Swapping combo drive for a superdrive

Hi: I am considering purchasing a 1.5 ghz macmini (off of ebay with remaining apple warranty) that contains a combo drive. If I do, is it possible to replace the combo drive with a superdrive, or am I left with only the possibility of an external dvd burner? Thanks in advance.

I've done it to four Mini's so far. This Pioneer DVR-K05 works great and is dual layer.
http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=1585
There are many guides on the Internet and I'm assuming you are comfortable working on a computer.

Similar Messages

Change combo drive for superdrive

How can you change a combo drive for a superdrive and where can I buy a superdrive? Can it be done without technical know-how or special tools?

Welcome to the discussions, Binkie.
Changing the optical drive in a 12" PowerBook is quite a challenging procedure.
It basically involves completely dismantling the PowerBook, taking out the keyboard, hard dive, modem, heat sink, fan, DC-to-DC Board, and logic board (as well as the case and numerous cables, supports and screws) in order to reach the combo drive. Then it all has to be put back together again, in the correct order.
Here's a guide to the process: http://www.pbfixit.com/Guide/53.18.1.html
I'm just posting it to show how difficult it is, not to encourage you to do it. It will void your warranty, and with such a complex procedure, it's very, very easy for something to go wrong. I wouldn't even consider doing it unless I was very confident with successfully tinkering inside expensive electronic equipment.
The drive itself can be bought here: http://www.pbfixit.com/cart/catalog/product919_G4_Aluminum_12_4xSuperDrive.html for $299.95.
Personally, I'd say you'd probably be much better off buying an external FireWire DVD writer. Not only will you save yourself the significant trouble of the internal procedure, you'll also be able to get a faster drive with better features (dual layer, -/+ support, etc) at a cheaper price.
If you do use a FireWire drive, you'll need to use the freeware Patch Burn software to use it with Apple's applications (the Finder, iTunes, iDVD etc.). Toast will automatically recognise an external FW drive without trouble.
Check out Accelerate Your Mac's excellent Drive Compatibility Database if you want to see other user's experience with specific brands and models of DVD writers.

Can I swap out my Combo drive for a Super drive?

Hey guys,
I have 1GHz G4 iMac Dual USB & was wondering if I could replace the Combo Drive with a "Super" Drive.
Any ideas?

Ben,
You can do it, but do you really want to? I think an external is a better option. Having two DVD drives is a huge advantage. It makes copying DVDs a snap.
Here's the link to how to change the drive. It will give you a look at what your in for if you attempt it.
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/iMacg4/imacg4takeapart.html

EMac Combo drive for a DVD burner ( superdrive)

Hi . I have purchased a used eMac 1 ghz . it has a stock combo drive . i burn a lot of DVDs .I have a external plextor DVD burner ( super drive ) and i was woundering if it would fit in the eMac ? do i need to remove the little bezel at the end of the tray ? I have always owned a older Slower G3 type mac , this will be my fastest mac i would ever have . So i want to be happy with it .
Thank you kindly

I guess burning to external is not so bad . i have been haveing problems when OSX tryed to verifi the burn and it fails so i though putting it into the computer would resolve that . I will keep the burner in the external case if it means i have to take the top off the optical drive itself .
eMac G4 1 ghz 1GB Ram 40 GB HD || iMac DV G3 400mhz 512MB Ram 12 GB HD Graphite Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Swapping OPtical Drive for SSD

I am going to swap my optical drive for an SSD to make everything far more faster. My computer is out of warranty so it won't be affected. I was just wondering what will happen to my existing hard drive when I clone the old hard drive and copy it on to the SSD? Obviously I will make it so my computer boots my SSD, does my old hard drive act in the same way an external hard drive does? Will I be able to save things on there just as easily as before?
Thanks

Go talk to Bmer over here
http://macosg.com/
What he did was move the hard drive to the optical bay and then replaced the boot drive with a SSD with a kit, he can walk you though it all as he's good with SSD's and all it's headaches. The kit also makes the Superdrive a external optical drive.
SSD's make good boot and program drives, but not a good file drive, use the hard drive for that instead.
One of the drawbacks is you can't boot from the OS X install disks or Windows disk or even perhaps not even Linux disks on a external optical drive.
So you'll have to learn all about Carbon Copy Cloner and option bootable clones too.
Download the free MacTracker and find out your SATA, as that can limit your SSD speed and could save you money as you buy the slower older SATA SSD's to match your hardware instead of the higher more expensive ones you can't use anyway.
Good Luck.

Mac Book 1.83ghz w/combo drive-using external Superdrive??

OK, I hope this isn't a dumb question. I am going to buy a Mac Book tonight. I was going to buy the 2.0ghz because it had a Superdrive, but then I realized I have an almost new DVR-110 at home, so I could just get the 1.83ghz with the Combo drive. It is my understanding that with iLife 06, I will be able to use an external dvd burner. Here's my question if anyone knows.
Because this Mac Book will be sold as the combo drive model, will it have iDVD installed? It seems I remember that iDVD cannot install if there is not an internal dvd burner.
If this is the case, does anyone know how I would install it? I would assume that the iLife discs will come with the purchase.

Thanks Rob,
I know the DVR-110 works, I have it installed on an older G4 that is close to dead (power up issues).
My plan is to pull that DVR-110 out of there, put it in an external enclosure and use as external burner for the Mac Book. I think that'll work now that you've enlightened me on the iLife 06 pre-installed status of the Mac Books. Thanks for that:)
Can't wait to get to the Apple store!

Can I replace my combo drive with a superdrive??

hello all,
Can I replace my combo drive with a super drive? I see on some of the tech do it yourself pages the G5 17" original imac is supported for changing it out by your self. but how do I go about buying the superdrive...and from whome??
thanks,
marc

As to the DIY installation...I purchased an OWC Mercury 8x dual to replace my combodrive, but the installation directions that everyone refers to on the apple support site says nothing about removing the mounting cage to use in the replacement installation. Am I missing something here? Sure, I can remove the three mounting screws that holds the cage to the drive, but then I'm left with the welded bracket that does not seem to want to move. OWC support was no help at all. Is there a trick to this?

Swapping optical drive for SSD - How to set it up?

I'm going to purchase a Crucial M4 128GB SSD for my Late 2011 13" i7 Macbook Pro. I don't use my optical drive at all, so I figure I may as well swap that out for my current 750GB HDD, and put the SSD in the main harddrive bay. I know full well how to physically install the respective drives, but my confusion comes when cloning the current HD onto the SSD, then moving all your media files (music, movies, documents etc) over to the HD, while keeping your system files and applications on the SSD.
So what I really need, is a PROPER in depth guide from the start of the setup process (First boot after installation of physical drives) detailing how to copy my system files and applications over to the SSD so I can boot from it, while keeping my data & media files on the HD and being able to access them all as I normally would through finder.
Any and all responses are appreciated - I need all the advice i can get!

If you use a cloning software program it will move, actually copy, everything from your original drive to the SSD.
No need to anything after that to get the SSD to boot and have all your programs and data.

Need CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive for Tecra 8200

I have just bought an old Tecra 8200 with a CD-Rom drive in its SelectBay.
I would like to change to a CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive.
Could anyone let me know the correct model number for this combo drive please?
Best wishes
Michael

How about this:
*PA3073E-1CD2*
4x CD-R, 4x CD-RW, 24x CD-ROM, 6x DVD-ROM
and it supports this medias:
CD-R (read/write), CD-RW (read,re-write), CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, DVD-R (read only), DVD-RW (read only)
Greetings

Is Sony CRX170E the original "Combo Drive" for MDD?

Hello all,
Last week I bought on eBay a used Power Mac G4 "Mirrored Drive Doors" 867 DP model, which arrived today. Unfortunately, the optical drive in the computer is apparently unable to recognize or read DVD discs, even though the specifications for this model indicate that the included optical drive is supposed to be a "Combo Drive" that reads DVDs as well as reading and writing CDs. I'm trying to determine whether the optical drive in this particular computer is original equipment, whether it is supposed to be able to read DVDs, whether it is malfunctioning, and whether I have reason to complain to the seller of the item.
The drive recognizes and reads a previously-burned CD-R just fine, but refuses to recognize either of two original Apple DVD-ROM discs that I've tested it with. System Profiler indicates that the drive is a Sony model CRX170E. Searching the Web, I've found that this model is indeed an OEM drive manufactured for Apple by Sony, but I haven't been able to determine conclusively the answers to the following questions:
(1) Is the Sony CRX170E the drive that was originally installed in this Mac model? (If not, then I'll need to ask the seller to explain how it got in there.)
(2) Is the Sony CRX170E in fact a Combo Drive, which should be able to read DVDs, or is it just a CD-only drive? (If it's a Combo Drive, then I'll have to troubleshoot its failure to recognize DVDs.)
Any help you could provide in answering these questions would be much appreciated.
For the record, here's a link to the eBay auction for this computer (including the item description, which clearly states that it comes with a Combo Drive, and that there are no hardware problems with the computer):
- http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200229689213
And here are links to the specs for this computer model, at EveryMac and Apple, respectively:
- http://tinyurl.com/23vavt
- http://support.apple.com/kb/SP63
Thanks,
~ Justin

Here are the details for the drive as displayed in System Profiler:
*SONY CD-RW CRX170E:*
Manufacturer: SONY
Model: SONY CD-RW CRX170E
Revision: 2.2d
Drive Type: CD-RW
Disc Burning: Apple Supported/Shipped
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
As for Mac OS X version, I'm accustomed to using 10.4 on the Mac I'm replacing, but this "new" MDD came with a clean install of 10.3 on it. The problem reading DVDs first became apparent when I attempted (unsuccessfully) to read or boot from my 10.4 installation DVD on the "new" machine.
And yes, a replacement drive is always an option, but it would cost me about five thousand "pennies", which is an expense that shouldn't be necessary as I bought this computer with the understanding that it would be able to read DVDs as-is.

What size SSD? Swapping Optical Drive for gen. storage.

I'm planning on buying a smaller SSD and was looking for suggestions on the best size to buy. I have a 13" Late 2011 Macbook Pro, i5. 8gb RAM. 500gb HDD.
What I'm doing is replacing my 500gb HDD and moving that to my optical bay just for general storage. I'm going to set up my new SSD as the boot drive. I want to boost my performance for as little money as possible. I know that I can put 16gb RAM in and get significant improvement, but really want to get rid of the HDD as the boot drive. I'm leaning toward getting either the 44gb or 60gb Mercury Electra 6G SSD.
Any suggestions on what size would be best for what I want or any other suggestions are welcome.

I suggest that you get at least a 240 GB SSD. SATA3, of course!
Larger SSDs are generally much faster, and the price is now dropping (to the point that I have just purchased an 1Tb Crucial M500 SSD for less than 400 €). The price difference between a 64 GB SSD and a 240 GB SSD is now minimal, and you will enjoy more space!
Two years ago, as soon as I purchased my late-2011 MBP, I immediately did the same, moving the original 750Gb HD to the optical bay, and installing a 240Gb Vertex-2 SSD in the main bay as system disk.
The space was just enough, as I have Bootcamp and Windows 7, too, so I divided it half-and-half, and a 128Gb storage is just barely enough for either OSX and Wndows-7 64 bits Pro...
You could survive with a 128 GB SSD if you do not need Bootcamp. Indeed, I always recommend to install Bootcamp and Windows 7 to all Mac owners, so you get the best of the two worlds. I love OSX, but for certain tasks Windows is still vastly superior (using Autocad, for example)...
Curiously, instead, I prefer OSX for Office...

Swapping external drives for Time Machine

I read a number of earlier discussions, but didn't find one that quite directly addressed my question. Please consider the following scenario:
iMac and MacBook Time Machine backups are stored on a single network drive (attached to an Airport Extreme).
That drive is simply ejected and stored off-site.
Second drive takes the place of the first.
Can first drive simply be reconnected and used to restore the complete system without major issues?
Are there othe

Yes, it can. Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine. You will find an Item listed that addresse just this question.

Swapping hard drives for replacement Hardware

I have a C200 M2 server running ESXi that has some hardware issues. I have a new replacement C200 M2 and will need to transfer the old CPU, RAM, and harddrives to the new server.
My question is, will I be able to boot up off the old harddrives in the new server without making configuration changes? I have done this successfully with HP servers in the past so long as the generation and installed hardware components were identical.
Thanks for your help or suggestions.

Yes. Assuming all RAID HDD members are being transfered from the old server to the new one in the same order (HDD0, HDD1, HDD2 etc), the virtual drive metadata should remain intact. I assume the RAID controller is the same also, so there shouldn't be an issue.
Regards,
Robert

Replace Combo Drive with Superdrive

2 years ago I bought this Pbook G4 with Combo Drive. Then, during "our" journey, I found out that this Combo Drive was not quite satisfied me. So I have plan to upgrade/replace the Combo Drive to Superdrive.
My question: is it worth to replace my old Combo Drive with Superdrive? And do you know how much does it cost? Including labor?
Many thanks.

Ok, thank you for the infos.
It'll cost me Rp. 2,5 million plus Rp. 200 thousand (labor) for trading my old combo drive with new superdrive. It's a little bit expensive here.
I live on Jakarta, Indonesia.
Note:
Rupiah=Indonesian Currency
US$1=Rp. 9.000 (more/less)

Superdrive vs Combo Drive?

l'm starting college and need to get a laptop. I want to get a Mac. They say get one with a COMBO DRIVE but most of the ones I see for sale have a SUPER DRIVE what's the difference? If I get a Superdrive will I be OK?
I'm using my mom's computer to ask this question, but I"ll be getting a laptop for school.
Thanks!!!

In Apple parlance, a Combo drive reads and writes CDs and reads but doesn't write DVDs, while a Superdrive reads and writes CDs and DVDs. So in general terms, DVD burning capability is the difference. Apple hasn't made any Macs with Combo drives for a few years now. All recent models have Superdrives, and that's what you should get.

Swapping combo drive for a superdrive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for