Suitable external superdrive for iMac

what external superdrive brands have been proven as suitable for the new iMacs (27":3.2Mhz),

Apple's USB drive is bus powered so the USB and/or iMac performance could take a hit when using the drive.
Other external drive makers use a dedicated power supply.
Here's one Mac supplier that have external optical drives that work with Macs
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/

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I can't burn a dvd using any method, Idvd tells me that my super drive is missing, dvd studio pro quits when i click burn and disk utility keeps spitting the disk out when i click burn and enter the disk??? how do i repair my superdrive for imac

I can't burn a dvd using any method, idvd tells me that my super drive is missing, dvd studio pro quits when i click burn and disk utility keeps spitting the disk out when I click burn and enter the disk??? how do i repair my superdrive for imac, or how do I do whatever I need to do to get it working: I have already tried using a lens cleaning cd and also restored my nvram or something i forget what it was called but i restarted my computer holding down command+optoion+p+r and still nothing???
Free solutions are the best, although if I have to pay I will, I would prefer to not have to buy an external burner if possible and already know that is an option so please don't give me that answer... thank you for any help you can give

Unless your iMac is still covered by AppleCare, get an external DVD burner.
You can get perfectly good ones from Amazon for less than $40.

Using Superdrive as an external burner for iMac

I have an iMac flat screen (OS 10.4.6) Combo drive and an iMac (OS 10.2.8)with a SuperDrive. Can I use the older machine with the superdrive as an external drive for the newer machine?
iMac Flat Screen Mac OS X (10.4.6)

On your iMac flat screen you could use iDVD to make a disc image. Copy the disc image to your older iMac and use Disk Utility on that iMac to burn the DVD.

External Superdrive for Mac mini?

Recently I got a disc stuck in the drive of my mini and for the life of me I can't get it out so...I was wondering if they make an external Superdrive that will work with the mini. I had a look at the website and found one that says its for the macbook air, would that one work?Thanks in advance.

Speaking for myself, I typically offer links to that vendor because they have Mac, and system specific, solutions which helps with a level of confidence that the problem is more likely than not to be solved. My personal experience with them as a vendor has born that out.
That said, there are other competent vendors out there too who also offer good service and stand by their products, so it's up to you who you use. The only thing that encourages me to OWC is that if you buy something they are offering as a viable upgrade or add-on to your mini and it proves otherwise, they'll resolve the problem.

External Drives for iMac

I've an older Mac Pro with 4, 3TB internal disks. I am buying an iMac. Is there a way I can use the internal disks off the Mac Pro with the newest iMac? Are there such things as external drive enclosures for multiple discs? Recommendations, considerations?
Thank you.

Just keep in mind that SATA1 = ~1.5Gbps and SATA2 = ~3.0 Gbps. Both Thunderbolt and USB3 are way faster than this, so the drive's own bus speed (SATA1 or SATA2) is a limiting factor. imho it would be a waste of your hard earned $$ to buy Thunderbolt or USB3 enclosures for these drives.
Further, hard drive data transfer rates generally top out in the range of 1.0 - 1.4 Gbps (120-190 MB/s) when you factor in the internal buffer-to-platter transfer rate. The drive inside is much slower than the external bus interface. Marketers love to tout the speed of the external bus for obvious reasons, and most people don't know the difference.
Even a so-called eSATA/SATA3 (6Gbps), USB3 (5Gbps) or Thunderbolt (10Gbps) drive is not going to be anywhere as fast as the advertised interface would lead you to believe. Even the Lacie 4TB 2Big Disk (native Thunderbolt, 7200 rpm, RAID0 striped) only has a 327 MB/s (2.6 Gbps) effective data transfer rate.

Please recommend external Optical/Superdrive for iMac G4?

Greetings. I am trying to get my iMac G4 in working condition for my kids. We replaced it with a 24" G5 as the optical drive no longer works in the G4. I've tried everything - it is dead. I don't want to put the money into having someone install a replacement. Where would I get an external drive, what "features" would I look for, what brand is reliable and is this a logical solution? Thanks in advance....Karen

I would check with Lacie before purchase. They may well change chipsets from time to time which is why I was deliberately vague.
You certainly can use Firewire Target Disk Mode with the +Intel iMac+
Conduct full backup of the iMac G4
Shut down both Macs
Connect the two Macs using a 6pin-to-6pin Firewire cable.
Boot the +Intel iMac+ and hold down the T key.
Insert the Leopard install disc - this must be a retail disk, not the one that came with the +Intel iMac+
Boot the iMac G4 and hold down the Option (alt) key.
Select the Leopard install disc.
Continue as normal.
When you are finished shutdown the iMac G4 and then use the power button to switch off the +Intel iMac+ then disconnect the cable.
regards
mrtotes

Trying to format an external drive for imac

Hi I am new to this and have just bought an external drive to back up my imac, 9,1 via time machine. I have followed the instructions in disk utility to erase and reformat, but it is coming back with an error message " could not unmount disk" - can anyone help me get round this please?

An iMac running OS 9.1.x? If so, post to http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=99. If not, since you're mentioning Time Machine, correct your profile information. From Finder->Help->Mac Help: *erase a disk*, returns:
*+To erase a disk:+*
+Open Disk Utility, in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.+
+Open Disk Utility+
+Select the disk in the list at left, and then click Erase.+
+For more information about erasing, click the Help button (looks like a question mark).+

Two External Displays for iMac

Is it possible to run two external displays off of an iMac? I have a small display running and just was giving an old second display so I was wondering if I could run both at the same time?

It's a real low-down shame that the HD5750-equipped 27-inch iMac cannot support triple displays.
All of the HD5750 video cards available for Windows PCs support triple displays (two DVI and one DisplayPort) with the Eyefinity technology that was built into the HD5750's GPU.
Having one iMac 27-inch flanked by two additional 2560x1440 monitors would be so SWEET.

Make use of Seagate 120gb SATA as external drive for imac

I have a nice seagate barracuda 120gb drive in my PC, which I virtually don't use. I was wondering whether there is a way I could use the drice as external firewire drive for my iMac g4 1ghz. Can you actually leave it in the PC and connect to it via a Firewire card in the PC or do you need to take it out, put it into a case with Firewire adapter and use it that way? If so, can you recommend a decent case at good price?
Thanks,
Matthias
imac g4 1ghz Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hello and Welcome to Apple Discussions. I believe your choices are:
Network the two machines such that you can share the storage space.
iFelix's Tech Pages provides details of the set-ups required, you can network over Ethernet, Firewire or Wirelessely.
Or get a SATA to FW/USB2 enclosure. It should be firewire as you need FW to boot a PowerPC OS X Mac from an external drive.
I don't believe a PC can do Target Mode so that rules out that option.
mrtotes

Best External HD for iMac

Hello Smart People~
I still consider myself a novice MAC user, so please pardon my ignorance. My iMac is starting to move quite slowly. I have a LOT (over 5700) of photos on iPhoto and thought that transferring them to an external HD might help.
What is the best external HD to store photos from iPhoto?
Is this the right step?
Thanks and happy holidays!!

+"What external HD do you suggest? Does it matter?"+
Just get get some advice from the geeks at your local electronics store, tell them it is for a MAC. You can get either USB or Firewire. With Firewire you can make it "Bootable" so that you could boot from it if something nasty were to happen to your internal HD.
For RAM go to a site like crucial.com and you can enter your Mac model and it will tell you what RAM should be used. And if you click on the Blue Apple in the top left corner of your screen and click "About this Mac" => More Info and let us know the Machine Model someone can tell you how much RAM your Mac will handle and also use this info when selecting RAM (eg. Crucial.com)
http://www.crucial.com/mac/index.aspx

Suggestion on a good external drive for imac

I just got to the point of having no memory space. I am looking for the best approach to picking a solid, cost efficient external hard drive. Any suggestion on where to get or possible prices.
TX-Nobya

Robert and BDAqua gave some links to OtherWorldComputing (OWC) a reputable vendor of Mac-compatible accessories and upgrades. I don't represent them, just another satisfied customer over the years.
I think FW drives are in general better performance than USB drives, but there are many variables like how many other devices you have connected, etc... I think most folks would recommend FW drives over USB.
Your model info still doesn't quite narrow down the potential list enough to know if you have FW 400 or FW 800 ports, I think it depends on the display size, only the 24" had the FW800, I'm not really sure.
In your Apple Menu Bar, select the About This Mac, then in the little window that pops up, click the More info button. This will launch System Profiler. You will see a window with lots of info about your computer hardware, click on the FireWire triangle and see the info displayed about the Maximum Speed of the channel.
So for example if you have FW 400, this means the max theoretical speed is 400Mb/sec, if you have FW 800 then your max speed is 800Mb/sec. Neither of which you will probably ever attain this quoted Max speed, but why spend more on a FW800 drive if you only have FW400 ports on that iMac, unless maybe you plan to use it with a future machine.
You definitely need to free up space on your primary internal disk, free space is needed for temporary files and virtual memory as you use your computer, it can lock up if you lack sufficient free space.
http://www.otherworldcomputing.com/
FW 400 Neptune drives
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/Neptune
FW 800 drives
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/FW800
Striped RAID-0 dual drives, enclosures
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/RAID+0
Basically, if you have questions, call Other World Computing, they are also very helpful in making your selection if you aren't totally sure the best fit to your needs.

External drive for iMac 600mhz

hello,
I am planning to replace the hard drive in my iMac and would like to backup the data onto an external drive using the firewire port.
Can you tell me what kind of drive I should be looking for, and maybe an idea of what it would cost?
Also, I've never used the firewire port before, will there be anything else I need to do other than plug in the external drive.
cheers,
arlene

http://www.macsales.com/ and http://www.lacie.com make getting a Firewire 400 drive pretty painless. They include backup software with their drives that is fairly easy to use. I've used both Retrospect Express (included with Macsales drives), and Silverkeeper (included with LaCie drives, or downloadable from http://www.lacie.com ) if you have any questions once you get them. The price varies on how much data you need to backup. I do believe all their current hard drives are bigger than the one that came installed in your iMac originally. So unless you already replaced that one, an 80 GB or higher should be more than sufficient.

Using same External drive for iMac and iBook

Hello all,
I have a 15" FP iMac 10.2.8 and iBook 10.3.9 and a wireless Linksys router which is about 4-5 years old. All work on the Linksys network. Currently my LaCie external is hooked to the iMac.
I want to have my external LaCie accessible to both computers for storing Final Cut video files. Is this as simple as connecting the LaCie to the router? I can connect to the LaCie via the ibook through the wireless network now but for accessing video files I assume this is not sufficient; need a physical connection.
Thanks,
Al

You'd get problems. The ports are equal though.
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/firewire/topic2199.html
You could connect an Ethernet-based Hard Disk to the router but it's going to be pretty slow compared to the Firewire connection you're accustomed to. If I were you I'd just hot-swap the Firewire drive between the two Macs.
mrtotes

External Mic for iMac G4/800

Is it possible to attach an external mic/headset combo on an iMac G4/800 (M8535ll/A). If so where is the mic input? Thanks, Ken.

I'm looking at the tech specs page for that iMac model
http://support.apple.com/kb/SP93
and do not see an audio input mini-jack. If that model does not have one, you can add one using a USB device, such as the iMic from Griffin
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/
However, you may want to contact Griffin to see if it will work with 10.3.x (as stated in your profile) and with USB 1.1 (the older slower type on that iMac model). The product description says 10.4 or later, but that may be for the included recording application, and not for the device itself. This product has been around since Mac OS X 10.3.

External DVD for Imac

Hey quick question I say a Samsung Tru-Direct 20x External USB with lightscribe and all that for $59 at frys. Ok, that said, does the IMAC support all external DVD burners or what? and does imac support lightscribe? just curious

As long as the software in the DVD Players box supports Leopard then you should be fine. This isn't a matter of whether the Leopard supports Lightscibe it's a matter of does the manufacturer of the burner supply software that supports Leopard. I looked up this product on Samsung's web site, it appears they only support Windows on this product so I would strongly recommend against it and look for another Lightscribe drive that supports Leopard.
Lacie is the inventory of Lightscribe, I know they make at least one external drive that supports Tiger, you might want to contact them to see if it also works with Leopard, it should.

Suitable external superdrive for iMac

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