MBP - Remove optical drive to save weight?

Hi,
Is removing my MBP optical drive save a lot of weight?
Thanks
Bertil

... because the Optical Drive is very light indeed.

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MBP 13in Optical Drive mid 2010

My mid-2010 13in MBP's optical drive crapped out on me. Where can I buy a replacement?
Thanks!

I'm not sure that you can. OWC offers replacement drives for pre-Unibody MBPs, but nothing later. This leads me to believe that what they offer is not compatible with newer ones. I have not seen any other vendor offer drives for Unibody MBPs either. I have a feeling that the Apple store or an AASP is your only realistic alternative. You might find a second hand one on eBay, but that would be a high risk situation in my view.
Ciao.

Remove optical drive?

Hi,
I have an older MacBook Pro 15" (2.16 GHz) whose optical drive is no longer recognized. I have purchased an external drive as replacement. My question is whether removing the optical drive will make my MacBook clumsy because of weight distribution. I'd like to lighten the load, but not if my laptop becomes much more likely to be dropped.
Has anyone tried this?
Thanks!

Yeah, i just started having this problem recently. My computer would not read any media of any kind, had a hard time reading DVDs, would only read about 2 out of 10 CDS i put in the computer. After looking around on the forum for a while, cleaning it with air, preforming a safe boot, cleaning the directory, making sure i could do everything i could do, I finally decided to get a new drive. I took it to an authorized mac retailer/repair center today, should have it back in a day or two. sigh. Luckily, I bought the applecare package.

How to install logic 9 on mbp without optical drive

I do have Logic installed on my iMac.
Now I want to install it on MBP that does not have optical drive.
What are my options?
Thanks,
IB

Four options.. in reverse order of my personal preference/recommendations
1) Buy an external USB DVD drive from somwhere like Amazon (Their basic range one costs $30)
2) Borrow an external USB DVD Drive from someone
3) Use the Remote Disk feature in OS X and install using the DVD drive in your iMac
See the following link for more info..
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5287
4) Make Disk Images of your DVDs using your iMac and Disk Utility... store them on an ext HD and then install from there onto your MBP
Personally I'd use #4 because eventually those DVD drives fail (and the DVDs themselves can get scratched etc) so now is the time to make DMGs of your Boxed set for safe keeping in case anything weird happens in the future...

Removing optical drive from PPC G4

I have a superdrive from my G5 that I want to put into my G4. Can someone point toward a tutorial on how to remove the G$ optical drive? I cannot figure out the mounting. It apears to be in some sort of carrier with the zip drive that must be removed befoe the drive can be removed.

ilovetrainskc,
Sorry, I misinterpreted the G$ in your original post (Can someone point toward a tutorial on how to remove the G$ optical drive?)as G5. Therefore, I assumed you were having difficulty removing the optical drive from the G5.
Had I know that your problem was part removal from an AGP Graphics G4; I would have provided you the following Apple DIY link:
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75312>
It relates to Gigabit Ethernet G4s, but the AGP Graphics G4s are almost identical (many Apple Support documents cite use for PowerMac G4 (AGP Graphics/Gigabit Ethernet). I've never been able to find Apple DIY documents or CIP documents strictly for the AGP Graphics G4, but these worked quite well for me when upgrading my friend's 350 MHz AGP Graphics G4 (aka., Sawtooth) last year.
Carl B.
Power Mac MDD G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8) Dual 1.25 GHz 2MB-L3, 2 GB RAM, Verax fans, ATI 9600, DVR-111D, SyncMaster 215TW

Early 2008 MBP, replaced optical drive with SSD, now computer won't sleep.

So pretty much you know everything already, installed the operating system on the SSD everything works fine except the computer wont sleep.
Any help wouldbe great
thanks

I am about to do the same upgrade on MBP 13". Reading around the topic I think this problem is caused when the OS is running from the drive in the optical bay.
See extract from following link:
http://lifehacker.com/5541774/how-to-install-a-solid+state-drive-in-your-macbook
Update: It seems that connecting the SSD to the optical drive slot will give you problems waking from sleep, since the MacBook doesn't look to that SATA port for your main drive. I did not notice this before, as I don't sleep my computer. So, instead of installing your SSD in the Optibay, you'll want to disconnect your regular hard drive, install the SSD in that slot, and then install your old drive in the Optibay and continue as written.

Stripped screw to remove optical drive

Hi everybody,
I'm trying to remove the optical drive in my Macbook pro 2011.
I want to add a second drive.
Problem is, one of the screws to remove in order to do it, is Stripped..
My computer is still under applecare.. Would Apple accept to help me out with this ?

yanco wrote:
Would Apple accept to help me out with this ?
Nope, but you might find a sympathetic Genius that has a trick to get it out.
If AppleCare finds out you tampered with the optical drive, it's voided you know.
Or you can visit the hardware store(s) and find a stripped screw remover tools.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/02/the-12-best-ways-to-remove-strip ped-screws/

V240 - removed optical drive, now having constant HBA (ata controller)reset

Hi there,
I have 2 Fire v240's - and only one working DVD optical drive which I move between them.. Running Solaris 05/09, whichever machine doesnt have the optical drive physically installed, goes through a continuous routine of resetting hba and trying to re-sync with it..
--start messages snippet
Feb 10 12:40:07 hosta uata: [ID 464412 kern.warning] WARNING: timeout: reset target chno = 0 targ = 0
Feb 10 12:40:12 hosta uata: [ID 606412 kern.warning] WARNING: timeout: reset bus chno = 0 targ = 0
Feb 10 12:40:32 hosta uata: [ID 252109 kern.warning] WARNING: ata_controller - Set features failed
Feb 10 12:40:32 hosta uata: [ID 859416 kern.info] ghd_timer_newstate: HBA reset failed hba 0x60011149800 gcmdp 0x60016280c40 gtgtp 0x60011072b40
---end messages snippet (repeated approx every 2 minutes)
There is surely a way for me to disable the controller or advise Solaris to stop trying to talk to the missing hardware (DVD drive)?
Many thanks!
Hugo

Humm, can you see the DVD somehow in cfgadm -l or cfgadm -lv? If so you should be able to unconfigure or disconnect it from the OS :-)
.7/M.

Can the optical drive in the new 13 MBP be removed permanently?

Any idea how much weight that would save?

JoeyR wrote:
The optical drive would save maybe a few ounces (about the weight of a deck of cards). There is very little hardware in the drive components. Should you find yourself in the position of needing support for your machine, you will not be able to run any of the diagnostic tests which require booting from the optical drive. You would also not be able to reinstall the OS should there be a need to do so.
There are reports that Apple Hardware Test has been able to run without install discs in most of the new Macs.
I've certainly been able to do that, but I'm not sure exactly what the magic combination is to do that. I've been holding down D (I think) and it's been working sometimes, but I'm not sure if it has to be held when shutting down or when restarting. I've tried it at various points, and often it just boots into regular OSX.

Not able to read DVD in the optical drive, but able to read CD

So lately, my MBP's optical drive have been acting up weirdly when I put in a DVD disk. It would suck it in, and I would hear the sound that it tries to put the read head on the disk but failing. After a while it just spit the disk out. This would only happen if I put in a DVD disk, when I put in a music CD, it works and load the music into iTunes and everything.
Does anyone know what's wrong?

THis almost invariably means your drive needs cleaning or that you are using bad media xcc. DVD's are harder to "read" and "write" than CD's and generally show "dirty lens" problems well before issues arise with CDs.
Get a DVD cleaning disc and run it through a few times.
Cheers
Rod

Just got back from the Apple Store...optical drive officially dead

I just got back from the Apple Store, which confirmed what I feared all along. I received my MBP C2D over the holidays and was worried when it had trouble booting up several times. After trying to burn a few cds (some would quit, others worked fine), and a few discs that refused to read or eject I visited the boards to find out that issues with the Matshita UJ 587 were widespread. At this point my computer does not even recognize the ATA or Disc Burning hardware or the OSX disc inside. The only positive to come out of this is the customer service offered by Apple. I took the computer to the genius bar and the computer refused to boot up after the tech installed an OSX disc (hence the stuck cd inside). They are giving me a new computer since this one is brand new, but unfortunately I will have to order it from Apple Care since it is a custom job. For all of you out there with early MBP C2D optical drives that are acting up I feel your pain. Get your computer into an Apple store before the problem gets worse, these optical drives are awful.
Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.33 Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Thank you. After 2 hours on the phone with Apple Care this morning they finally confirmed what the Mac Genius told me last night. The computer was shipped back this afternoon and I'll post again if there's any trouble with the new unit, I think I just got a lemon with this one...too bad. This is my first Mac so I'm really trying hard to stay positive.

Loud optical drive - is this normal?

On my base 13 inch MBP the optical drive sounds pretty loud and i was wondering if this is normal.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1723
it sounds exactly like that

As long as it has no trouble reading or writing discs, I wouldn't worry about it.
See though my FAQ*:
http://www.macmaps.com/cdrfailure.html
if you start running into issues.
- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Using MBP(2007) without Optical Drive?

I have a late 2007 Macbook Pro whose optical drive has been broken. I don't even know when it stopped working. (that being said, I wish next MBP comes out without an optical drive)
I'm wondering if I can just remove the broken optical drive and leave the space empty so that I can make the laptop lighter even if it's a little bit?
Thanks for your help in advance.

I took the optical drive out of my MBP then installed a second HDD via a special bracket, I hardly use the optical drive and have an external drive to burn with on the 'once in a while' timeframe
Works very well, but as D0GG said, fraction of weight is saved not really worth it for that alone.

I removed my optical drive because i added an ssd hard drive. when i plug in the dvd to usb it will not play from the macbooks dvd program. the error message is there was an initialization error, a valid drive could not be found.

I can go into disk utility and see the optical drive and mount what ever cd is in the drive and quicktime will play it. but i would like to have the dvd program recognize the optical drive and open what ever is in it.

Freakin amazing! I installed a new 1TB Samsung SSD in my main hard drive slot and moved my old hard drive into my DVD slot and moved my DVD to an external DVD case and it would never work with movies, only software disks. I have Late 2011 Macbook Pro running Mavericks with 1TB Samsung SSD and a 512GB HDD in the DVD slot with my DVD in an OWC external DVD case.
I tried this trick but at first, this did not work because OxED was saving the new file as a text file and not a unix file. I was perplexed until I read the comments below the article and found the tip to use Terminal to change the saved file to a Unix file. I have never used Terminal before and I had no clue what I was doing, but I just followed the steps to a T and it worked. It took two tries with Terminal.
The comment mentioned "Code:" so I typed that along with the rest and it didn't work. I tried it again and this time just typed
chmod +x (with a space after the x) then dragged and dropped the saved dvd file from my Desktop into Terminal and hit enter. Worked great. Thank you. I have my DVD player back.
I also had to play around with some permissions and I had to remove the original file completely from the "A" folder, before I dropped the new file back in.
Took a little work, but I am back up and running. Thanks to all who contributed to this and yet OWC definitely needs to have all this in their manual or even provide a disk or software download that does this automatically.
Here is the trick: http://macenstein.com/default/2011/07/how-to-get-your-external-super-drive-worki ng-in-lion/
Be sure that the new file saves as a Unix file. If it doesnt save as Unix, you will need to:
Open Terminal.
Type: chmod +x
…with a space at the end (and do NOT press enter yet).
Then, drag the saved file you want to change from whereever it is saved and drop it on top of the Terminal window. The file path and filename should automatically fill in (and you should ensure that there’s a space between “+x” and the file path).
Press enter.

How do I install Windows 8 via ISO onto a modified MBP 2010 without an optical drive?

I have a modified 2010 MBP without an optical drive. I'm trying to install Windows 8 through bootcamp by creating a USB disk, but Startup Disk does not recognize this USB. How do I install my Win 8 ISO? Thanks in advance

I can kind of help you here. First you will need to find out if your computer can install Windows 8. The following computers can install Windows 8
MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or newer)
MacBook Pro (15-inch and 17-inch, Mid 2010 or newer)
MacBook Pro (13-inch and 15-inch with retina display, Mid 2012 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Mini (Mid 2011 or newer)
iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010 or newer)
iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011 or newer)
Your computer MUST have Boot Camp 5 running on Mac OS X 10.8.3 Mountain Lion or later other wise Windows 8 will not work.
If you don't have one of those computers it won't allow you to install Windows 8. You can try getting a Windows 8 install disc and an external optical drive that supports Mac OS X. I reccomend the Soniq Slim DVD-RW Drive becuase it works with almost every disc including install discs. But before trying to use an install disc with an external optical drive make sure you go into boot camp assistant and remove the partition that you made for Windows. If this didn't help you go to Apple's Boot Camp FAQ for Windows 8. The link is below.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5628?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Hope this helped!

MBP - Remove optical drive to save weight?

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