Upgrading combo-drive to superdrive

I Was wondering if anyone has any advice as to the best way of going about upgrading my combo drive to a super drive - I wouldn't be particularly confident about doing it myself unless it is really simple.
Any recommendations to brands, where to get it done etc.. would be great,

Hi Graham,
Welcome to discussions. Here is a drive that reportedly works well. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will find the PDF files for the installation instructions. After reading them, you'll find it is fairly easy.
Steve
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MG5SL8XDLK/

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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)

Combo Drive or Superdrive?

I'm going to be purchasing my Macbook around mid-March and I'd just like to know if I should purchase the $1099 model or the $1299 model..
The reason I have a dilemma between the 2 is because of the optical drive. I'm not worried about the HDD capacity or processor, because the processor is good enough for me and the HDD is easily replaceable.
So I'm wondering, which is better, the combo drive or superdrive? I just don't feel I'll need to burn DVDs on my Macbook, and I've heard that the combo drive reads CDs and DVDs as well as burns CDs faster than the superdrive.
Which should I go with?

I have seen quite a few posts just like yours. They end up buying the cheaper Combo drive. In 3 to 6 months they are back on the boards asking how to upgrade the combo drive to a superdrive because they find out they do need to, or desire to burn a DVD. Their choice is send it to a third party company pr Apple and pay a lot of money fro the work. Try to do it themselves possibly voiding the warranty. Or they opt to buy an external DVD burner. None of these are optimum.
One other thing to consider. If you decide to do a back up of your iTunes to disks it takes a lot of CD's for a large library where it takes much less dvds to do the same back up.

G4 PowerBook combo drive or superdrive

I have a 12" G4 PowerBook (6,4) which was available with either a combo drive or superdrive. System profiler doesn't say either/or but it says it burns DVD's. Looks to me like I have a superdrive because looking at the spec it looks like the combo drive doesn't burn DVD's. Am I right?

If it says it can write DVD's, then it's a Superdrive.

Upgrading iBook combo drive to Superdrive?

Suppose I have a DVD pulled from a dead Titanium Powerbook 15" G4/867 (it had a really bad accident) and I want to replace a 12" iBook G4/800 CD-RW combo drive with the DVD SuperDrive.
(a) Will the salvaged SuperDrive fit inside the iBook?
(b) Are the power and data cables and connectors and connector locations identical?
(c) Will I have to reinstall the operating system?
(d) If the answer to (c) is "yes" do I just rerun the 10.4.4 update or do I have to do an "archive and install" or .... ???
Thanx!

I dont think you should mess with that. But if you want open your ibook and look if the cables and size are the same. If they are.... get a second opinion and try it. Also if you put a new cd drive your OS will not get lost

Upgrading combo drive to Super drive?

I have just bought a new iBook G4 12", which has the combo drive fitted in it.
I want to upgrade to a Superdrive as I really want to be able to burn DVDs with my iBook. Is this possible, and if so does anyone know how much this costs? (I live in the UK- in case that makes any difference).
Many Thanks.

Celia, there are several options available to you and there are also several different vendors that will sell and or install these new drives in your iBook. Below is only one.
http://www.mcetech.com/products.html
Scroll down until you find your iBook, Good Luck.
Don

Combo drive and Superdrive

Last summer I bought a Macbook for $1099 that came with a combo drive. I know that it doesn't burn dvds but the superdrive will. I don't know if there is a possible way to upgrade to the superdrive now, or what the best thing to do would be as far as getting a dvd burner. Is it best to get an external and if so, any suggestions on which kind?
Thanks,
Kyle

That's exactly what I'd do.... get an external. Preferably a FireWire (although not exactly necessarily a requirement). LaCie is pretty popular and they offer both a desktop and mobile solution.

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.

Is the combo drive noisy?

Any MacBook users with the combo drive (not Superdrive) find it's noisy and/or vibrates when inserting and playing CDs/DVDs?
Is this normal? Anybody had their's fixed for this?

Mine is noisy when I insert and take out CDs. It sounds like a bug is being slaughtered in there. The guy at Apple said it's normal to make sounds when inserting and taking out discs.

Combo Drive Replacement?

Hello Everyone,
Since I have my MacBook's Birthday tomorrow, I was thinking of getting a desktop companion to replace my Blueberry 350 Mhz iMac, which sadly passed away 2 days ago.
I am about to purchase a Blue Dalmatian iMac from eBay. I know it has a CD-RW Drive in it, but I would like to replace it with a Combo Drive if I can find one. I know that there never was a "Combo" CRT iMac, but could someone direct me to a place where I can get a compatiable Combo Drive for very cheap ($25-$30)?
Thank you!
-Brian

I haven't come across a Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive for the slot-loading iMacs, but MCE Technologies had an internal DVD±RW SuperDrive for $149. That price and the resulting decline in demand for it probably explain why it has been "Out of Stock" for months now. I can only assume that it's discontinued. You'd be much better off connecting a FireWire drive, because it's unlikely that you'll find a compatible, internal Combo drive or SuperDrive for $25-$30.

Simple to upgrade from Combo Drive to Super Drive?

Hi,
Apologies if this is a really basic question. I purchased a MacBook with a Combo Drive. I thought I had purchased a super drive. Is this a simple upgrade and can I do such an upgrade myself? I need the DVD-burning capacity.
Thanks for your help.
Jenny

I really think you're asking for trouble here. For starters, that is definitely not a user serviceable part. Memory? Yes. Hard Drive? Yes (finally). The optical drive, though, would require an authorized Apple dealer to perform the work. Otherwise, you'll void your warranty.
I don't know, though, if Apple will let you add a SuperDrive to that one. Honestly, I think it'll be easier if you just purchase an external DVD burner (check www.macsales.com for some cool options).

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!

Has anyone upgraded to iDVD 5 with Combo Drive & external disc burner

I have an iMac G5 with a combo drive. I have purchased a Lacie d2 drive to burn slide shows from iDVD. The Mac recognizes the Lacie on the firewire input but says under system utilities "Disc burning: not supported". I would upgrade to iDVD 5 if this will support an external disc burner. Any suggestions.

Apple pays for permission to burn DVD's (something about MPEG2). However, they don't pay for each copy of iDVD sold. They pay for each DVD burner sold. Thus, they don't allow burning to external DVD burners...officially. Under the File menu, choose "Save As Disk Image". Once you have the disk image, you can use the resulting Video TS and Audio TS to burn a DVD using Toast. A version of Toast or some other burning software should be included with your external burner. I hope this helps.
iMac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Upgraded Hard Drive, now Combo drive wont recognize. HELP!!!!

I upgraded my hard drive, installed the os-X (10.3.9 i think) and the cd combo worked fine, removed the combo to do somthing for the laptop (installed it in the iBook), and now when I put another combo drive (same model different drive) into the mini, the mini doesn't even recognize that there is a drive at all,
it will take a disk, but wont eject or mount.
what should I do?
should I put the original drive into the mini?
Also, i cant re-install OS-x because the optical drive wont mount in the mini, and the ibook says that It cannont use the software with the version that is installed on it (10.4.somthing)

There isn't a BIOS in G4 Mac systems - in essence, rather than having a pre-determined configuration, the system checks for existent components at startup such that if the drive in the system was recognised and had a viable driver, it would be functional.
First thing to do is check whether the system sees the drive at all. Go to the Apple menu and select 'About this Mac'. Then click the 'More info' button when the dialog box gives the MacOS version, processor and memory.
The click the 'ATA' tab on the left. You should see two entries - the first being the internal hard drive which will be shown in the lower portion of the right-hand pane by model and capacity. If the combo drive is not showing there with any entry (ie, there is only one ATA device, the internal HD) then more than likely the drive is not connected correctly as Boece has suggested. If it IS listed there and correct by model number, then it may be that the drive itself is faulty or the system's power management unit isn't controlling it correctly.
If the later is the case, a PMU reset may help. Try the following:
- Unplug all cables from the computer, including the power cord.
- Wait 10 seconds.
- Plug in the power cord while simultaneously pressing and holding the power button on the back of the computer.
- Let go of the power button.
- Press the power button once more to start up your Mac mini.

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?

Upgrading combo-drive to superdrive

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