Imac superdrive died external drive substitute

What can I buy and install procedures?

John,
Any external DVD drive will work. However if you want to replace it yourself try ifixit.com for instructions, you don't state anything about which iMac you own or even the version of OS X in your profile so it's a little difficult to help you. To input that information please complete your profile. You can try OWC at www.macsales.com and they may have a drive for you that can be installed internally.

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    You can use a program like Carbon Copy Cloner.  It will clone your HD to the external.  The format is the same as your internal drive and you can boot from it using Option key at boot time.
    http://www.bombich.com/
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    Captfred

  • I have an iMac and I am running out of disc space. I am considering an external drive to house my iTunes library. If I buy a second drive to operate as a back up will time machine back up the disc on the IMac and the external drive with the iTunes library

    I have an iMac and I am running out of disc space. I am considering an external drive to house my iTunes library. If I buy a second drive to operate as a back up will time machine back up the disc on the IMac and the external drive with the iTunes library?

    If you have a considerable photograph and/or movie collection you may want to consider off loading those to the EHD too. Here are Apple's article showing how handle iTunes & iPhoto libraries.
    iTunes: library on EHD
    iPhoto: How to move the Library to EHD
    Roger

  • I recently purchased a new iMac with an external drive.  I want to transfer my files from my old iMac to the external drive, but I'm afraid that doing that will compromise the use of the external drive on my new iMac.  Comments?  Help?

    I recently purchased a new iMac with an 1 Terrabyte external drive.  I want to transfer my files from my old iMac to the external drive, but I'm afraid that doing that will compromise the use of the external drive on my new iMac.  I have not downloaded the external drive's software onto my old Mac because of this concern.  May I simply "drag and drop" the contents I want transferred to the external drive, then set up my new Mac with the drive and download there? or is there a better procedure?  Comments?  Help?

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  • My IMAC recognises an external drive but won't let me save to it.  Message is the there is no space available but there is 500G left.

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    How much is "plenty of storage"? Go to Settings>General>About>Available
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  • Moving files from iMac to an external drive

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    Greetings,
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    Hello
    have a look at seagate support pages"External Hard Drive Troubleshooter for Mac OS" , here
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  • Lion does not recognizes the superdrive as external drive

    Hello,
    After having replaced my superdrive for a SSD in my macbook, I look for a solution to retrieve the original superdrive in Lion.
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  • Imac cannot find external drive

    My Imac cannot find the external drive I have attached.  I have used it many times before, but now it does not recognize that it is attached.  I have replaced the usb cable with not luck and changed ports.  Still no success.  I am backing up to the cloud, and would like to also back up to this hard drive.  Is this a setting issue with my Mac or do I have a bad hard drive?

    In Preferences set the loaction of the library that should do the trick.
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  • IMac 20",  5 External Drives:  Backup Options

    Ok, I have an iMac 20" with a 250 gig drive. I have the following external drives:
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    You might get an array for that money.
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  • IMac crashes when external drives plugged in

    Hi there
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    Do you have any other firewire or USB peripherals that you use without problems?
    Try the suggestions below to see if they help:
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    2. Another trick is to restart each by zapping the parameter RAM:
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    3. A 3rd tip would be to do Open Firmware resets on each:
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  • IMac repeatedly corrupting external drive directories in sleep mode

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    I have the same issue on my 2011 MBP.  I have three FW800 drives daisy chained together.  The first drive in the series disconnects when my computer goes to sleep and I get the error stating the drive wasn't dismounted properly.  The other two drives stay connected fine.  I don't have to close the lid, it will do this after the computer goes to sleep based on my power saving settings.
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  • IMac not recognising external drives or memory cards

    Hi,
    I've been using both a Lacie external drive and a standard SD card from transferring files and images on my computer for ages, with no problems. I have two issues, possibly related, possibly not.
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    I've done the old fashioned restart too. No luck either way.
    An additional point is that my BACKUP drive IS visible in finder.
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    Please read this whole message before doing anything.
    This procedure is a diagnostic test. It’s unlikely to solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
    The purpose of this exercise is to determine whether the problem is caused by third-party system modifications that load automatically at startup or login. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed for the test, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Boot in safe mode and log in to the account with the problem. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
    Be sure your Mac is shut down.
    Press the power button.
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    Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
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    Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
    The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
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    After testing, reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode) and verify that you still have the problem. Post the results of the test.

  • Macbook Superdrive Toast - External Drive Recommendations?!

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    Hi there
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