Mac mini as an external optical drive

Can the mac mini intel be used as an esternal optical
drive. can i hook it up to my ultra portable laptop
(which doesn't have an optical drive) and use my mac
mini as an external dvd and a dvd writer?
Why on earth would you want to do that? An external USB2.0 DVD burner for your laptop would be barely more than $100, while a Mac mini with standard DVD burner would cost you $799!
If you have a good reason to want to do this, it's easier to use an external Mac as an optical drive for you laptop if the laptop is a Mac because then the mini can be mounted on the Mac as an external drive using Firewire target disk mode. Hence the mention of firewire in the prior response. However, if the mini is being connected to a PC, it's not so easy. You could simply connect the two via ethernet, and switch on sharing between the two systems, but you would need to control the actual burning of files to the optical drive from the Mac - which would either require a keyboard, mouse and screen for the mini, or software on the PC to control the mini remotely. Very inelegant.

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Mac mini as an external hard drive

Can I use a mac mini as an external hard drive? if i can how do I make the connection?

You would restart the mini while holding down the T key on the attached keyboard. This puts the mini into Firewire target mode. Assuming the mini is attached to a monitor, you will see a moving Firewire logo on the screen indicating the mini is in target mode.
From there, all you have to do is plug it into the FW port on a second computer and it will look just like a hard drive to the other computer.

How can I transfer pictures from my old Mac mini to an external hard drive?

HHow can I transfer pictures from my old Mac mini to an external hard drive? Thanks.

Normally you should be able to drag and drop them onto the drive, provided the drive is Mac formatted. Have you already tried that?
Matt

How do I transfer photos from my mac mini to my external hard drive without iPhoto?

I am trying to get my already downloaded onto my mac photos onto my external hard drive but my computer will not alow me to.
Any Help?

I've been trying to do the same myself, want to move pictures from my new iMac to my new Macbook Air, made the switch big time! I thought that a Mac was famous for ease of use. Plug in passport usb portable, find it in the finder, open another finder winder, try to drag photo library over..... nope. Open the Iphoto program, edit, select all, drag to passport...... nope. Extremely frustrating. On a PC it would be done in minutes or less. Either my head is in the wrong place or I'm missing something. GGRRRRRRR Any help would be appreciated before they both go back in their boxes and I pull the PC back out of the closet. LOL

Win7 won't install in Mac mini SL w/no optical drive, crashes when accessing external HD

I've been trying to install win7 on my Mac Mini with 10.6.8 that doesn't have an optical drive. I've been able to do the bootcamp partition just fine but when it goes to restart into the windows partition with the win7 disk in the external HD, my screen goes grey, then a green with purple border and then black. I have to reboot and if I press the alt/opt key, I'm able to get into OSX again. The research I've done shows I need to create a .iso file which I did with disk utility. I created all types of .iso files, read only, compressed and dvd.cdr files. Nothing is working. Bootcamp is not recognizing any of the 5 thumb drives I've put the .iso files on as I read some drives aren't able to be recognized. The external HD works as I reinstalled SL just fine using it. My research also shows that win7 won't install from an external HD. So I'm at a a loss as to how to proceed from here. I went into my old windows machine to try to create a bootable thumb drive after I install win7 there but the Dell is so old, I don't have a DVD drive in it, only a CD drive. And if I buy a downloadable version of win7 I still need to get it to a DVD or a thumb drive to get it installed.
Does anyone have any ideas? I called Apple and their support ended at "well, we did our job by getting you to the BootCamp partition" which is a crock. It's their design to take out the optical drive and now it's everyone else's problem! Sorry, I know I've got attitude but I'm so frustrated!!
Thanks in advance! I'm posting this here and in bootcamp discussion.

Hatter helped me out without even knowing he helped me out. In cruising through the archives, he advised another problem seeker to unplug everything except 1 monitor, a mouse and a keyboard. Which I did and that solved my problems at last. I also burned my .iso file to a DVD with my MBP and it was able to be read by the external HD. So keep searching the forums peeps, your answer may be there after all!

Mac Mini not recognizing USB optical drive - when Windows 7 in the drive

This is a really strange situation. I purchased a DVD writer in order to install Windows 7 on my Mac Mini (the SuperDrive stopped functioning some time ago). I've been able to boot from this optical drive to install Snow Leopard, but the Win7 disk isn't recognized when I try to boot from it (just get the folder with the "?"). Holding down "Alt" just shows me the Macintosh HD. I've tried multiple DVDs, including a genuine MSFT printed one with no success. I've attached this same drive to my Lenovo laptop and it booted to Windows 7 setup without a problem.
So, to sum up:
The Samsung DVD writer:
* boots up Snow Leopard on the Mac Mini
* boots up Windows 7 on the Lenovo laptop
* fails to boot Windows 7 on the Mac Mini
The Samsung model is Super WriteMaster Slim External DVD Writer, SE-S084
Any help would of course be greatly appreciated. Chocolate is possible for a really good answer.
- Hop

Hello hoppingboy,
Just an FYI for you.
It is always best to check with the software manufacturer FIRST. They will tell you if they have tested the product and the version, as well as whether or not it will work with Windows 7.
Check out the Windows 7 Compatibility site: (There you will find out about hardware and software compatibility.)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/en-us/default.aspx
There is a pulldown from which you can choose "hardware" and "software".
There are also some great articles, instructional videos and such to help with your Windows 7 at our Springboard site:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/default.aspx
In any event a lot of the times, Vista drivers will work in lieu of Windows 7 drivers, however, it's not 100%!
As stated previously, it's best to have the Windows 7 certified drivers installed.
Thanks again,
John M.
Microsoft Windows Client Support

Using an old mac mini as an external dvd drive

I was thinking of buying one of the new mac minis.
I have an older one from 2006 (with OS X Tiger 10.4.11 and 512Mb of RAM which means it's not powerful enough for any OS after Leopard) and I was wondering if it would be possible to use that machine as the external superdrive instead of forking out for a new apple superdrive?
I think that there could be some issue with the speed of the USB connection, judging from some questions I've read on the apple website (apple have pumped up the wattage of the connection on their external superdrive) but does that mean that firewire would be ok to connect them up?
Thanks for any help
John

rcmjohn wrote:
I was wondering if it would be possible to use that machine as the external superdrive instead of forking out for a new apple superdrive?
yes.
booting the the Tiger Mini into target disk mode and use its ODD drive on the other Mac.
it may be necessary to pop in the optical media before booting the Mini into TDM.

Can I use my old mac mini (G4) as an optical drive with new mac mini late 2014?

Can I use my old mac mini (G4 Tiger) as an optical drive with new mac mini, late 2014?

I think so
DVD or CD sharing: Using Remote Disc - Apple Support
You should also be able to connect the two via FireWire using a FW 400 cable plugged into the old Mini, thne a FR 400 femial to FW 880 adopter plugging into a FW to Thunderbolt adopter
How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode - Apple Support

Mac Mini 5.1 External Hard drives

I am having troble with my Fantom 2TB USB 3.0 and my mac mini 5.1. My trouble doesn't have anything to do with bluetooth, but for some reason the mac becomes unstalbe with the drive attached and a lot of apps crash and sometimes the mac reboots.
I am looking for a external usb drive that works well with my mac. It should be at least 1 TB, but doesn't have to be supper fast. It will mainly be used for backups and maybe Oracles VM.

Given how rare it is that simply attaching a USB drive to a Mac mini should cause such instability, it'd be risky to suggest a replacement drive. You might find the problem exists with any subsequent drive.
If you're still on Lion as your signature suggests, you might try buying the upgrade to Mountain Lion and installing that to see if there's any improvement. If your Mac mini's compatible, of course. It'd be cheaper than a new drive, at any rate.
Merry Christmas!
S.

Mac mini as an external hard drive for time machine??

I have a mac mini from a few years ago and it is never used. I was wonder if it could be used as an external hard drive for time machine. If this can be done how do I go about setting it up for this type of useage?

Thanks for starting this thread. I too am trying to use my old mac mini in target mode to utilize it's hard drive for Time Machine.
I hope to strip it down to just it's OS (10.5) and use the remaining hard drive space for Time Machine backup.
Is it possible to just have it running at certain times for regular back in target mode? Or do I have to keep it on constantly?
I fear having to restart using the "T" command each time. Isn't there a way to just have it sleep and then have the ability to wake it up as I backup or restore?
thanks in advance for any help.
Vince

Using Mac Mini as an External Hard Drive?

I'm a member of a freelance graphic artist team and have been scraping by with my MacMini and CS3. I recently obtained a used iMac (approx. 2 years old) and, instead of painstakingly transferring everything left on the Mini to the iMac, I wanted to know if it's possible to turn the MacMini into a pseudo external hard drive using the FW800 port.
I already had an external attached to the Mini and plan on using that as well, but I tend to hoarde information and run out of space really quickly. So keeping the mini around, preferably in a way that I can access it as an external through my iMac, would be perfect. I have very little experience with networking and don't have a wireless connection (yay modem cables!) so I don't quite know how to figure this out.
Has anyone done this? Would a FireWire 800 work? Would I need to set up a network between the two and use them as independently connected computers?

Holding down the T key puts the Mini into "firewire target disk mode":
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
This mode has to be used carefully according to the protocol in the above link.
You'll need a fire wire 800-to-400 cable which will be 9-to-6, AFAIK -- assuming your Mini is an earlier-than-2009 model, and that the iMac has a firewire 800 port. If both computers are firewire 400, then just a plain 6-pin cable.
(Frankly, given the low cost of external drives, I can't see the value of using the Mini's (likely very small) hard drive for storage this way.)

Can "Refit" Be Used for USB Boot From External Optical Drive?

Since the new Mac Mini 2011 has no optical drive, how would one make a generic USB 2.0 optical drive act as a boot device? I have heard that a utility called "Refit" can alter the boot loading order and device choices in Macs. I suppose it is also possible that the new Mini may already be set up to boot first from USB. I would appreciate any comments. It would be nice to have some kind of optical drive boot option for Windows installation and other possible utilities that need to boot before the OS in order to work. Maybe I will have to take my external optical drive to an Apple store to find out. Hope not. I also suspect that a USB keyboard will be mandatory for "Refit" and the boot drive to be used before Mac OS X is loaded.

No utility should be needed.
You can hold the Option key down during the boot process to select which drive you wish to use as a boot device.
Also pressing and holding C boots to the optical drive.
There is reportedly a pretty broad number of USB optical drives that people have been able to use as a boot device, as inexpensively as $30. I don't know that there is a specific list though. I would research whichever model you wish to buy with a quick google search or searching that model here in the forum.
Or maybe somebody will have a recommendation which one they have.

External Optical Drive not working with iMac

I have a memorex external drive that I have been using to install Windows 7 with boot camp and have successfully used it on 2 mac-mini's. I am not trying to install Windows 7 boot camp on an iMac that has a broken internal optical drive but the external will not run.
I have tried:
- Startup Utility: Can see the external in there.
- External shows up on desktop with Windows 7
- External shows up in disk utility
- Windows shows up in startup menu with holding down Option.
I see iMac SSD Drive, Recovery HD Drive , Windows CD , EFI Boot cd as options.
If I select Windows it takes me to a black screen that says it doesnt see a boot CD clicking on EFI boot does nothing.
Anyone have any possible solutions into getting this to work?

Valen85 wrote:
I have a memorex external drive that I have been using to install Windows 7 with boot camp and have successfully used it on 2 mac-mini's.
Mac Minis without built-in Optical drives behave differently than iMacs with built-in drives for boot ability,
I am not trying to install Windows 7 boot camp on an iMac that has a broken internal optical drive but the external will not run.
I see iMac SSD Drive, Recovery HD Drive , Windows CD , EFI Boot cd as options.
If I select Windows it takes me to a black screen that says it doesnt see a boot CD clicking on EFI boot does nothing.
This is confusing. If you have the external Optical Drive (Memorex) connected via USB to the iMac and insert a Windows 7+ DVD in it, the Apple Bootmanager will see OSX, Recovery HD, Windows (if already installed on the iMac's internal drive) and possibly Windows and EFI boot from the DVD.
The Windows and EFI Boot will not work if you try to boot the iMac from the external. Test this from the internal Optical drive as well. If your iMac is a UEFI Mac (2013+) it will let you boot from the DVD directly (without Bootcamp).
Bootcamp Assistant will refuse to let you use the external Optical drive, if you try use it to install Windows. BCA only works with internal Optical drives as far as Windows installation is concerned, on Macs that have a built-in optical drive. The exceptions to this rule are 2012 Macs and some 2011 models.

New MAC Mini w/OSX Lion - will not boot from USB or external optical drive when attempting to use BootCamp to install Windows 7?

The University recently purchased 6 brand new MAC minis for deployment in classrooms I support. I am attempting to create a dualk--boot environment comparable to our existing computer systems, only these machines wil be running MAC OS X Lion and Windows 7. After following the procedures outlined in the BootCamp on-screen prompts, and attempting a few techniques I found in the tech support user-base, I am still unable to get the MAC mini to boot up from the USB flash drive, or from an external optical drive, so that I can complete the installation of Windows 7. When using the Boot option key at start-up, all devices are displayed suggesting that they are being properly recognized, however the computer boots to a black screen with an error message indicating that "No bootable devices are found - press any key to continue." I am able to boot into the computer's internal drive, but not from any external devices. I fully expected that the semi-automated BootCamp procedure properly prepares the USB device for booting, and for installing the Windows 7 OS.

Meh, with the price they take for a drive in Denmark, I don't think it's worth it... They take around 160 $ for the drive (that's the cheapest MacBook drive I could find), and I am not even sure that's the one I need.

Installing Win7 on a macbook pro using a mac mini as external optical drive

hi everyone,
My 2 year old son watches movies on my macbook pro. He stuck something in the optical drive making it unusable. Repairing it is 200 to 300 euros (ouch).
I want to install win7 via bootcamp and I'm using my mac mini (october 2009) as an external optical drive. These are my steps:
1.hold the "t" on the mac mini
2.connect it to the macbook with a firewire 800 to firewire 400 cable
3.Power up and hold the "alt" on the macbook
4.I see the optical drive on the boot screen and I choose it
5.Then I get a blank screen and a few seconds later the "missing operating system" message appears.
Am I missing something? Is it possible to install win7 using a mac mini as an external drive?
PS1:I already have partitioned the HD with bootcamp.
PS2:I've upgraded the hard disk drive of the macbook with a seagate momentus 500GB hard disk. Don't think this is the problem, thought I should mentioned it.

Hi Mike,
For reference it is called "IP over Firewire".
Connect the two computers with a fire wire cable. System Preferences > Network > Configure IPv4: > Manually > IP address: 192.168.3.1 (and .2 on other) > Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0. Leave the other fields blank. Do this on both computers on the computer you want to allow access to or both for two way access go to System Preference > Sharing > Select a service to change its settings. Turn remote Login on.
On the MBP go to the Finder Menu > Go > Connect to Server > Type in the IP address of the Mini 192.168.3.2 (Whatever you gave it)
With this configuration you still have full use of the Mini and certain apps can use Xgrid and use the processor of the mini when it is not doing anything. I would keep the Mini as 10.4 unless you really need both machines running Leopard. As noted before you cannot boot the MBP from a HDD that is Apple Partition Scheme and vice versa you cannot boot the PPC from a Guide Partition Table.
Sweet Polly

Mac mini as an external optical drive

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