBook G4 15"
Machine Model: PowerBook5,6
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (1.2)
Number Of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 1.5 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 167 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.9.1f1
Serial Number: xxxxxxxxx
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
Version: 1.0
ATA Bus:
ST9160821A:
Capacity: 149.05 GB
Model: ST9160821A
Revision: 3.ALD
Serial Number: xxxxxxxx
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Protocol: ATA
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
OS9 Drivers: No
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
PowerBook G4 15:
Capacity: 148.92 GB
Available: 138.95 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
BSD Name: disk0s3
Mount Point: /
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846:
Firmware Revision: FAAG
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Message was edited by: Pismo 900
I just did this last night, by the way! And you can do it yourself too by going to this guide (you have to have the Model A1106 one... if you have another one, go to the main site and choose the one that matches your model)--
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/PowerBook-G4-Al-15-Inch-1-5-1-67-BT-2-0-LR/64

Optical drive upgrade and useability

I recently read an article about upgrading the optical drive on my Wallstreet PDQ. Basically, purchase any old ATAPI 50 pin drive and mount it in the Wallstreet sled. Then use Patch Burn to allow use in OS X. Sounds simple enough... I have also been told that I can further simplify this by making sure the drive is a UJ-85J drive (this would eliminate the need for Patch Burn software).
2 questions:
1) I had been told the original Wallstreet DVD drive required a decoder card and could not work in OS X. Will this upgrade drive work in the Wallstreet in OS X with out the card?
2) I dual boot into OS 9 to play some old games I just can't seem to leave behind. Will this drive also work in OS 9?
Thanks for helping me keep my favorite computer running.
Thoma

Thoma,
Unfortunately the Wallstreet has a non-industry standard optical drive connector so no, you cannot replace the optical drive with a modern unit. The Lombard and later are industry standard.
The DVD Decoder PC card was placed in the PCMCIA/CardBus slot and in conjunction with the Apple's DVD-ROM drive (an optional kit from Apple), you could watch DVDs. This hardware-enabled decoding is not supported in any version of OSX, just Classic. The decoder card is not necessary for burning optical disks or any other task.
My suggestion is to buy a FireWire PC card and an external DVD drive to burn disks and have access to DVDs. However, this will not allow you to watch movies...the Wallstreet needs hardware decoding to get a decent picture. You will also not be able to boot your Wallstreet from the external DVD drive since you cannot boot through a FireWire PC card, only built-in FireWire.

A31 Optical Drive Upgrade

Hello everyone.
I need to upgrade my optical drive on my A31 (2653).
It has a CD-R/W drive and I want to replace it with a DVD-R/W drive.
Does anyone know the part number or any other model that will fit this particular Thinkpad.
Your help would much appreciated.
Thanks.
Tony

This is the drive you should be looking for:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-46337
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
George
In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
Collecting dust: T60
Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.

Hard drive will not mount after optical drive upgrade

I recently performed an optical drive install. Had to remove the hard drive bays (I use three hard drives - Luckily, 2 run OSX).
I carefully removed all three drive bays and the empty bay. When I inserted the drives into the computer I had changed the position, swapping one OSX drive with a different one and reversing the drive bays. On restart, the computer started on the drive I had not selected for startup and I received an error message stating the other drive could not mount and it gave three options (Initialize - Ignore and Eject).
I can see the drive in Disk Utility and repair the permissions (it's also located in the System Profile).
I tried a few things I read in the community using various Terminal commands but was unsuccessful.
(Let me point out that I recently switched from a PPC G5 to MacPro and swapped the drives from PPC into MacPro and all has been fine until I removed changed their positions in the bays)
Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated.

I would recommend you reformat your drives that you brought over, and if possible put in a Firewie case.
Swapping drives will normally not matter but you should use Startup Disk to reset the default after using Option key the first time.
Putting in an optical device shouldn't require removing the drives to get the cage loose and let you put in a 2nd superdirve.
G5 used APM partition map, Intel Macs use EFI and requie GPT/GUID.
A drive with just data should not matter but that is not fool-proof either.
A drive iwth the system from a G5 though can.
During startup the boot process scans all volumes and looks for systems and mountable volumes.
Pull all the drives except the one with OS X that you were using, and put that in bay #1.
I've moved arrays between bays and that never "broke" the array or had trouble mounting and using (even moving to ODD ports).

Help - Optical drive firmware downgrade

I'mm having problem with my DVD drive after updating the firmware...I want to know how to downgrade my optical drive formware from previous version..Thank you!

When I open Device Manager and click on the DVD/CD drive is shows hp DVD A DH16AAL SCSI.
When I click on the links you provided, nothing listed for that drive.
boong

Macbook Mid2007 Optical Drive Upgrade

On Saturday im taking my macbook into my local apple store to have my keyboard replaced. I just wondered if they would be able to replace the optical drive (combo drive) with a superdrive as I cant live without the ability to burn DVD's.
Assistance is greatly appreciated
Ryan

You'll need to ask them. We can't answer your question.

Black Tie cover RAM/HDD in Optical Drive Upgrades?

I recently upgraded my macbook pro to 16gb of ram and a seagate momentus xt 750gb in the hdd bay and the original 5400 rpm 750gb hard drive in the optical bay drive with a caddy. I have the BTP Accidental coverage. Everything went well, it is in there safely MBP running good, only a few screws missing in the bottom, but that's just because they were stripped. Part of the bottom is raised a little in one corner, not sure why but it is and everything is running good. If I crack the screen, will they cover it? Or if something happens, will they not fix it because of the upgrades, or the loose/uplifted back?

You'll need to ask AppleCare.

Since I upgrade to Lion OS my optical drive stop working can't read or write at all I did what I could to fix it but still not working , any help please

Since I upgrade to Lion OS my optical drive stop working can't read or write at all I did what I could to fix it but still not working , any help please

It sounds like you may have multiple problems, but none of them are likely to be caused by malware.
First, the internet-related issues may be related to adware or a network compromise. I tend to lean more towards the latter, based on your description of the problem. See:
http://www.adwaremedic.com/kb/baddns.php
http://www.adwaremedic.com/kb/hackedrouter.php
If investigation shows that this is not a network-specific issue, then it's probably adware. See my Adware Removal Guide for help finding and removing it. Note that you mention AdBlock as if it should have prevented this, but it's important to understand that ad blockers do not protect you against adware in any way. Neither would any kind of anti-virus software, which often doesn't detect adware.
As for the other issues, it sounds like you've got some serious corruption. I would be inclined to say it sounds like a failing drive, except it sounds like you just got it replaced. How did you get all your files back after the new drive was installed?
(Fair disclosure: I may receive compensation from links to my sites, TheSafeMac.com and AdwareMedic.com, in the form of buttons allowing for donations. Donations are not required to use my site or software.)

Optical drive problems after upgrade to Tiger 10.4.10

I've just had my machine updated to Tiger 10.4.10 after having two new hard drives installed after a hard drive failure. I'm now having issues with burning data for backup purposes.
I can't burn anything with Mac OS Disc Burner utility, it doesn't seem to recognize blank disc's DVD's or CD's. It keeps telling me to load a disc when one is already in the drive.
System profiler recognizes CD-R's & DVD-R's when they are in the optical drive
I can burn with Toast Titanium ver 6.0.3 DVD's & CD's. The burned CD's will mount. The burned DVD's will not mount.
I have checked the burned DVD's in the optical drive of my iBook G4 Mac OS 10.3.9 and they mount on it fine.
Movie DVD's will mount & play. Software DVD's will mount and load applications.
I have cleaned the drive with a cleaning disc.
The Optical Drive was working fine before the upgrade, so what is the problem?
I can only assume two problems now!
1.) the optical drive has a physical malfunction
2.) there is a software issue between Tiger 10.4.10 & this optical drive (this is my favorite at the moment)
The upgrade was done by an Apple Authorised Service Provider they say there are no issues with Tiger & the optical drive.
So any ideas or help would be much appreciated.
Machine Name: Power Mac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac7,2
CPU Type: PowerPC 970 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 1.8 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1.5 GB
Bus Speed: 900 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.5f0
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D:
Model: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D
Revision: A606
Serial Number: DBDL909690WL
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D:
Firmware Revision: A606
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2000 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No

I'm having a similar problem. I bought my G5 with Panther OS on it a few years ago. The DVD drive functioned perfectly back then. Then I upgraded to Tiger this past year which caused the DVD drive to open later..that is, I'd have to hold down the eject button for a good 2 or 3 seconds before it would open or close. Previously it responded instantly. Now what happens more and more is it can't read DVD-ROM disks that it has burned. My imac G4 with Jaguar has no trouble reading the disks but Tiger 10.4.9 and 10.4.10 simply refuse to mount DVD ROM disks that it burned.
I'm trying to make a duplicate DVD of the offending disk on my single-processor G4 and then put THAT disk into the G5 so it can read the info. Hopefully that will be my work-around.
It's got to be a software issue and I keep hoping the Apple wiz kids will put out an update to remedy this. Something's fishy with the DVD drive programming.

Optical Drive Ribbon Clamp. Help!

While upgrading my hard drive on my own, i managed to break what I think is the "locking bar" part of the ribbon clamp for my optical drive. Where can I find a new one, how can I fix it, or are there any other solutions for my problem?
I have an iBook g4 12-inch.
Thanks.

You may be able to contact the home company of these guides to see
if you can get just the part by itself you need: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/
Or other companies that specialize in iBook and PowerBook repairs would
be the kinds of places to check, such as this page to send an email inquiry:
http://www.wegenermedia.com - or call. They have parts for many models.
You may also find they have a good customer relations service.
Hopefully this helps.

Upgraded to OSX Lion 10.7.4 & optical drives are no longer recognized

HELP!!
I have a MacPro 1,1 with a 2 x 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon and I just upgraded to OSX Lion 10.7.4. Upon upgrading my system stopped recognizing the two optical drives I had installed. Is there a patch or are there drivers that I can download to fix this? Has this happened to anyone else? I was prepared to lose access to some older software but not my optical drives!!!
When I do a "system report" through "About this mac" both of the drives are listed but they dont show up on my deskop. I have an Optiarc DVD RW AD-7170A and a TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S202N

Nearly the same identical question on another thread yesterday.
First things to try doing are zap PRAM and / or Reset SMC.
That usually is all that is needed, and on your Mac there is a physical SMC button on the logicboard above PCI slot #4 and access you have to remove card if you have one there, and remove drive #4.
Otherwise hit power button for 8 seconds with the power cord removed along with other cables and devices then reconnect and do a normal power on.

After Upgrade to 10.5.8 Optical Drive will not Recognize DVD's

Hello Everyone,
I was hoping that someone would be able to shed light on a problem I recently ran into after upgrading from Leopard 10.5.7 to 10.5.8 and possibly suggest a solution.
I believe there is an issue with the optical drive software. The reason I suspect this is because one evening I was able to watch a DVD without any problems. After completing the upgrade to version 10.5.8 of Leopard last night, the same DVD failed to play. When inserting the disk, the optical drive makes a whirring sound for about a minute then proceeds to spit out the DVD. I've tested this with CD's, which seem to work fine. Other DVD's have the same issue as the first.
Can anyone suggest anything to help sort this issue out?
Many thanks to everyone.
Ron

I'm facing the same issues with my MacBook and its "SuperDrive". Right after inserting any media, it spits it out immediately, thus, I'm not able to read nor write any kind of disc. Below are the specs for my "SuperDrive":
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868:
Firmware: KA14
Connection: ATAPI
Recording: Yes
Cache: 0 KB
Reads DVD: Sim
Records CD: -R, -RW
Records DVD: -R, -RW
Recording: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
I have sent Steve Jobs an email ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]) and posted a feedback here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbook.html
Probably you guys have seen it already, but MacBook Pro owners are having similar issues with their "SuperDrives": http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1918925&start=0&tstart=0

Upgrade of my PB with new hd and optical drive

Hi all
I have just upgraded my HD and optical drive on my powerbook to give it a bit more space and facilities.
This is what I have done.
1/
HD (80GB)>>becomes HD (250GB)
I used the WD2500BEVE to which I clone in an enclosure. Then I swap them.
This procedure worked well, and the PB booted straight away. Although I go a little folder with an apple as a first screen for a second or 2.
2/
I replaced the combo drive with the Panasonic UJ-85J
It seems to work straight out of the box, and I can burn from finder. I am still in the testing process, but so far I have been able to burn cd-R (max 24), and dvd-R(max x4 instead of 8). That is with finder.
This is what the System Profiler gives me.
Model: MATSHITADVD-RAM UJ-85JS
Revision: FWR7
Serial Number:
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 1
Socket Type: Internal
Previously with my old drive, it read> Unit Number: 0
Also the serial number is blank for the optical drive.
The company I bought it from, checked it and told me that it was set-up as master (I guess this is from the firmware) as there isn't any jumper. We did check the System Profiler before together, and both drives (HD and optical drive) were reading Unit Number: 0
He didn't know much about Macs so he didn't really know what Unit Number was, but guessed that 0 meant master and 1 slave?
But here are my questions:
Another thing that has changed, is when I play a DVD movie, the image quality is rather poor, kind of pixilated, and when I enter the full screen mode, I now have a vertical black border (about 1.5 inch) on either side of the image. I have tried with VLC and it does the same.
Does any body knows what is happening?
Also is it possible to test the PB with its covers open ( i.e.with KB plate) without killing the PB?
Many thanks

Dam I don't believe it.
I have now played quite a lots of dvds for testing.
They all display in a different manner. Some play full screen with a good quality, some have a few mm to a cm of black line on the right and left side (the image not expending to the full screen capabilities, some have over 1 inch of these same black lines. The video showing the black lines usually shows poor quality images, contrary to the one going full screen that are as good as before. That might be due to the excess of information in a restricted area but I really don't know.
VLC shows exactly the same behaviors.
On DVD player I discovered the zoom-in facility (I can't remember this before), which helps getting rid off the line, but doesn't improve the quality of the image.
All my DVDs have been purchased in reputable shops, and to my memories, all these movies were playing in full screen mode before with a good quality.
As I said earlier, I have also played these with an external drive, but this didn't change a thing.
There is an other thing that I remember when I first tested the new HD in the enclosure. I did a fresh install of tiger first to see if the enclosure will cope with booting. I discover in the fresh install OSX that I had files in the trash, that were not even on my internal HD. I remember reading about HD with malicious viruses installed straight out of the factory. Could that be it?
Although I have read also about people experiencing similar phenomenon in iTune, when one day all worked fine and the next day, they ended up with the black lines that seem to be very similar to mine.
Please help, as I have tried all settings, and the players definitively do not behave has they used to unless it is a video without the lines.
I am now running ClamXav to check if anything is coming up. Thats going to take a while.
As Apple changed something?
Thanks

Optical drive not working since upgrading to Mountain Lion

Backstory:
I ordered a new MacBook Pro with Retina Display after a coworker expressed interest in my current laptop (a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MBP). I had just upgraded the current MBP to Mountain Lion, but decided to sell in order to offset the cost of the new machine.
As I started backing things up last week, I realized that my optical drive had ceased functioning ("The operation can't be completed because you don't have the necessary permission." pops up whenever any optical media, blank or otherwise, is inserted).
I took the computer to the Apple Store, where they kept it overnight. They tried swapping in a new optical drive, but were unable to get the machine to correctly recognize optical media. I was told it was a permissions issue with Mountain Lion. They offered to downgrade the OS for me, but Mountain Lion is one of the selling points (as is "working optical drive"). Now my coworker is a little less eager to buy.
My new MacBook Pro should arrive in the next few days, at which point I'll take my current machine back to the Apple Store. I'll try to get them to do a full OS reinstall and see if they can repair the permissions issue in the process, but I'm not optimistic.
My question is this:
Is it likely a subsequent OS update will address this issue? Or am I simply out of luck?

You paid for a license to use Mountain Lion & that license is forever tied to YOUR Apple ID. You cannot distribute Mountain Lion in any way shape or form. If you were to sell your computer, with Mountain Lion installed, as I've already provided, the new owner will never be able to update or restore OS X, should the need arise. You will have sold the new owner a huge bag of hurt.
Good luck.

Help - Optical Drive Upgrade

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