Optical drive in early 2008 black MacBook

When I tried to burn anything on DVD (DL) I'm always unable to do it. How can I find out if the optical drive is OK? Is there any software for this situation? Can you recommend me where I can buy a new one or what kind of optical drive will work with my MacBook?

Hey jurajb,
Have you ever been able to burn discs? What error are you seeing?
Look in System Profiler(Applications>Utilities) & click the *Disc Burning* tab on the left-hand side.
Look at *Write Strategies*. You should see something like this:
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw
What's listed for yours?
~Lyssa

Similar Messages

  • Replacement optical drive for early 2008 MacBook

    I own an early 2008 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 13" MacBook that appears to have developed a fault with the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E optical drive.
    Unfortunately I am unable to get the optical drive replaced by Apple, as it seems they don't keep the parts for any machine over five years old. So I plan to replace the faulty unit myself. Can anyone recommend a replacement? The UJ-857E model doesn't appear to be available anywhere other than in the United states and then only as a refurbished unit and listed as an 857C which I assume to be from an earlier model.
    I was wondering if there might be a more recent equivalent available that I might use instead. There seem to be several UJ-898 models for late 2008 MacBooks available, but I have no idea how much of a change Apple made to the internal configuration from early to late 2008.
    Does anyone have any experience of replacing or upgrading their optical drive that they would be willing to share? I plan to follow the IFixit tutorials for the procedure. I just need to know what unit to buy as a replacement.

    I would stick to what OWC (macsales) offers.
    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/superdrive/MacBook_13

  • 2nd Optical-Drive for Early 2008 Mac Pro: Suggestions Required

    I am hoping to add a second optical-drive to my Early 2008 Mac Pro.  I notice that there are various SATA ones available for Early 2009 Mac Pro's onwards (e.g. the LG GH24NS90) but according to OWC (Other World Computing) these ones are apparently unsuitable for earlier Mac Pro's.
    The current optical-drive in my Mac Pro is a Sony AD-7170A.
    Can anyone suggest a suitable optical-drive that is still available as new (preferably available in the UK).
    Thanks,
    Yan Lee

    The SATA optical drives will work fine in a 2008 Mac Pro. I just installed this model:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136259
    I already have a Blu-Ray SATA drive in my other tray, so I've done this a couple of times now.
    You have to run a SATA data cable through to one of the two ports on the motherboard - it involves removing the first two drive trays and the front fan. The cable goes up behind the top left corner of the compartment, together with the black cables feeding the optical ATA connectors. You CAN use an L-shaped (90 or 270 degree) SATA cable, but I've found that a regular straight cable works OK too - it is a tight fit behind the fan, but it should fit. The trouble with the L-shape is that it blocks the other SATA port. You can also look for low-profile SATA cables, which have slightly smaller heads.
    You'll also need a molex-to-SATA power adaptor. Don't forget to remove the front bezel from the drive - I do this by attaching everything to power, don't slide the optical enclosure back into the space yet, power up the computer, eject the drive using its eject button, and then slide the bezel up and off. You can then slide the enclosure into the space. Turn the computer off to put the fan and drives back in.
    Matt

  • Early 2008 15" Macbook Pro acting very strange

    So long story short, I bought a used early 2008 15" Macbook Pro and I keep having issues with it. I replaced the hard drive, replaced the thermal paste (after removing the old paste of course), cleaned her inside and out, updated software, firmware, & reset the pram/smc. None have totally solved the issues. I constantly have files from the hard drive disappear, then reappear whenever they want. The backlighting on the keyboard doesn't want to work if I am doing multiple things like, iTunes, TuneUp, & surfing the net, it just suddenly stops and if I try to activate by using the F6  on the keyboard I get a symbol of a circle with a line through it. The only way to get the keyboard to light up again is to reboot it. The hard drive I replaced with the old one is 500 gigs at 7200, 32mb cache. She also warms up rather quickly even though I used the artic silver thermal paste. I can never seem to get her temp below 45-55 Celsius. I even took apart the tiny internal fans and cleaned them thoroughly. I build desktop systems as well as repair laptops so I do know more than the average user but I am at a total loss here on what else could be the cause of all this strange behavior. I don't know what, if anything the previous owner did with it, which makes it even harder to figure out. Could this be a logic board or power supply issue? There are no other problems with power other then needing to replace the battery, but since it is plugged in everytime I use it, I really don't think this is the cause. Any suggestions are welcomed :-)

    check out everyting here
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3046
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3172
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

  • I have a 2008 black macbook and access UK tv through a purchased proxy site. I want to buy a sony bravia internet connected tv to watch the channels in more comfort. Sony tell me this won't work - that the tv cannot capture my macbook content. Any advice?

    I have a 2008 black MacBook and acess UK tv through a puchased proxy. I want to purchase a Sony Bravia internet connected tv and stream the site through a tv - Sony tell me this won't work - that a latest model tv cannot capture content and sites from a MacBook - is this true???? Surely there is a solution? Any help or advice welcome.

    They are correct.  The only stream you can wireless connect the TV to a Mac is through an AppleTV, and that's purchased content on iTunes, and your own homemade content that is H.264 MPEG-4 that is 1800kbps.   Conversion of commercial video to that format is illegal, and hence how can not be stated on the forum.    Alternatively, as long as the TV is HDMI, you can wired connect it to your MacBook using the same advice here:
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/16531141#16531141

  • What are my options for having my case for my Early 2008 white macbook repaired?

    I own an early 2008 white macbook and as most people know they were notorious for ending up with cracks in the plastic body. Well, mine has it's fair share of cracks and the little nob on the bottom used for securing the battery in place has also broken off. The computer still runs great and does everything I need, but the keyboard and trackpad are glitchy, the battery won't stay in place, and it just kind of looks bad with the cracks. How can I go about getting these things fixed? I read that apple was fixing the cases for free for a while if it was within 5 years of purchase but I was NEVER told about this even when I took the laptop into the apple store several times for general questions and I am now beyond 5 years since purchase. I've seen plenty of third party sites to buy new cases on, but is there any chance the apple store would be willing to replace it for me still a this point? Also, since the plastic casing is so prone to cracking is it possible to replace my keyboard with one of the keyboards from the late 2008 aluminum body to avoid future chipping or would this not fit my model?

    dts2012 wrote:
    is there any chance the apple store would be willing to replace it for me still a this point?
    Call an Apple store and ask.
    dts2012 wrote:
    is it possible to replace my keyboard with one of the keyboards from the late 2008 aluminum body to avoid future chipping or would this not fit my model?
    no.

  • Is it possible to connect my 2008 black macbook, to my new 2014 macbook pro retina display screen to make a dual monitor. If this is possible what cables would I need to buy?

    Is it possible to connect my 2008 black macbook, to my new 2014 macbook pro retina display screen to make a dual monitor. If this is possible what cables would I need to buy?

    You can try using Screen Sharing in the Sharing preferences. Or try a third-party utility such as ScreenRecycler.

  • Which optical drive is good for my macbook air?

    which optical drive is good for my macbook air?

    That's a bit like asking what type of car you should buy ...
    I have used Apple's USB SuperDrive, and am happy with it.
    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD564/apple-usb-superdrive

  • Replacing Internal optical drives on a 2008 Mac pro

    I am looking to replace my internal optical drives on a 2008 Mac pro. I am thinking of purchasing Pioneer BDC-207 - Mac Pro Kit 16X 5.25" Internal Blu-ray Player, DVD.
    Does anyone have any experience with this product or recommendations?

    <http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BD12XMP INT&Category_Code=STORBD&Product_Count=1>

  • Just updated my iPad 2 to OS7 and now I can't connect it to iTunes 10 on my MacBook OS 10.5.8 My MacBook can't be updated to Mountain Lion as it is early 2008 white MacBook

    Just updated my iPad 2 to OS7 and now I can't connect it to iTunes 10 on my MacBook OS 10.5.8
    My MacBook is too old and  can't be updated to Mountain Lion as it is early 2008 white MacBook.
    It all worked perfectly prior to updating the iPad 2 to OS7.
    There were no cautions or warnings
    Are there any work arounds?
    Can I uninstall OS7 and go back to OS6?
    Rediculous thing is I can connect to iTunes on an old PC of the same age

    mozzrich wrote:
    Thanks for your comments but this doesn't help my situation at all.
    Again Apple fails to provide backward support for its own products.
    I could go to the trouble of hacking the MacBook and running Mountain Lion and iTunes 11 that way
    I think I will just move across to a PC as a result of this Apple strategy and I think I will just give up on Apples short lived product strategy.
    A laptop that lasts five years indicates a long lived product strategy.  Where they go wrong is to prevent backwards strategy when someone genuinely cannot live with ios7 like you. even the "unsupported" downgrade has now been blocked.
    Don't go windows,  you will not get five good years from a dell or an asus. If you can't buy Mountain Lion for it,  get a new macbook, enjoy.

  • Can my Early 2008 model MacBook pro able to use two olld model of 23" apple cinema display ?

    Hellow everyone,
    Just want to know " Can my Early 2008 model MacBook pro ( not the unibody )able to use two olld model of 23" apple cinema display ?"
    Thanks so much

    Yes. You will need the proper adaptor to connect: Mini DVI to DVI.

  • Possible to put two or more 3.5 SATA drives in optical bay of early 2008 mac pro?

    Hello! A question about expansion really. Here is my iexpansion plan. Wondering if you can see any possible problems?
    drive bay 1 - SSD - raid with drive 2
    drive bay 2 - SSD - raid with drive 1
    These will make the boot drive.
    Then...
    drive bay 3 - 3.5" sata - raid with drive 4
    drive bay 4 - 3.5" sata - raid with drive 3
    Two extra internal eSATA ports being extended out with wires to an empty PCI slot, leading to two external 3.5" drives in eSATA interfaced, self-powered enclosures.
    Optical Bay - Removing the two currently installed optical drives and replacing with two 3.5" SATA drives. In order to do this I'll need to get some form of ATAPI to SATA adapter as my early 2008 macpro uses the older interface.
    So my question is:
    Can you see any reason why this would not work and if you can point me towards an adapter that might work for holding/converting the interface of those two 3.5" drives in the optical bay? Will there be enough space for the adapter? I'll probably rig my own bracket for holding the drives there but any suggestions welcome!
    Will power become an issue? I'm also running a flashed PC graphics card which uses both of the additional power  ports (rather than just one). But other than that nothing extra.
    Many thanks for your time!

    Hi Hatter,
    Thanks for your reply. I'm not so worried about the SSDs as I am about the ability to put 2x3.5" SATA drives into the optical bay and have them fit (I do not want to pay a lot of money for any fancy pieces of metal such as the one you linked) when they necessary PATA-SATA adapter and power supply adapter if attached to them. Have you ever seen someone do this and what adatper did they use? I'm looking at this sort of thing:
    http://www.cooldrives.com/satoidecofor.html
    I can not put the SSDs in the Optical bay because the slower PATA interface would cut the speed so much it would not be worth it.
    Any tips on known reports of 2x 3.5" drives fitting in there would be great, and what adapter was used.
    Thanks!

  • Bad Optical Drive Replaced with a New MacBook Black!

    Hello,
    I just wanted to write and let you all know of my 1st experience buying a Mac computer. I needed a laptop, so I
    decided on the MacBook. I saw BH Photo had some 1st generation
    Macbooks at a decent price, so I took the plunge and bought one.
    When it arrived, I tried loading Adobe's Creative Suite software,
    however the optical drive keep rejecting the media. So I made an
    appointment with an Apple Genius at our local Apple store. To my
    surprise, after the Tech confirmed the drive was not working, he
    asked me if it would be OK if he just replaced my whole machine. He
    brought out a new machine which upgraded me to the 2nd generation
    with a 2ghz duo core 2 processor, a full gig a ram, and a 6x
    superdrive. Wow!
    Well, when I arrived home, I once again went through the whole
    process of setting up the machine. This time when I placed a cd in
    the optical drive it made a horrible mechanical noise, like it was
    taking a bite out it. I couldn't believe my bad luck.
    Today, I took it back to the Apple Store, and again the Tech
    confirmed there was something wrong with the drive. I really thought
    that they would just replace the drive for me since they had already
    upgraded my machine for free. However, the Tech asked me if I would
    like the top of the line Black MacBook since I had to return a second
    time. I couldn't believe it...I really had liked the looks of the
    black MacBook, but could not justify paying nearly $200 just for the
    black color.
    Well, tonight I'm writing to you on my new MacBook Black laptop.
    I've got the entire Creative Suite loaded on it along with Lightroom,
    and I'm very happy with the performance thus far.
    Apple has the best customer service I have ever dealt with...they
    just might have won over a new customer for life!
    Judgement of a company should not be solely on the mistakes they make, no company is going to be perfect, to me is a much better scale to see what they do about their mistakes...I love my new MacBook Black!
    -Bryan
    Salt Lake City, Utah

    Awesome, another fellow BlackBook owner.
    Coincidentally, I've found Apple's customer service is generally pretty good. I had to exchange my week-old Blackbook b/c of a slight seperation of the screen bezel (next to the iSight). They were really up-front "...this shouldn't be doing this...please have a seat, we'll exchange this for you right away...do you need us to transfer your data?" Wow. Not to rant, but this is a lot different than when we were at Best Buy a year ago and my g/f bought her Vaio (she teaches at a high school that is PC-only, no Mac at all). She uses her old G3 Lombard as a spare and it still runs beautifully.
    The Vaio had a blemish on the lid (paint defect on the lid...bubbles) that we brought back the same day. No big deal, just want an exchange. The kid-manager-on-duty told us that it was "within manufacturer's specifications....restocking fee...etc." before even looking at it. We told him it wasn't a pixel, but a paint defect, and he could at least look at it before telling us to "pound sand." After a 10min demand for the store manager, they relented and exchanged the Vaio for us. Her Vaio just had an XP re-install this last weekend but is otherwise in excellent shape.
    After our expeirence w/ my Macbook exchange (..."have a seat...transfer data..etc.") she bought herself a new Mac Mini and is anxiously awaiting it to arrive.
    Happy Macs to all.
    13" Core 2 Black Macbook   Mac OS X (10.4.9)   14" Core Duo HP Notebook XP SP2

  • Unable to clone hard drive from early 2008 macbook using disk utility, error 254

    Attempting to upgrade my early 2008 Macbook hardrive, currently 160gb to a 250gb drive.  Using Mac Disk Utility to restore from drive in computer to the 250 gb drive currently attached via usb.  Receiving error, Could not validate source, error 254.  I know this process works as I recently upgraded our MacbookPro to 1 TB.  The 250gb drive I am attempting to clone to is from that computer.  I have formated the 250gb drive, mac osx extended journaled, guid.  Not sure how to proceed.  Suggestions?

    To transfer your current hard drive I like the free application Carbon Copy Cloner. It makes a bootable copy of everything on your hard drive http://www.bombich.com/index.html You'll need a cheap SATA external hard drive case. Put the new drive in the case then format and partition the new drive and clone your old drive to the new one. Check that it's set up right by booting up from the external drive. Then replace your old hard drive with the new one and put your old one in the external case.

  • Problems with Pages and Numbers using iCloud Drive on early 2008 MacPro, Yosemite

    One of my computers, an early 2008 MacPro running Yosemite, will NOT save Pages or Numbers documents to iCloud Drive from within those applications.  I see the little iCloud Drive error badge next to the file name in Finder after I try to save.  However, on the SAME computer I can save Pages and Numbers documents to a local drive (e.g., to my Desktop) and then use the Finder to drag the documents to iCloud Drive successfully.  Another computer, a MacBook Pro running Yosemite, has no problems using iCloud Drive to create, edit and then save Pages and Numbers documents stored on iCloud Drive.  I have tried "turning off" iCloud Drive for Pages and Numbers in System Preferences on the Mac Pro and then turning it back on to no effect.  I have also logged out of iCloud Drive on all of my devices (which include two iOS devices) and then logging back in to ensure that I'm using the same login id on all devices, again with no apparent change.
    Any suggestions for my next steps in attempting to solve this issue?  Is there any way to get more information about precisely what type of error is occurring?  Hovering over the badge only shows "Error".
    Thanks in advance.
    Jon

    Found a solution, but it is odd:
    On the 2008 Mac Pro, I UNCHECK the boxes beside Pages and Numbers in System Preferences > iCloud > iCloud Drive > Options. Now Pages and Numbers will properly save edited documents to the appropriate folders on iCloud Drive.
    Go figure ...
    Hope that this helps someone else.
    Jon

Maybe you are looking for