Recommend an external CD/DVD drive for a newbie?

Hi,
Just bought my very first Mac, a new iMac. Then discovered it didn't have a CD/DVD drive. Woops. Probably should have realised that earlier...
Anyway, my student budget won't really stretch to a SuperDrive right now, so I was hoping someone could recommend an external drive or even just what I should be looking for in one? I'm not a tech aficionado, and a quick look around has left me very confused at how many options are out there!
I'd mainly be using it for occasional computer games (eg. Sims 3) and watching DVDs, and maybe DVD writing as I get to grips with iMovie. Will a bog standard drive with CD and DVD in the title suffice, or do I need something more? Or are SuperDrives the only ones that really work with iMacs?
Many thanks in advance for any help you can offer me!

SuperDrive refers to an optical drive that can both read and write CDs and DVDs.
Most external optical drives are combination drives (SuperDrives), now.
Do you watch regular DVDs or BluRay?
You can now buy BluRay reading/writing optical drives, but the Mac doesn't play BluRay movies natively.
You would need to purchase and download a BluRay player app.
You need a Super Drive for what you are doing.
Apple's own drive works and isn't that expensive. There are more expensive drives. There are more cheaper drives.
Do a search for external optical drives. For your new iMac you can either search for USB 3.0, USB 2.0, Thunderbolt or FireWire external optical drives.
USB 3.0, Thunderbolt and FireWire will be faster data throughput drives.
Good Luck

Similar Messages

Need external Cd/DVD drive for my 2009 iMac. the internal one no longer reads CDs. thoughts?

I need to finish putting CDs into my iTunes library. The drive on here just spits out my CDs now.

"Apple even makes one but it's $79 which is kind of pricy."
And is the same one that used to be inside iMacs. It is cheap and not very good and prone to the same type of premature failures.

Recommend a good external DVD drive for Mac?

can anyone recommend a good external rewritable DVD drive for my EMac? i want something that will work with iDVD of course... thanks in advance.

LaCie is one. The Macally 500BC Firewire/USB 2.0 enclosure with a separate Pioneer S-Drive is another viable option.
I personally use multiple ADS Tech 1394 Pyro FW Enclosures with a Pioneer 110D S-Drive as well as a few ext. FW HD's and they all work well on mult. G4 systems (completely interchangeable via FW 400).
This link may help you to build your own S-Drive if you wish:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=4022274#4022274
Good luck
SDMacuser

Can i use ANY external CD/DVD drive with the NEW mac mini?

We just got the newest Mac Mini and want to get an external drive for importing and burning CD's and DVD's.
Can we use ANY external CD/DVD drive or do we NEED to use the "Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive."
Thanks
Eliot

Maybe.
I've had some situations where a non-Apple DVD drive would not do a particular job. When I tried the same project with the Apple SuperDrive everything worked perfectly.
This is an area where I would not try to save money.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC684ZM/A

Installation via External CD/DVD Drive

I have tried fruitlessly to install Windows XP and Windows 7 via CD and DVD on my computer via my external CD/DVD drive. It is a LG GE20 Read/Writer. I can however boot the Mac OS X 10.6 Install Disc from it.
rEFIt recognizes the disc as a valid windows disc (both of them), but when I choose it, I am left with a black screen and blinking white cursor. I tried my linux mint disk, and got the same result. (It's only working with the Mac OS X Install Disc)
My Macbook Pro 3.1 (aluminum, pre-unibody, Santa Rosa I believe) currently has a broken superdrive, so I've had to use this external. Unfortunately I need Windows installed natively (please do not tell me to use VMWare, VirtualBox or Parallels, I already have VMWare and VirtualBox).
I also tried to make a bootable USB from my 7 install disc, by formatting as FAT32 in VMWare, and using "convert" on the DOS prompt to make it NTFS. It is shown by NTFS-3g and is completely working. I copied the entire disc's files over as directed by a tutorial, but it does not boot. (It is MBR)
Any advice would be thoroughly appreciated.

OWC (macsales.com) is a good place to shop for Mac-centric accessories. They cater to Mac users. They have FireWire external optical drives.
If you decide to get one later, you may want to send an email to OWC's sales/tech support to ask if their external FireWire drives are bootable. Just because it is FireWire does not necessarily mean you can boot from a particular FireWire optical drive.

HP external USB DVD Drive not recognized by computer.

Have HP Mini-210 and HP external USB DVD Drive. When attached, the DVD drive lights and spins but computor will not recognize it. When checking Device Manager, it says no driver for DVD drive.. I try to reinstall the driver, and then it says I have the best one already. Device Manager continues to indicate that this drive has a problem. Tried to download a driver from HP support and it was not available on line.
Copied install disk that came with drive thru dropbox cloud to move it onto the computor. Was able to install the programs but still have no driver and unable to use DVD drive.

Try this wayne
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/929461/en-us

I want a 2nd DVD drive for my iMac

Hi
Have a new 24" Alloy iMac and well, having moved my main computer from a PC to a MAC is great, iLove it! Problem though is there are lots of times where I could utilize a 2nd CD/DVD drive. Apparently the external drive for the MacBook Air is exclusive to that (which doesn't make any sense to me - Apple would sell a ton of these if they made them non-specific rather than to only a small % of sales). So I've been poking around here on the forums and I've seen some referenced to MacSales.com site - but with such a beautiful machine as an iMac, I can't bring myself to getting one of these butt ugly things. Found a handsome LG CD/DVD with Lightscribe external drive, but no evidence of Mac support.
Where can I get, or how can I get an external DVD drive for my Mac? I'd rather avoid patching if possible.
Better still: Apple - update the MacAir drive to be universal for your machines please!
Thanks!

OWC (macsales.com) would be a good source, since they are very Mac-centric and should know what works well and what does not work well with Macs and Mac OS X.
They may be boxy and "ugly" but those full-sized tray-loading drives are the most reliable type. Plus with a tray-loader, you can read the strangely shaped and mini- discs that would choke a slot-loader.
If you want more style, LaCie is also Mac-oriented and they have some choices.
http://www.lacie.com/us/index.htm

DVD drives for an older powermac G4??

Is there a list somewhere of compatible DVD drives for an older Powermac G4? My brother wants to upgrade it and I have no idea what to do...help?

I'd recommend upgrading to a DVD±RW drive, rather than installing a new DVD-ROM drive or combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive. The Pioneer DVD burners are highly-recommended by Forum users, because of their native support within the Apple iApps (iTunes, iDVD, etc.) burning programs. You can get a good deal on one here, which is the same drive that's sold in Pioneer's retail packaging, carried by Best Buy, Micro Center, etc. Other branded drives may require the easy use of "PatchBurn," to create a drive support profile for them. I recently installed an 18x Memorex DVD±RW drive (manufactured by LG) in a B&W G3, and with the help of PatchBurn, it's natively recognized by OS X. Internal (ATAPI) DVD burners are available at electronics, office supply, and computer retail stores. Be aware that many major electronics manufacturers (HP, Sony, Memorex, etc.) outsource the production of their optical drives, so you're buying a rebranded drive. If you watch your local retailers' weekly sales, you can usually get a good deal on one for $40 or less. If you purchase from an online dealer, you can undoubtedly get it for less - such as the link I provided.

Portege R500: XP installation with USB external CD/DVD drive - SOLUTION

Hello all !
Just wanted to take five minutes to inform you that installing XP on a Portege R500 with USB external CD/DVD drive is possible, even if you already have erased Vista and only with a bootable CD of Win XP in hand.
First go into your BIOS and check / set first boot device is CD/DVD drive
Start your installation of win XP from the CD without the F6 thing and let it go his way
After a while, the installation stops and says "can't find the file xxxx" and you are invited to say where this file is
You "just" have to replace the drive letter "C:" that is given by default with the drive letter of your CD/DVD (and let the rest just like it is) and the installation will continue until the next "can't find..." and you will again replace the drive letter, etc..
After a complete "manually assisted automatic" installation, you are welcome in Win XP !
Next question is "Where can I find my CD/DVD drive letter ?" and the answer is "this is the next letter after your last HDD letter" (I consider you have only your Portege with nothing else plugged than your CD/DVD) so in most cases it will be "E" because C: is the first partition of your HDD and D: is the hidden / recovery partition that win creates.
But do not worry, if you type the wrong letter you will have as many tries as you wish until you find the good one and for the following "can't find..." it will remain the same.
I hope these pieces of information will help some of you who want a clean install of win XP starting from a newly formatted HDD.
With kind Regards,
Mage.

What a great information!
Thanks a lot for this posting.
I think it could be useful for others here.
Bye

Problems Installing Win7 using External, USB DVD Drive

I have a mid 2010 15" i7 MBP which I upgraded to from 4GB to 8GB RAM courtesy of OWC. I recently upgraded the 500GB 7200RPM HD with a 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 and using an OWC Data Doubler, I replaced the DVD SuperDrive with the 500GB Hard Drive.
I used an External USB DVD Drive to install OS X SL On the SSD without issues. Also, I got all my updates and software installed and working without any problems.
I've been running great for about 2 weeks now, so I decided to install Windows 7 64bit Ultimate. I ran Boot Camp Assistant and partitioned the 240GB SSD in half 120/120. Everything went fine with creating the partition. I selected to Install from the Win 7 DVD media in the USB DVD drive and rebooted. I got a grey screen. I turned the computer off and turned it back on. Holding down Option, I selected the Install DVD from the Boot Menu. I then got a screen with the Apple Logo flashing intermittently with a Circle/Cross Hatch. So I can't get the Windows Install to start to save my life. I know the External, USB DVD works since I used it to install OS X and I have no problems using it in OS X. I Know the media works because I tried a test install, without activation in a VMWare Fusion VM.
Any suggestions are appreciated?

So here is the answer. The Firmware on the MacBook Pro only supports installation of OS X from External Media and will not install operating systems from 3rd Parties. I tried to install Windows XP, Win7 Ultimate 32 & 64bit, and Ubuntu 11.04 but no success.
Supposedly, the MacBook Air does support installation of 3rd party operating systems from external media, but I have no way to confirm this.
I ended up reinstalling the internal DVD drive installing Win 7 and Ubuntu on the SSD. Using rEFI, I'm able to triple boot all 3 operating systems. Then removed the drive again and reinstalled the 2nd HD. Everything seems to be working fine.
I'm looking for someone who has experience in Mac EFI Hacking to see if there is a way to enable booting 3rd Party OSes from external media. I'm guessing someone could examine the MBA firmware and figure out how to hack that capability into the MBP.

Which external firewire hard drive for protools and imac?

hello group,
i see many posts about external firewire hard drive issues. i would like to purchase a drive of 7200rpm or faster, 200gb or larger for recording with protools into an imac intel duo 2.0. hopefully theres a brand that i can buy that will just work out of the box. i have no mac troubleshooting skills and wish to avoid any compatability complications. is there a general consensus on a no brainer drive for mac newbies? thanks for any advice.
jeff

I highly recommend that Mercury Elite Pro drives from OWC as well. They are very stable and reliable due to their use of the Oxford 911 chipset and not the more common - and more problematic - Prolific chipset. I also use SuperDuper to make fully bootable clones of my internal drive for backing up everything.
If their history for me and others continues with you, there should be absolutely no troubles for you using an OWC drive and Protools.

Is there any way to hook up the iPad 2 to an external CD/DVD drive?

I want to get my girlfriend an iPad for college, but her textbooks frequently come with CD's with supplemental learning resources. She also enjoys watching DVD's. Unfortunately, the iPad lacks a USB port, so it can't be connected to an external CD/DVD drive. Is there any workaround, such as a USB adapter that can be used with the existing iPad interface? Or is there some sort of wireless solution to be able to use an external CD/DVD drive? Knowledgeable feedback is appreciated, and please don't suggest buying a laptop, as I have already considered that. My inquiry refers strictly to my query regarding hooking up an external CD/DVD drive to the iPad 2. Thanks in advance!
Lou

louven23 wrote:
please don't suggest buying a laptop, as I have already considered that.
Ok - then since the answer to your question is NO - then you have all of ....
Knowledgeable feedback
that there is on the subject. There is no way to connect any device to the iPad except for a camera using the camera connection kit.

Problems Installing via an External Firewire DVD drive

Hi,
I'm trying to install Leopard from an external LaCie D2 (with LightScribe) DVD/DL drive via a Firewire cable.
I start the iMac (G5 20" SuperDrive is dead) via the "option" key, a screen with a choice between HD and Leopard Install DVD appears.
When I select the second option (install Leopard) I have the Apple Start Up screen (the grey screen with the dark grey Apple) but the spinning flower is missing. And the screen stays that way for minutes... Is it normal? Do I have to wait more? Is my iMac cursed?

Here's the problem:
1- the problem occurs when I boot, so the OS is "innocent"
2- when I load the start up menu (with the option key held down) I see both of the drives (HD and External Firewire DVD drive), so it can't be a "power" problem... (http://youtube.com/watch?v=MQs2n1vxpkw)
3- when I insert a DVD (movie for example), the drive reads it when connected via USB 2.0 and doesn't via Firewire, so the drive is unable to read (or reads slowly)? a Driver problem?
4- when I shutdown the iMac with the external drive connected via the USB port, the drive shuts down too, while it doesn't when it's connected via the FW one...

Cannot boot to Windows disc from external USB DVD drive.

I have a MacBook Pro 17" Early 2011 8,3. I have tried to use bootcamp to install Windows 7 from a external USB DVD drive. All I get, like many people, is a black screen with a blinking cursor, as if it never makes it to boot. I tried restarting to the OS selection for holding alt, and tried the DVD again, did not work.
I saw a few posts claiming that this didn't work on some models of Mac because of a EFI problem that would not allow booting from a external USB, which is really stupid because it would seems some models can... And MacBook airs can... Can someone please confirm this for me? Has anyone found a resolution?
If not, APPLE PLEASE FIX THIS.

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. Yes the MBP is currently running Tiger, I want to flatten this with a fresh install of Leopard. I can view the install DVD when in Tiger currently.
I haven't tried what you have suggested, but I have seen various posts suggesting this approach. I've also seen several posts explain how to create a partition on an external firewire Harddrive and this seems to have worked for various people.
This would however mean that I didn't really need the external Lacie drive at all, as I've got access to my G5s DVD drive over the network. The more I search on this, the more convinced I am the USB drive was a bad idea.
Once again thank for the response.

Can I install a retail os10.5.6 from an external usb dvd drive?

Since the internal dvd combo drive does not read double layer dvd, I tried to install the new version from an external usb dvd. The installation starts but when I have to restart the computer goes back to the first screen.

Apple does not require any particular type of dvd Just says "an external dvd"
What document are you referring to? The fact that you can read/write with a particular DVD drive does not necessarily mean you can boot from it.
If you have another Mac available, you can probably "borrow" its DVD drive for your OS installation by using FireWire Target Disk mode.

Recommend an external CD/DVD drive for a newbie?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for