Optical drive compatibility

I have a 17" flat panel iMac which has a malfunctioning combo drive.
I also have an spare eMac G4 1.25 with a working combo drive that i'm not using.
Is it possible for me to take the combo drive from the emac and install it into the imac without any compatibility issues?
thanks
Mac Mini Core Dou Mac OS X (10.4.6) 1.66Ghz 512MB DDR2 80GB HDD

That would be possible, but considering that a new Dual Layer DVD±RW 18x optical drives are <$40us or <£20gbp there is no point in butchering both Macs. <p>If you need a quick fix you can use Firewire Target Disk Mode which allows the eMac to provide both it's hard drive and optical drive for the iMac to use have a read of this article (link).
Let us know if you need to know more about changing the Optical Drive
mrtotes

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Mega PC Optical Drive Compatibility List

So you've just parted with the cash for your shiny new Mega PC barebones, now you have to choose which optical drive (CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW) you want to go inside. Of course MSI recommend you use one of their optical drives, but they would say that! You might prefer other manufacturer's units (myself am very happy with NEC drives) so the aim of this thread is to provide as comprehensive as possible a list of drives **known** to work correctly with the Mega series, as well as pointing out drives to avoid.
If you have a drive that is not listed here, but works correctly in hifi and PC mode, or works fine with a couple of quirks, then please post below, and i'll add them into this post at a later date. Please state the manufacturer (eg NEC), model code (eg ND2510A) and drive type (CD-ROM, DVD-RW etc), and i'll make sure you get credited with the comment.
Unfortunately, I have not added some drives listed in the old thread due to not enough information being given (eg Toshiba DVD-ROM doesn't really narrow a particular model down). Comments from users are credited to them.
AOPEN
DUW1608/ARR DVD rewriter – “not recognised by the hifi part” – Jadi
ASUS
DRW-1604B DVD Writer – “big thumbs up” - ZicWiz
LG
GSA 4040B – “works ok” - Rkoppen
4081B DVD-RAM – “Sometimes it doesn’t open in PC mode and you have to eject it by the windows explorer” – nschmid
LITEON
166S DVD Writer – “works well” - hellmaster
SOHW-1653S – “works flawless” – Jadi
MSI
CR52 CD-RW – “it should work, and it does perfectly” – mosher
NEC
ND1300A DVD Writer – “works with no problems” – Doctor Stu
ND2500A DVD Writer - "works fine" - Justify73
ND2510A DVD Writer – “Problems found in Hi-Fi mode. Stops playing Audio-CD after 30-45 second from beginning of track. mp3 disks randomly stopped with Nodisk message on LCD display and no way to eject/restart disk without switching to pc mode” - alk
ND3500A DVD Writer – “works fine” – Doctor Stu
PIONEER
108 DVD Writer (?) – “working fine” - domby
PLEXTOR
708A DVD Writer – “If the tray is open, and I press the button to close it, the tray closes, but then opens right back up. In order to close the tray, I have to actually push the tray in. It's more of an annoyance than a problem.” - jjarrett
SAMSUNG
SD-816E DVD-ROM – “no problems so far” - rkoppen
SH-W08A DVD – “working perfectly” – lorx
SONY
DDU-1612 DVD-ROM – “Sometimes have to press eject twice to open” – Doctor Stu
CRX225E
CRX230E
CRX320E – “occasional short sound interruptions during audio-CD playing. Not so frequent to be annoying.” – alk
Please do not start discussions in this thread, please start your own topic if you need help. Only post in this thread if you want to share your optical drive compatibility.
Thanks!!

MEGA 180:
Plextor PX-800A Internal IDE DVD-Writer doesn't work in HiFi mode, but works fine in PC mode. This drive is shorter in length then the NEC ND-3550A.
NEC ND-3550A Internal IDE Dual Layer DVD±RW Writer doesn't work in HiFi mode, but works fine in PC mode. Not much room between end of drive and power supply.
Both drives are really nosiy when playing DVD's, so much so I have to turn the volume up extra loud to drown it out, annoying.
LG GSA-4082B SUPER MULTI DVD±RW/DVD-RAM DRIVE works flawless in HiFi and PC mode.
Only down fall is its old and only 8xDVD writer.

Third party IDE optical drive compatibility....

Hi guys,
The original optical drive in my Mac Pro (2006, MacPro 1,1) has failed and I need to replace it. My questions is does the replacement explicitly have to state OS X/Mac compatibility? PATA drives are getting harder to come by, let alone Apple compatible drives, but for all I know OS X will pick up any IDE drive just fine. Anyone know for sure?

well, not 100%, but I can tell you my experience, fwiw. My mom's husband's PC was dying and I was working on getting the old hard drive out and the photos off of it, which I managed to do (with some help). He said I could take whatever was left, so for a laugh, I grabbed the LiteOn dvd burner that was in there and put it in my Mac Pro (3.1, I think). Surprisingly enought it worked just fine, didn't need anything else. I put it in bay 2, plugged in the power and data cable, set it to cable select, and was good to go. It lasted a few years, but these things do wear out eventually, and no, it didn't say anything about OS X/Mac compatibility. so, my opinion is as follows: Go for it. It ought to work. Of course, I'm no expert
John B

Mega PC barebones optical drive compatibility list

please post here your optical drive youre using with your mega 180 or mega 865, and if you have any problems or hints for compatibility - thanks
ps i have the plex 708 and a tdk 4x dvdrw - will these work with the 865?

Quote
Originally posted by alk
I've received some interesting URL from MSI, it i s a kind of what we are talking about:
AVL from MSI Mega 865 page
Nice compatability page there... they are all MSI Products. You sure that isn't just a product listing page?
I am running a Plextor 708A - 8X DVD Burner and the only problem I have had is using the eject button to close the DVD tray. If the tray is open, and I press the button to close it, the tray closes, but then opens right back up. In order to close the tray, I have to actually push the tray in. It's more of an annoyance than a problem.
The other thing I have noticed is that the DVD will spin up extremely fast, like it's going to break the sound barrier fast, if I open up Windoze Explorer after working on the computer for a half hour or so without having browsed/explored the file system.

Power supply and optical drive compatibility

My wife has an original MacBook Air. I just bought the new 2011 model. Are the power suppplies/connectors and add-on optical drives interchangeable? Thank you.

I have both as well. I can only promise that the Apple external Superdrive works on both.
Regards,
Captfred

SuperDrive (optical drive) Compatibility

Have a MacBook Pro 13" (mid-2010) that has a damaged SuperDrive.
Have another MacBook Pro 15" mid-2009) where someone spilled coke on it and fried the Logic & Keyboard assemblies Board (too expensive to repair thus the 13" replacement.
Anyway was wondering if anyone out there knows if the SuperDrive in the 15" is compatable with my 13"?

In my experience, the manufacturer's drive model used inside may indeed be the same. But then there is the mount, and that is why I suggested you look at the shape of the assembled module on ifixit.
I have found that these drives may be partially enclosed by lightweight aluminum carriers. These may be attached by glue or double-stick foam tape or other diabolical attachment methods that are not simple to remove. In removing these in the past, all I ended up with after a lot of work was a pile of bent aluminum mountings and a bent and unusable drive. It was an exercise in futility.
Because of this potential difficulty, I do not recommend re-purposing the drive from one model into another.
But sites like ifixit and many others will sell you a used drive, with a modest warranty, with exactly the mounting frame you need, for not a lot of money. That is the approach I would recommend.

Looking for Optical Drive compatability by part number

I have located a replacement 20X CD-ROM Module for my Pismo PowerBook. I want to be sure it is compatible. The model number of the drive is M2451. The person selling the drive has no clue if it is compatible. If anyone has any information about this dilema, it would be greatly appreciated.

twillaustin, welcome to Apple Discussions from a fellow Texan.
The M2451 CD-ROM (661-1516) is for a Wallstreet model G3. Don't know if it would work in a G3 Pismo.
The Pismo originally came with a DVD-ROM M7931 (P/N 661-2244). I have one of these with my Pismo. I also have a 24X CD-ROM M7388 to use with my Pismo.
If you want to be safe, get the M7388. It should be about the same $ as the M2451.
 Cheers, Tom

Compatability of optical drive, PowerMac to Mac Pro

I have a PowerMac G5 that I am no longer using. I now use a Mac Pro, I think it's 1.1. Would the SuperDrive from the Mac Pro work in my PowerMac? If so, how do I remove it? (I know how to put it into the PowerMac)

Hi,
G5s used IDE/ATAPI opticals, Mac Pros use SATA Opticals.
Might work with the right adapter...
http://www.walmart.com/ip/28879969?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227019472865&wl 0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=55380887409&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=87884735889&veh=sem
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232004
Optical drive removal/install on G5..
http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/powermac_g5_opt/
Mac Pro Optical drives...
http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgrades.cfm?model=249&type=Internal%20Optical%2 0Drives&sort=pop

Win 8.1 - solid HDD light on a W530 when the optical drive is closed

Hello,
I have a new W530 with Windows 8.1 on and a short time after boot or resume from standby, the HDD light will illuminate solidly (not flickering at all) with no disk activity to speak of showing in task manager.
I have tried the usual steps of disabling superfetch, search indexing, av, etc. and nothing helps. The only thing that does influence the light is whether the optical drive is closed or not. With the drive open, the light behaves normally and reflects the peaks of activity shown in task manager. The light going solid coincides with Windows turning off the Optical drive after start up when Zero Power ODD is enabled (the light still goes solid after a few seconds with Zero Power ODD disabled so may be related to some energy saving mode?).
This behaivour is not exhibited in Windows 8, Ubuntu 14.04, FreeDOS or the Bios so does seem to be an oddity of 8.1 on the W530. There appears to be no impact on performance of the system so it is more of an annoyance.
I am wondering if anyone else has come across this and/or has any suggestions as I don't fancy siutting with my optical drive open all the time...
Relevant specs are below:
Intel i7-3740QM
8GB RAM
250GB Samsung 840 EVO mSATA SSD (OS drive & boot drive, hardware/eDrive encrypted with Bitlocker)
500GB Hitachi Travelstar 7200RPM HDD
Nvidia Quadro K1000M 2GB (running in Optimus with Intel HD Graphics)
The laptop is configured with a static 1GB page file on the SSD and a static 36GB page file on the HDD.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Ok, a bit of progress... For some reason, The SATA controller had been set to Compatability in the Bios rather than AHCI. Doing a fresh build with AHCI enabled did not exhibit the solid light when the Lenovo Settings Dependency Package was installed
Restoring my system image and then going through the process of enabling AHCI after a windows 8.1 install has solved the issue.
So, lesson learned - AHCI is needed in this config unless a solid HDD light is wanted. Obviously this is a bug, what is the best way to report it to Lenovo officially?

Satellite A20-130: SD R2412 cannot read DVDs burnt in certain optical drives

Hi,
I've got a Satellite A20-130 laptop, running WinXP and Ununtu Dapper in a dual partition. My 2nd laptop is not Toshiba one. When I burned DVDs (DVD+R) with my non-Toshiba laptop and played them in my Satellite it all worked fine.
However, when I bought a new optical drive for my 2nd laptop my Toshiba suddenly stopped playing the DVDs burnt in this new optical drive(I was using exactly the same disc brand and format as before-- DVD+R). I tried the old DVDs (the ones burnt in the laptop before the optical drive hardware was upgraded) and they can still by read perfectly fine.
This problem applies to both Ubuntu and WinXP. Support from 2nd laptop says this sounds like a firmware problem with my Toshiba. I updated the driver for my SD R2412 Toshiba optical drive (which, according to the file manual, seems to fix a DVD-Ram compatibility issue). Now the drive occasionally reads some of the new burned DVDs (after making loads of noise and waiting for ages), but more often than not I get an error message saying the device cannot be read because the format is incorrect or the device needs to be formatted.
This non-Toshiba laptop reads the DVDs it burns using the upgraded optical drive perfectly fine.

Hi
Satellite A20 is pretty old notebook model and after intensive usage it can be that drive is more sensitive. If all this happen occasionally there is no simply explanation why this happen.
I know it is pretty annoying but I do not see any magic solution. At the end you must test it with brand new drive.

3000 n200 Optical Drive problems

Hi all.
I have a Lenovo 3000 N200 MT0687, that has NEVER had a properly working optical drive.
Purchased this machine, was on display, and they had lost the box, and no one knew the password on it, so formatted and installec Win XP. The optical drive will install Win XP and other operating systems, but once installed
will NOT look at any other Discs. Data, DVD's, music CD's Will not see a blank cd/dvd so can't write to cd.
Have tried Ubuntu 8.04 with exactly the same result.
Everything else works fine on both WinXP and Linux. Optical Drive doesn't show in either.
I have been in touch with the Lenovo service centre on a number of occasions, and have had different answers
each time, everything from updating the bios, to installing drivers. Nothing worked. Have been told my problem, "original
image" not still on it. See below re re-installing said image with recovery cd's.
Lenovo sent me a new optical drive, a different make to the original, no change, still no
drive showing anywhere on XP. (Or ubuntu 8.04, I appreciate there is no support for Linux)
Lenovo even sent me a set of recovery discs(3), which I installed (after formatting, several times with bios set to both AHCI and Compatability) using both the internal and an external USB connected optical drive. Same result, system boots to "Welcome to Vista etc, then shutting down logging off, only to re-boot to the same place ad infinitum. In short "recovery discs" did not recover. Get error message randomly when this happens "Side Bar error The application failed to initialize properly
(0xc0000189) " Click OK to terminate, but is too fast, and terminates itself.
Machine was sent to Selectron for checkout, told "Nothing wrong with it", but the Optical Drive working at last.
Partitioned Vista, (Shrunk Partition to 45gig) installed another operating system on new partition, can boot into both systems
and recovery, working fine, but now no Optical Drive again.
Rang Lenovo again, informed them, and queried possibilty of buying a Win XP recovery disc, told drive will only work with
Vista, so waste of funds to get a Win XP recovery disc that may or may not work properly.
Am I missing an obscure driver, or will the drive only perform all it's functions running Vista
(which the recovery discs will not install properly)?. If this is the case shouldn't it (the fact that it needs Vista)
be mentioned at point of sale. Does this breach the Anti trust laws? I am afraid I am getting very fed up, would be nice not to have to carry around an external optical drive, that needs a power supply, so if anyone has any ideas I would be extremely appreciative, would even consider naming y first born after them. Will post my problem on the Ubuntu lists again, hoping for resolution. Seems that it's a retty basic expectation that CD drives just work. This should be a machine that can have software installed on it. Have 2 towers (1 dual boot) that have had a few optical drives changed with never any problems.
Thanks in advance. Any ideas very much appreciated.
Winton

What a terrible service from Lenovo. Well after many phone calls to what turned out to be a call centre in Romania. and after being promised a replacement drive day after day one finally turned up. Even after fully explaining what I needed I was sent the wrong drive they sent me a DVD Rom and not the DVD Rewriter that was in my original laptop. The same Romanians have promised me the correct one on Monday. I will wait and see. I have little faith in Lenovo and their whole very poor support network. Quite frankly the drive should never have broken in only 3 weeks and after only approx 8 uses.
I wonder what will turn up
Dennis
Message Edited by DennisN on 10-09-2008 02:28 PM

(2011 13" Macbook Pro Model 8,1) I want to replace my 320GB HDD and replace it with a 6gb/s 120GB SSD. I also want to replace the optical drive with a 7200RPM HDD 750GB.

I want to use:
The SSD and enclosure to replace the optical drive with the new HDD
So basically, I want to use the SSD in the link above. I want to set this up as either preferrably a fusion drive. If not the smoothest most stable configuration. I have a Macbook Pro Early 2011 13" with 8 GB of ram, 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5, 320GB HDD.
I want to install the SSD directly to the SATA port where the 320 GB HDD is currently. I then want to install the new HDD, preferrably a name brand 750 GB 7200RPM hard drive where the optical drive is now. I want the storage to work in a way in which the OS, and my most used programs and files get stored on the SSD, and everything else gets stored on the larger hard drive. My most preferred method would be Fusion drive, or a SPAN drive.
I would like to use a Seagate Momentus XT, but I learned that there might be issues with compatability with this. I dont mind using the 3 gb/s 500GB option, but would like to know if it would even be smart to do it. I also have no problem settling for a regular 7200 RPM hard drive.
I have read a bunch of stuff online but I still am not sure if this is even possible. I want my machine to run as fluid as possible so any info would be appreciated.

bump

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

Late 2005 2.3. Replacement optical drive?

My G5 is coming up on 3 years old and I have started to look at new hard drives and optical drives just in case either of mine start going bad.
Anyway, I was at the Apple store today, and one of the genies told me my only option for a replacement optical drive was an external through Apple?
From searching online, all the direct replacement internal optical drives are no longer manufactured. What are you guys replacing your optical drives with as far as internal ones?
The genie told me the drive has to be matched with the motherboard?
Thanks for any advice.

Hi-
What a bunch if mis-information.....
Popular drives such as these drives will work fine in the G5. The DVR-115 from Pioneer is readily supported in OS X, and the soon to appear on the North American market, Pioneer DVR-116 would also be a good choice.
Further confirmation of what others are using can be found by using the Xlr8yourMac Drive Data base. Enter "optical drive" and "G5" in the fields and search.
Same with hard drives, Hitachi and Western Digital provide excellent drives, with excellent compatibility in the G5.

Do third party external optical drives work with retina powerbook?

do third party external optical drives work (read and write) with the retina powerbook?

Sure - any number of them. For best results, however, I'd shop OWC or MacMall to ensure Mac compatibility.
Clinton

Optical drive compatibility

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