Which optical drive is quietest ?

I am thinking about about getting a Mini for use as a music server, CD player and DVD player (maybe HD eventually).
But which of the optical drives is quieter, the Combo or Superdrive ?
(I don't particularly need the DVD burning facility).

Neither is particularly quiet in the mini, as those who have had theirs spin up at the start of playback will attest! Mine doesn't do that often or for long, but when it does, it is difficult to avoid noticing!
However, I can say that I have a mini with combo drive used as an entertainment server and hooked up to my TV. One of its uses is to play DVDs, which it does perfectly well, and makes very little sound in the process. It does not, however, get used to play music CDs, since those are all in the iTunes library and played from there.
ON EDIT: I omitted to note that the mini DOES spin up when an audio CD is first mounted - after which it goes back to normal noise levels (barely any noise at all).

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Which optical drive is good for my macbook air?

which optical drive is good for my macbook air?

That's a bit like asking what type of car you should buy ...
I have used Apple's USB SuperDrive, and am happy with it.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD564/apple-usb-superdrive

How does disk utility decide which optical drive to use for burn?

This is a somewhat daft question and purely out of interest.
How does disk utility decide which optical drive bay to open for burning?
I have two drives in a MacPro and both have the same capabilities (DVD-RW). Why does it sometimes open the lower one, and sometimes the top one?

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:
The estimate is based on how long it already took to do how many blocks, and how many blocks are left to do. If you told it to overwrite 35 times, it will be a long, long time before it completes.
The estimate is made grossly large by the presence of Bad Blocks that need to be Read during the test (not the case with Erase and Write Zeroes).
Each Block is written with some redundancy bits, so that small errors can be corrected on reading. A Bad Block causes the drive to re-read. and re-read, and re-read, in hopes of getting correctable data the next time. This should NOT be an issue in writing. But if the drive stops responding (which can and does happen with a bad drive) the Erase function will just sit there, thinking it is making progress, and stretching out the time.
Thanks, Grant.
If I read your reply correctly, Erase and Zero Out free space shouldn't elongate the process, because there's no read occurring.
The drive will not be Mounted while Disk Utility works on it, so it will not be on the Desktop. But ask Apple System Profiler \[ About this Mac > More Info > Serial ATA ] if the drive is still THERE . If it cannot be seen, you have your answer -- the drive dropped out of sight while being tested -- Bad Drive.
Well, now I am confused. It's a FW800 drive. It's on the Desktop. And it appears under FireWire in System Profiler. AND Disk Utility shows a mount point. But the Unmount and Eject buttons are grayed out.
Will the drive be mounted if it fails to respond to Disk Utility? That doesn't seem to make sense.
How do I determine its status? It appears to be stuck at "1 day, 5 hours" but it'll take an hour for that to change. I think it's been that long since I first noticed the time.
Harv

Which optical drives support HiFi mp3

OK just got this mega pc up and running...
Neat stuff really, anyway, I've put an LG cdrw drive in it
and all works but the abilty to play mp3s in the hifi mode(computer off)
does any one know which cdrw drives work?
I've read somewhere (can't find it now) that msi's drives work but was hoping
someone here would know of other drives that will play mp3s.
Frank

:biggthumbsup:OK I just updated the firmware from MSI and now
the mp3's play just fine...
Live and learn

Option to choose DVD or Bluray optical drives

Does "DVD Studio 4" have any way of selecting which optical drive to use for a burn? I have a DVD burner and Bluray burner. I can't get it to always pick the DVD burner when I want it?
any help would be appreciated seeing as I paid a grand for this suite of products
thanks

Welcome to the Boards
DVD SP 4 will not make blu-ray discs (the newest Studio has some limited ability to do blu-ray, but not DVD SP 4)
What you should be able to do is go to Format in the drop down to target it
Take a look here
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11287697&#11287697
Have you tried that?

Mega PC Optical Drive Compatibility List

So you've just parted with the cash for your shiny new Mega PC barebones, now you have to choose which optical drive (CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW) you want to go inside. Of course MSI recommend you use one of their optical drives, but they would say that! You might prefer other manufacturer's units (myself am very happy with NEC drives) so the aim of this thread is to provide as comprehensive as possible a list of drives **known** to work correctly with the Mega series, as well as pointing out drives to avoid.
If you have a drive that is not listed here, but works correctly in hifi and PC mode, or works fine with a couple of quirks, then please post below, and i'll add them into this post at a later date. Please state the manufacturer (eg NEC), model code (eg ND2510A) and drive type (CD-ROM, DVD-RW etc), and i'll make sure you get credited with the comment.
Unfortunately, I have not added some drives listed in the old thread due to not enough information being given (eg Toshiba DVD-ROM doesn't really narrow a particular model down). Comments from users are credited to them.
AOPEN
DUW1608/ARR DVD rewriter – “not recognised by the hifi part” – Jadi
ASUS
DRW-1604B DVD Writer – “big thumbs up” - ZicWiz
LG
GSA 4040B – “works ok” - Rkoppen
4081B DVD-RAM – “Sometimes it doesn’t open in PC mode and you have to eject it by the windows explorer” – nschmid
LITEON
166S DVD Writer – “works well” - hellmaster
SOHW-1653S – “works flawless” – Jadi
MSI
CR52 CD-RW – “it should work, and it does perfectly” – mosher
NEC
ND1300A DVD Writer – “works with no problems” – Doctor Stu
ND2500A DVD Writer - "works fine" - Justify73
ND2510A DVD Writer – “Problems found in Hi-Fi mode. Stops playing Audio-CD after 30-45 second from beginning of track. mp3 disks randomly stopped with Nodisk message on LCD display and no way to eject/restart disk without switching to pc mode” - alk
ND3500A DVD Writer – “works fine” – Doctor Stu
PIONEER
108 DVD Writer (?) – “working fine” - domby
PLEXTOR
708A DVD Writer – “If the tray is open, and I press the button to close it, the tray closes, but then opens right back up. In order to close the tray, I have to actually push the tray in. It's more of an annoyance than a problem.” - jjarrett
SAMSUNG
SD-816E DVD-ROM – “no problems so far” - rkoppen
SH-W08A DVD – “working perfectly” – lorx
SONY
DDU-1612 DVD-ROM – “Sometimes have to press eject twice to open” – Doctor Stu
CRX225E
CRX230E
CRX320E – “occasional short sound interruptions during audio-CD playing. Not so frequent to be annoying.” – alk
Please do not start discussions in this thread, please start your own topic if you need help. Only post in this thread if you want to share your optical drive compatibility.
Thanks!!

MEGA 180:
Plextor PX-800A Internal IDE DVD-Writer doesn't work in HiFi mode, but works fine in PC mode. This drive is shorter in length then the NEC ND-3550A.
NEC ND-3550A Internal IDE Dual Layer DVD±RW Writer doesn't work in HiFi mode, but works fine in PC mode. Not much room between end of drive and power supply.
Both drives are really nosiy when playing DVD's, so much so I have to turn the volume up extra loud to drown it out, annoying.
LG GSA-4082B SUPER MULTI DVD±RW/DVD-RAM DRIVE works flawless in HiFi and PC mode.
Only down fall is its old and only 8xDVD writer.

Upgrading Optical Drive.

Hi Everyone,
I am a new mac user and bought a macbook 2 months ago. I bought the low end one thinking that if I don't like macs I wouldn't of wasted a lot of money. Well i'm shooting myself in the foot now b/c I love this computer I just would love to upgrade my optical drive to a superdrive. Any idea about going about doing this? I'm sure there are a couple. I was also wondering which optical drive does mac use there own?
thanks Mirdock

At this point, unless you really needed to be able to burn DVDs on the go, it would be a lot easier and cheaper to just get an external DVD burner.
They can be had for less than $100 and don't involve voiding your warranty.

My MacBook Air does not have an optical drive. I have a program (Megastar V) which is installed using a CD. Is there a way to use the optical drive on my PC laptop to install this program on my MacBook Air?

MacBook Air does not have an optical drive. There is a program I wish to install on my Air which is an astronomy application called Megastar V. Installation requires the use of a CD. Is there a way to use the optical drive on my PC (toshiba laptop using Windows 7) to install this program onto my Air?
With gratitude,
Otto

Thank you for explaining to me how to do this. I will try it tomorrow and let all of you know how it goes.
Otto

How do i install office for mac 2008 to my new i mac which has no optical drive. I have the Office discs and product key

how do i install office for mac 2008 to my new i mac which has no optical drive. I have the Office discs and product key

You could purchase any commonly available external USB DVD/CD writer, such as the excellent LG brand units sold on Amazon, for about $30 US. I've used an LG writer for years to save wear and tear on my older Superdrive.

Which external optical drive to buy

my optical drive went after less then two years, as well as other things. instead of putting additional $ into this machine, I would like to by an external optical drive. I have no clue which one to get. help

Hi hobie_cat
Depends on your budget and if you need a double-layer.
This one from the [SuperWharehouse|http://www.superwarehouse.com/LaCieDVD_RW_with_LightScribe_InternalDrive/300980/p/720851] would be my choice on a tight budget.
If you are looking for a more expensive double-layer both [The Apple Store|http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?spart=TF674LL %2FA] and [Amazon|http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F9W1D0/sr=1-7/qid=1193000754/ref=d pcp_ob_title0/002-0284229-7313651?ie=UTF8&qid=1193000754&sr=1-7] sell this Lacie model.
Dennis

I have several cd imports which have so much noise on them that I'm unable to listen to them. Any ideas? I've spoken with Apple care who stated optical drive was at fault; this has been replaced and I've re imported them but same outcome. Michael

Hi, I have several of my cd imports to itunes, unable to listen to for lots of background noise. Applecare told me the optical drive was at fault; a new one replaced old one (less than a year old) still same problem after re-imprting relevant cds. Also ticked error box in itunes preferences.
Would the cds in question have some sort of 'block' on import. All the releevnt cds play on my various cd gadgets.
Any assistance would be much appreciated.
Michael

Does the noise occur with all imports or just some.
Do the CDs play noise free in the optical drive or just as imported.
Have you tried unchecking error correction. I virtually never use that setting.
AAC 128 - Unless disk space is at an absolute minimum, I would import at 256 AAC and a sample rate of 44.100 kHz

I have a standard MacBook from 2007. My optical drive broke on this a while ago. I was wondering which external optical drives are compatible and work with this MacBook? Thanks.

I have a standard MacBook from 2007. The optical drive broke a while ago. I was just wondering what external optical drives, if any, are compatible and work with this model?

You can get a fairly cheap external CD/DVD burner/player at Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/External-CD-DVD-Blu-Ray-Drives/SubCategory/ID-420?Order=PR ICE

Need to replace my Optical Drive, which one should I get?

I have a Dual 2gig power G5 with 1.5gig ram. The Optical Drive is a Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-106D Revision A606. The drive is going bad and needs to be replaced. I use FCE to make my projects then use i-DVD. Once done with i-DVD I create a disc image and use disk utilities to burn using an Imation, or Sony disc media. The last couple of times I tried burning a disc I got errors. I beleive it is the drive. Can someone tell me what kind of replacement Optical Drive I should get.

I use the following Pioneer burners both internally as well as external via FW 400 enclosures and I know they work well for reading or writing to dual and single layer DVD-R using either Verbatim, Maxell, Tiayo Yuden, or RiData:
Pioneer DVR-115D, and Pioneer DVR-110U.
There are other models that work from Pioneer as well as Sony. (Pioneer Burners are normally a safe bet on most macs).
If you want something external / preconfigured then consider LaCie Burners.
All of the above recommendations work well with iDvd as well as Roxio Toast and FCS2 / DVDSP.
Good Luck.
Disclaimer: Apple does not necessarily endorse any suggestions, solutions, or third-party software products that may be mentioned in this topic. Apple encourages you to first seek a solution at Apple Support. The following links are provided as is, with no guarantee of the effectiveness or reliability of the information. Apple does not guarantee that these links will be maintained or functional at any given time. Use the information above at your own discretion.

How do I install Windows 8 on Mountain Lion (mac mini) 2010 Server using bootcamp with out Optical Drive?

I have a 2010 Mac Mini server running 10.8.4 (12E55). I just bought a brand new copy of Windows 8 from micrsoft. I have tried using boot camp and it will not recognize a burned DVD in my remote optical drive on my laptop running windows 7 or my macbook running Lion 10.7.5. I have had Microsoft on both of my computers remoted in for about 8 hours and they tried just about everything that I've tried.
Microsofts tech support has made me a bootable DVD and a bootable Flash Drive through remote desktop (awsome good job microsoft tech support). I have even tried formatting my mac mini's second 500GB hard drive to FAT32 using this whole disc as my windows partition. I know that when I go to install windows 8 it is going to reformat the drive to NTFS but all the articles that I've found, say this is what you have to do to get the drive formatted properly to get the ball rolling and get windows will fix it when it goes to install by reformatting to NTFS.
Ok so right now I have my second 500GB hdd on my mac mini formatted to FAT32 and I have tried to reboot holding my option key like I do on my mac book. If I want to boot to a different hdd on my macbook all I do is hold the OPTION key during start up and you get prompted to choose one of the bootable disc that is on your computer. Well if I put my USB drive which is bootable on my macbook into my macbook and do this right now its not showing up.
Now I just put the DVD that they made me in my macbook and it shows up as bootable disc. But the USB doesn't. (1 hour later) I just got microsft to remake the USB drive and am going to try that again so ta ta for now and I'll come back on to post to tell you if it works.

mikkel-kj wrote:
These apps paralells and fusion and virtualbox, are they in Mac App Store? And when I have the app installed what then, now it ain't only bootcamp what shall I do now to install windows 8?
Mikkel
Parallels, Fusion, and VirtualBox are available from their respective sites. Read their installation instructions which explain how to install Windows.

Optical drives reads but wont write after swap

hello everyone, I bought an iMac G3 450MHz that had had a 'superdrive' fitted. It both read and wrote CD's and DVDs. I tested it out and it worked just fine, I even made a back up copy of my Tiger DVD with it. I wanted to put the optical drive into my beloved Flower Power 600 iMac CD-RW so ,to make sure all the drive cables etc weren't disturbed, I just removed the whole caddy with the HDD plus the optical drive plus all the connecting cables, and popped it into my Flower Power. It booted up fine so I loaded (via carbon copy cloner) the contents of my original HDD. Now, when I look in system profiler, the optical drive shows up as a read/write but will only read discs. If I put in a blank disc the iMac's OS doesn't see the blank disc. Funnily enough my copy of Toast does see it and Toast launches itself. As I want to be able to burn disc images using Disk Utility this is a bit of a problem for me. I might just add, as it may be of some interest, that whoever fitted the superdrive had the HDD jumpers set to Slave but this was how it was when it worked perfectly in the 450MHz it came in so this was how I left them. The other little problem is the iMac won't sleep but I can live with that.

The reason your hard drive is set to slave is because it shares the IDE bus with the optical drive. With the stock optical drive, the optical drive is set to slave and the hard drive is set to master. However, that superdrive is probably hardwired to master, so the hard drive needs to be slave. As long as one drive is slave and the other drive is master, it should work fine.
Are you using the exact same system installation from the 450 on the 600? If not, there was probably some special driver installed to enable the all the superdrive features. Toast is a third-party app that is designed to work with many different optical drives, so such a driver would be built into the software, which would explain why it works (and Disk Utility does not).
What company sold (and installed) this superdrive?

Which optical drive is quietest ?

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