Sharing optical drive?

The cd drive in my Macbook pro (2007 model) is nonfunctional. I am trying to connect via wireless internet to my new imac to share its optical drive. I selected "share dvd/cd" on the imac but it does not appear in the devices sidebar of my macbook pro. Anyone know why? I would like to upgrade from Mac OS X 10.5.8 to snow leopard. The cd works fine in the imac, but again, the macbook pro does not find the imac or "remote disc" in the finder window. Any advise would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Just go out and buy a external DVD drive that connects to the computer by USB. It does not have to be made by Apple.
This one works very well on all my computers, Mac, PC, Notebooks or desktops.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135256&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-A pprovel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-
And only $29.

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Sharing Optical Drive of A Linux Host

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Can I access the optical drive of an Ubuntu/Linux host?
Thanks....

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Is it possible to use CD sharing to access Software and music CDs on a macbook air ? If so can the

Yes, you can access a shared optical drive on another Mac from the MBair. On the Mac with the optical drive, share it in System Preferences > Sharing.
On the MBair, start a Finder window and look for the "Remote Disc" on the sidebar. Click that to attach to the shared optical drive.
Regards,
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Sharing external optical drive.

It's official. I have three iMacs, and the optical drives in each one have now failed. The optical drive of the oldest iMac (c. 2007) lasted the longest, and just bit the dust.
I have external USB optical drives on two of the three iMacs. I would like to be able to access the external optical drive of the iMac it is tethered to from the iMac that does not have an external drive (yes, I could just move the drive to the other iMac, but I want to make this work). I can access external USB hard drives from the other iMacs, I am not sure what is different about the optical drive.
Any ideas?

Optical drive sharing only works with the built-in drive.

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

Setting up new MBP with SSD and optical drive and restoring from Time Capsule

Hi Everyone-
Sorry if this has been addressed before, but I couldn't find a specific answer by searching. My last macbook was stolen, but luckily I had everything backed up in my Time Capsule. I just ordered my new Macbook Pro (13"), 16GB Ram, and a 240GB SSD. I plan to install everything next week. My plan is to keep all of my apps and working files on my SSD and use my 2nd hard drive for data storage and possibly my itunes library. My question is- when setting all of this up, what would be the best way to go about doing this.
1.) Restoring my time machine backup to the original hard drive, move it to the optical drive bay, and then copy over the files that I want on the SSD (after installing the operating system) and delete them off of the origan HD.
2.) Restore my backup to the SSD (once it's installed) and then move files over to the formated original harddrive in the optical bay. My problem is that there may not be enough room on the 240GB SSD.
3.) Is there a way to do a slective restore through TM and move where I want to keep them? I think this would be the easiest.
4.) Other way that I haven't mentioned
Thanks for any help with this question.

I used setup assistant last time when I changed from a 2009 mini to a 2010 mini. It caused some file permission errors that still persist today with iPhoto. I have 2 accounts on my mini, 1 for my wife and 1 for myself, but I store all our photos and videos on the shared folder in order to avoid duplication. But when she imports pictures from her profile and I try to view them full screen, I'm unable to. I have to relaunch iPhoto and repair file permissions if I want to view them properly. I was hoping to avoid this happening again.

How do I install software from DVD on mini with no Optical Drive

I purchased Aperture on DVD at an Apple store in 2007 when the App store did not exist. The new Mac mini does not have an optical drive. I did not migrate applications from my previous Mac mini because it doesn't seem to let you choose which applications. (I had several legacy migrations involved and didn't want that junk on my new mini.) The App store, of course, does not know I've already paid for Aperture and wants to charge me to download it. I discovered you cannot install from another computer's DVD just by mounting that DVD on the target computer. It will tell you it can't install over the network. It also won't let you drag the contents of the DVD onto the target computer (which worked with Office 2011). It will tell you that method of installation is not supported. All Apple could suggest was to buy an optical drive which would have been almost anoher $100. Apple support doesn't seem to understand why Aperture is not in my iTunes purchase history (because iTunes didn't exist for Aperture then!)
I just had a wonderful discovery. I found this support article that details how you have to turn DVD sharing on under Sharing Preferences on the computer that does have the optical drive, then you can use the Remote Disc under Devices on the target computer to request use of that drive. Finally, the installer will run.
I'm putting this info here because I searched but was unable to find this subject in the Support Community. I'm sure someone has asked this question, but I couldn't form a query that would find it.
Article from Apple with instructions for Remote Disc
Now if someone could just tell me how to get the App store turned on for my copy of Aperture so I don't have this issue in the future when no Apple computer will have an optical drive!
Message was edited by: WorkerBee

Actually, when I followed that link, one of the related links in More Like This was a real find! An actual download of Aperture, albeit a trial, but that would have solved my problem too. I tested it and although it's embeded in a support article, the link to the trial version of Aperture still works.
Thanks! Great info here if you can find it.

How do I open my optical drive without a keyboard

I'm running a Quicksilver Dual 800 G4, without monitor, keyboard, or mouse. I can access it using my MacBook Pro, and view it using Screen Sharing. I want to install software from a DVD onto the dual 800, but how do I open the drive to insert the DVD?
I have another Quicksilver (Dual 867 MDD) which has two optical drives, and on the status bar amidst the airport signal indicator, bluetooth indicator, etc is an eject symbol, which allows me to choose the optical drive I want to open. I have a keyboard connected to this machine, but as the facility exists in OS X to provide that functionality, how can I hack OS X to provide this option in the dual 800 with only one drive?

Thank you for replying. Malcolm (above) managed to provide the exact solution I was looking for at the same time as you were typing your reply, judging from the time.
I'm accessing the QS from my MacBook Pro (OS X 10.5), using a wired/wireless connection - the QS is wired, the MBPro wireless. At the moment they are about twelve inches apart, and I do have a keyboard to plug into the QS, but I'm hoping to set it up as a headless unit to take time lapse photos (using an iSight) and a clever script available here: http://gawker.sourceforge.net/Gawker.html
Once set up, I hope to access the QS remotely, as it will live in Birmingham, and I live in Bristol! So thinking as far ahead as possible, I wanted to set it up to be controlled as much as possible by me, even if my caretaker in Birmingham has to put a disc in the tray from time to time.
Again, many thanks!
kind regards
Andrew McDermott

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

How do I install a program on my MacBook using my desk top's optical drive

I want to install Snow Leopard on my MacBook using the optical drive of my Mac Pro. How do I set up the computers to do this?

DVD or CD sharing: Using Remote Disc
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5287 <<< click here.

Noise from Optical Drive?

Hello All,
I have a problem with noise in my optical drive. It keeps making "seeking" noises every minute that goes by. it sound like eek eek erk erk. LOL but yeah extremely annoying especially at night. BDAqua has the same drive as me, purchased from OWC:
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S222L:
Firmware Revision: SB02
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Generic Drive Support)
Profile Path: None
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RAM, -RW, -RW DL, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds
Also, Another problem, it will not sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity. I have set my power saving preferences to sleep the Mac after 15 minutes of inactivity. Both System Preferences and System profiler acknowledge this but the Mac just will not sleep.
System Power Settings:
AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 15
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 15
Dynamic Power Step: No
Reduce Processor Speed: No
Sleep On Power Button: Yes
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: Yes
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Wake On LAN: Yes
Wake On Modem Ring: Yes
Hardware Configuration:
UPS Installed: No
PS: by the way I have to manually sleep it. (pressing the power button on front of the machine, or touching the power LED on my 17 inch Studio Display with ADC.)
A little bit about my set up: I have a Power Mac G5 (specs are below), all that is connected to it is my 17 Inch LCD Apple Studio Display with ADC, I have an HP Deskjet 3520 Printer directly connected to the back of the Display via USB, and then I have a Bluetooth Aluminum Keyboard and Magic Mouse. I just got them last christmas. My Mac is connected to our Wi-Fi (NETGEAR WGR614v7) router via AirPort Extreme Card installed inside the Mac) and I have internet sharing set to share my AirPort connection via Ethernet (which is where my AirPort Extreme Base Station (802.11g) is connected) My APEBS is not using WDS, just setup like any other router, just the service is coming from the Power Mac G5 rather than a Modem. This is my make shift signal booster if you will. LOL. nothing else is connected to the Mac. no apps are open I log out (but still stay wirelessly connected to the router) and the Mac sits making noises all night long from the optical drive. Im running Mac OS X 10.5.8 If that helps. Also, if this is of any use?:
AirPort Card Information:
Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x4E)
Wireless Card Locale: USA
Wireless Card Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (4.170.25.8)
Current Wireless Network: Knice Wi-Fi
Wireless Channel: 1
Thanks In Advance.
—Matthew—

Hello peoples,
@BDAqua: Yeah, It burns fine. Fast as can be. no problems with burning, erasing, formatting, reading. On any media. Ive tried all types of blank and burned Discs this drive supports (yes I have no life LOL) and everything checks out A-OK.
A. Timleck wrote:
First of all you're NOT crazy.
Thanks! Good to know.
And it's awesome when I logged in here to write about this problem that you're note was here - I'm >not crazy either.
Awesome. I'm glad that nobody here is a pyscho.
My G5 Quad Core does this and it's annoying as... About every 20 minutes I get this "click click >clack" as the drive is checked for media. The machine is on 24-7 and doesn't have sleep enabled at >all, save put hard drives to sleep when possible.
Sounds exactly like my Machine. Go in the System Profiler and post your optical drive specs here please? Thanks in advance.
The thing is that it did this in my dual G5 that I had right before it - so I thought it was maybe >software (it JUST did it while I was typing this - it's TAUNTING me!).
Yeah same here my friend.
Like yourself it's actually in a place where, at night, though subtle, it wakes me up! I'm threatening to >go in there and pull the plug on the drive completely...
Tell me about it. My Power Mac G5 is right beside my bed. LOL Too lazy to leave my room to check my email and Facebook and stuff, LOL (even though I have my iPhone 3GS...) but I still like falling asleep with my iTunes on.
Would be interested to hear if you find a solution - this didn't happen on earlier G5s I had so what >gives....
Yeah I originally bought this drive for my modded eMac. But I didnt hear a peep, (probably due to the eMac being a tight all-in-one machine with so much other things PLUS it had the loudest fan in the world lol. It had two settings—On and Off—ridiculous) And yes I wuld love to find a fix. Not so much the sleeping as I like having my AirPort Extreme Base station online at all times anyway.
Regards.
—Matthew—

CD-DVD ( Optical Drives ) Common Problems and Solutions

CD/DVD Common Problems…
Dear friends, I have noticed that many laptop users suffering from some common problems. cd/dvd ( Optical Drive ) problems are one of them.. so here I am trying to collect and make available solutions related to cd/dvd drives . Almost all solutions are already advised in previous posts but these are all are in one post. We all are here for sharing problems and solutions. I always appreciate all corrections and additions. In first look optical drive problems seems like hardware problem. These problems have hardware/software both possibility so I request to administrator, to make available this post in both ( hardware – software ) sections. I put only solution links to save forum’s valuable space.
CD-DVD drive called an OPTICAL DRIVE.
CD-DVD discs called A MEDIA
There are 2 possibilities for optical drives problems.
Widows based problems
Hardware based problems
First here are windows based few common problems
All windows based solutions are from Microsoft Corporation.
Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs - Windows XP...
Symptom:Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or not recognized by Windows or other programs, so you cannot play or access a CD or DVD
The CD drive or the DVD drive does not work as expected on a computer that you upgraded to Windows V...
Symptom : You upgrade a computer to Windows Vista or install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or you install or uninstall applications that have a CD/DVD filter driver.
When you restart the computer, the CD drive or DVD drive no longer works as expected
Your CD or DVD drive cannot read or write media
Symptoms : Your CD or DVD Drive does not read or write and is shown as disabled
The media in your CD or DVD drive cannot be read
The media cannot be written to by your CD or DVD drive
You receive one of the following errors:
A class specific or device specific driver is missing or corrupt
A CD or DVD drive cannot be found or is not connected
The CD or DVD drive is experiencing a problem that prevents it from working properly
The CD or DVD drive is not accessible via an assigned drive letter
How to troubleshoot common problems that occur when a Windows XP-based computer cannot read a CD or ...
Symptoms:
The disc label does not appear in Windows Explorer.
The contents of the disc do not appear in Windows Explorer.
When you insert the disc in the drive or when your computer tries to read the disc,the computer stops responding.
You cannot eject the disc from the drive.
The computer takes a long time to read the disc.
CD drive or DVD drive errors may cause unexpected program crash in Windows XP
Symptom : Error
"Program_name has caused and error and must be closed. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you were in the middle of something, the information you were working on might be lost. Please tell Microsoft about this problem. We have created an error report that you can send to help us improve rogram_name. We will treat this report as confidential and anonymous. To see what data this error report contains, click here."
You cannot write to a DVD-RAM disc that is in a DVD-RAM/CD-RW combination drive
Symptom : "The disc in the drive is not a writable CD or it is full. Please insert a blank, writable CD into drive D:\, or insert a disc with enough free space to hold all the files you have selected for writing to CD. "
DVD-RW Drive Appears in My Computer as a DVD-R Drive
Symptom : "If your computer has a DVD-RW (digital video disc rewritable) optical drive, the DVD-RW icon may not appear in My Computer. Instead, your DVD-RW optical drive may appear as a DVD-R (digital video disc recordable) icon."
Windows XP does not recognize a DVD-RW disc
Symptom : When you insert a DVD-RW disc into the DVD drive of a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer, Windows XP does not recognize the disc. For example, you do not see any files on the disc.
You may also experience this problem with DVD-RW discs that have been formatted as VD-VR. Some consumer DVD recorders use the DVD-VR format.
CD-R drive or CD-RW drive is not recognized as a recordable device
Symptom : When you try to burn data to a CD-R or a CD-RW, you do not have the option to send data to the CD drive.
When you view the properties of the CD-R drive or the CD-RW drive, you notice that the Recording tab is not displayed in the CD Drive (drive_letter: ) Properties dialog box, where drive_letter is the letter of the CD-R drive or CD-RW drive.
Note To view the CD Drive (drive_letter: ) Properties dialog box, click Start, click My Computer, right-click the CD drive that you want, and then click Properties.
Additionally, you may receive the following error message:
There is no disc in the drive. Please insert a writable CD into drive.
CD-ROM Drive May Not Be Able to Read a UDF-Formatted Disc in Windows XP
Symptom : Your computer cannot read some or all files on CDs or DVDs that were recorded through the use of the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) Universal Disk Format (UDF) file system standard. Symptoms may include:
The disc is not recognized at all and shows up as empty.
Error messages such as "The file or directory is corrupt and unreadable" appear when you try to access files in Windows Explorer.
Some portions of a DVD-video may not function correctly
How to troubleshoot issues that occur when you write data to a CD-R or CD-RW optical disc in Windows...
Symptoms :issues that occur if you write data to CD-R and CD-RW optical discs and how to troubleshoot issues with CD-R and CD-RW drives.
These are most common issues related to optical drivers.
Tomorrow will try to explain hardware possibilities.
All friends suggestions and correction are highly advisable..

I upgraded to W7 and everything works fine except two things.
I followed the
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Operating-systems-and-software/Windows7-Upgrade-Guide-for-dv6000-dv9000...
process and still have the problem DVD not under device manager
DVD spins when booting but after W7 splash screen no longer functions, it did work prior to upgrade.
I have seen many listed problems but no solution. my device is a TS-L632N and based on the most recent drivers i can find still not working. I looked in the registry and it is not listed under cdrom or
{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
there are no upper or lower filters

Is it possible to install Windows 7 on Retina MacBook with a shared CD drive?

My school provides Windows 7 Ultimate upgrades to students
My friend installed Windows 7 normally even though it's technically an upgrade (burned the .img file to a DVD using Disk Utility and installed it through the Boot Camp Assistant tool in Snow Leopard)
I own a 2008 MacBook which has an optical drive
I own 1, 2 GB thumb drive and 1, 4 GB thumb drive
Is it possible to install Windows 7 through my Retina MacBook Pro through a shared CD connection with my 2008 MacBook?
I tried using the Boot Camp Assitant tool.
I burned the Windows 7 upgrade .img file to a DVD with Disk Utility just like my friend
I copied that DVD as a .cdr file to my Retina MacBook using the shared CD connection and Disk Utility, and changed the file extension to .iso
With the Boot Camp Assistant, I set-up my 4 GB thumb drive
When I get to the "Create a Partition for Windows" screen and I press install, I get the message "The installer disc could not be found".
The DVD is in my 2008 MacBook and I mounted it on the Retina MacBook. The 4 GB Windows set-up thumb drive is connected to the Retina MacBook.
I'm confused as to what I'm doing wrong.
Any help is appreciated.

You need the USB SuperDrive or an USB disk to install Windows on the computer

Want to purchase new mac mini but I do not know how I would install programs from dvd without internal optical drive

I am planning to purchase new mac mini that just came out today but I do not know how I will be able to install programs or save stuff to disk when there is now internal optical drive. I know I could purchase an external drive but is that necesary. Thanks.

If you have access to another Mac with an DVD drive you should be able to share it using Apple's drive sharing feature in the OS or at the very least if you have a firewire cable boot into firewire disk mode...

I have a iMac g4 swivel and it seems that the ethernet port and the optical drive are not working.

Is there any troubleshooting I can try, short of replacing everything?
I really love this version of the iMac and want to use it in place of my eMac for some home business inventory and printing work.
I need the ethernet to work because the printer can only connect that way. It's a great laserjet from HP (1998 version) and it works like a champ.
As for the disc drive... I would love to install office or iwork but as I said nothing seems to mount. I also can't upgrade it to Tiger. It's running Panther and I can live with that I suppose.
I have wondered if I could exchange parts from the eMac (Motherboard, Optical Drive, Hard Drive) since its bulkyness takes up so much room.
Any ideas?
Thanks
And yes I have a modern macbook pro as well.

You can use the dvd drive on your macbook via target disk mode.
"Installing OS X 10.4 'Tiger' on DVD-Challenged Macs Using FireWire Target Disk Mode"
http://lowendmac.com/misc/06/0710.html
1) Do you have a router? Do you communicate to the internet via wifi?
connect the printer to a router with an ethernet port. This will be an input eithernet port.
You may need to change ip addresses on your printer or on your network.
2) usb to ethernet dongle
Apple USB EN Adapter Network adapter - Hi-Speed USB
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial &client=firefox-a&q=usb+to+ethernet+dongle&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=1255179391 6678370799&sa=X&ei=L7xdTsDTGsXz0gHdvazcAg&ved=0CF8Q8wIwAw
verify that the dongle will work on your machine. Any drivers needed?
3) You can firewire to for TCP/IP ( ethernet) to comunicate between macs. Connect your printer to your macbook. Use firewire to communicate between macs. Enable printer sharing.

Sharing optical drive?

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