Its perfect when you want to watch a dvd movie, install software, create backup discs. Need an optical drive for your mac or windows system so you can read audio cds, watch dvd movies or just read and write data disks. Nov 02, 2015 but optical disc technology has soldiered on, adding new features to hook serious video and photo fans. The mid2010 server model was initially the only mac mini to entirely remove the optical drive, replacing it with a second hard drive in its place. Use this guide to completely replace your optical drive. Its easier than ever to download music and movies from the itunes store. Apple usb superdrive for apple macbook air pro mac mini md564zma type. Flip the mac mini back over and lift the top housing off of the lower housing. Apr 14, 2011 yesterday i helped a mac mini owner who had a cd stuck in the optical drive. Super accessory for a superdrive believe it or not, some people still use dvds and cds, but the latest mac mini and mac mini server dont have a disc slot. Place any internal bluray, dvd or cd drive into an owc external enclosure to create a custom optical drive. One more representative of the best cd and dvd drives is apple usb superdrive. What are the capabilities of the optical drive provided by the mac mini g4.
Most optical discs are a standard 12cm in diameter, are round, and besides some potential manufacturing incompatibilities with. Yesterday, i came into possession of what looks to be a pristine mac mini. If you have a usb mouse connected to your computer, try to reset the optical drives eject mechanism first. It connects to your macbook pro with retina display, macbook air, imac, or mac mini with a single usb typea cable thats built into the superdrive. If youve recently upgraded to a new imac or macbook pro, youre probably going to need an optical drive if you want to continue importing your movies and music to itunes, or just access the content on your discs. Would a bad optical drive cause a mac mini not to boot. External optical drives bluray up to 16x, dvd up to 24x, dvd dl up to 16x, cd rw up to 48x readwriteburn speeds. Then, on june 15, 2010, apple dropped a builtin optical drive from all versions of the mac mini. Using old mac mini as optical disc drive apple community. Remote disc sharing may not be perfect, but sharing a disc over the network has the same limitations on windows. Compact mini pc dimensions and staggering performance, thats what you get with asus vivomini vc65r. Theres no separate power adapter, and it works whether your mac.
But as several readers have noted, there is another way to add an ssd to your mac. To use any of these key combinations, press and hold the keys immediately after pressing the power button to turn on your mac, or after your mac begins to restart. Playing a dvd on a mac that has an integrated optical drive couldnt be easier. Jan 24, 2020 best external dvd drives for laptops, pcs, and macs. Apple started abandoning rotating medias with a 2009 revision to the mac mini server, which came without an optical drive, but contained a second hard drive in its place. The front of the drive has a small openclose button that ejects and retracts the drive bay door. For a nominal fee, owcs apple certified technicians can install a supermultidrive, hard drive, andor memory upgrade into your mac mini. Not having an optical drive is a killer for me as well, i wanted the mac mini as a home theatre unit under the 50 plasma, not much point in that if my family cant just put in a dvd and watch it. If i hook my mac mini up to a tv and watch a dvd, thats less itunes revenue for apple. If your laptop does not come with a dvd drive or your pc does not have the 5. Yesterday, i came into possession of what looks to be a pristine mac mini, however it wont boot. Rw super drive for applemacbook air, pro, imac, mini 4.
Apple does offer a standalone optical disc drive, better known as the apple macbook air superdrive, which connects to a usb port and allows you to play and burn cds and dvds. Discover the best external optical drives in best sellers. I can not get the optical drive in my imac to accept a cd or dvd. Youll need to purchase an external disc drive and connect it directly to a mac or windows pc without an optical drive if you want all the features an optical drive offers. Regular mid2010 aluminum unibody mac mini models, which have optical drives, support a single 2.
Mac mini 2009 optical drive upgrade video duration. Insert a disc in the optical drive of the computer thats being shared. The last apple mac to ship with an optical cd or dvd drive was a in macbook pro, originally released in june 2012, but on sale until october 2016, when apple discontinued that model, more. Also, when a windows iso file is available and the mac has a working optical drive, but no blank dvd. A combo drive was initially offered as standard, with the superdrive being an option, but through the 2010 models, all models that have an optical drive. Mac mini model a47 optical drive replacement ifixit.
There are a plethora of dvd drives available from branded and nonbranded manufacturers but. Later apple discontinued manufacturing macbook and imac with optical drives in 2016 and mid2011 respectively. Apr 01, 2020 mac startup key combinations learn about the mac features and tools that you can access by holding down one or more keys during startup. Having this external drive you will be able to play and burn cds as well as dvds, create backup discs and install program software. If you think youll need an external drive mostly for bluray discs, most of them will also play dvds and cds but are not readablewritable.
Just as theres still a need for home printers, there are still cases where you need a good ole optical drive for your mac mini. Original apple optical drives for sale uk the bookyard. Dec 15, 2014 remote disc sharing may not be perfect, but sharing a disc over the network has the same limitations on windows. Configuretoorder options include up to 8 gbs of memory, a faster 7200 rpm hard drive and a 256gb solid state drive. A server edition of the mac mini was introduced in october 2009, which omits the optical drive in favor of a second hard drive for a total of 1 tb of storage. Apr 12, 2017 if your mac already has a builtin optical drive, or an external optical drive connected, you wont see the remote disc feature appear in the finder or other apps. Youll never have to worry about lost cables with the apple usb superdrive.
And what about ripping audio cd s to itunes and no i dont want a bloody addon super drive. It connects to your macbook pro with retina display, macbook air, imac, or mac mini with a single. Shop for external cd dvd drive for mac at best buy. Heres just a quick tutorial on how to install a second hard drive or solid state drive to your old macbook pro by replacing the optical drive with a ssdhdd in case you need any extra storage. After youve enabled dvd or cd sharing, you can use that computers optical drive at any time. Mac os x lion enables the mac mini to access the optical drives on other pcs and macs wirelessly for such tasks and it also can work with an external usb optical drive. Oct 28, 2012 apple started abandoning rotating medias with a 2009 revision to the mac mini server, which came without an optical drive, but contained a second hard drive in its place. Its portable design is great for mobile workstation. This is how media like cds, dvds, and bds are inserted into and removed from the drive.
Ive got this model mac mini and the optical drive has a disc stuck in it. So, even in 2019, there are still situations when you need an external optical drive. Purchase a range of apple optical drives and fix your computer today. Im new to the apple fold, i have had many ipods, but never a mac computer im a pc guy at heart. Macbook pro with retina display macbook air imac late 2012 and later mac mini late 2009 and later mac. When apple first started removing optical drives from its machines, it created an external drive. Dec 11, 2019 it should just work, i have been doing exactly that for many years and external dvds have always worked on my macs. It connects to your macbook pro with retina display, macbook air, imac or mac mini with a single usb typea cable thats built into the superdrive. Whether youre using it at home or at the office, vivomini vc65r towers over the competition thanks to a versatile modular design that gives you a selection of storage and optical drive configurations for improved data performance. With the right tools you can install your mac minis memory module, hard drive, or optical drive right in the comfort of your own home.
Mac mini model a1283 optical drive replacement ifixit. Jul 20, 2011 designed without an optical disc drive, mac mini can access the optical drives on other pcs and macs, and works with the macbook air superdrive. What are the capabilities of the optical drive provided by. Also included is the shipping safe box, shipping to other world computing, and return delivery of the upgraded mini to you. If youre using a compatible disc and you dont see it from remote disc, make sure the sharing computer is turned on, is connected to the same network as your mac, and has a. Mac mini model a47 optical drive replacement ifixit repair. Does anyone know if there is an emergency release mechanism anywhere. The mini simply didnt recognize the cd and therefore didnt offer any way to eject it. Most optical discs are a standard 12cm in diameter, are round, and besides some potential manufacturing incompatibilities. How to use mini or other nonstandard optical discs on your mac. Theres something wrong if a new mac mini comes out and i think that my early 2009 model is still the better value. If you have a cd or any other object jammed in your optical drive, we have an. If your mac has a cddvd drive built in, theres a very.
How to get my mac to recognize an external dvd drive quora. Apr 04, 2017 need an optical drive for your mac or windows system so you can read audio cds, watch dvd movies or just read and write data disks. On the mac that doesnt have an optical drive, open a finder window. For this purpose, you need to rely on external cd dvd drives. Apple killed the disc drive, but its for your own good. Then, on june 15, 2010, apple dropped a builtin optical drive from all versions of the mac mini to introduce other perks in place of it, like a thunderbolt port. In this case, i decided to put the drive through the paces of burning a dvdr yeah, i know, i couldve used a usb stick, but there are advantages to keeping an optical disc on your shelf for emergency recovery. An update for all those who want to use an old mac mini s optical disc drive in a new mac mini, which has no disc drive.
Because these days, you dont need one, apple says on its website. Theres no separate power adapter, and it works whether your mac is plugged in or running on battery power. First plug in the external drive to a usb port that you know works with other devices now insert a dvd. External dvd drive is a great solution if you own a netbook or your pc has a broken builtin dvd drive. Jul 20, 2011 if i buy music in itunes, they can get some money. How to replace internal optical drive with 2nd hard drive. Replacement parts for your mac mini intel model to fix your broken computer. The mac mini server released in 2009 also eschewed an optical drive, but servers dont generally include them. Use this lg gh24nsb0 dvdrwcdrw drive to back up your important data on single and doublelayer dvd media and play back a full range of bluray. The few times ive used the optical drive on my 2010 mini its been full of dust and needed to be dedustified before it would read the disc.
I ejected the cd i was just using and now the drive wont accept anything. The airflow in the 2010 mini seemed to deposit a lot of dust in the optical drive. I searched in the usual obvious places but was unable to find it. Whether youre at the office or on the road, you can play and burn both cds and dvds with the apple usb superdrive. Install a 2nd hddssd by replacing the optical drive. The best external dvd and cd drives are compact and lightweight, so they wont take much space in your bag but will be a great bonus for your 2in1 laptop or gaming pc how to choose the best external dvd drive. Place any internal bluray, dvd or cd drive into an owc external enclosure to create a custom optical drive solution. External optical drives bluray up to 16x, dvd up to 24x, dvddl up to 16x, cdrw up to 48x readwriteburn speeds. All of apples other laptopsthe macbook air and the macbook pros with retina. An optical drive andor windows installation dvd is unavailable. The old mini does work as an optical drive only if you connect it to the new one via usb cable male to male. Sep, 2010 how to use mini or other nonstandard optical discs on your mac.
Dvd rewriter external drive with m disc support for pc and mac, black gp60nb50. The mac pro is unique, as you can actually put a second optical drive in it, but apple has vowed to release a new pro desktop in 20 and who knows what its design will be. Such cases include when the optical drive has been removed or is broken. How to upgrade aluminum mac mini hard drives or ssds. Internal superdrive duallayer for apple mac mini owc. Getting a stuck disc out of the mac mini optical drive. All mac mini g4 models have an optical drive that is at least capable of reading dvd rom and writing cd r and cd.
First plug in the external drive to a usb port that you know works with other devices now insert a dvd movie that you know w. Yesterday i helped a mac mini owner who had a cd stuck in the optical drive. However, from the mid2011 models onwards, all models of mac mini had the optical drive removed. How to use cds, dvds, and blurays on a mac without an. The whole process takes about 4560 minutes depending on how. Jan 02, 2020 best cd drives for mac mini imore 2020.
Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or instore pickup. With the right tools you can install your mac mini s memory module, hard drive, or optical drive right in the comfort of your own home. Youll need to purchase an external disc drive and connect it directly to a mac or windows pc without an optical drive if you want all the features an optical drive. Im trying to determine whether i will need to remove the entire optical drive. Optical drives went the way of the dodo bird a few years ago on mac computers due to most software, movies, and music all moving online, but sometimes you still need a good old fashioned cd drive. Heres what you need to know, along with our toprated applefriendly drives.
And you can download apps from the mac app store with a click. Nov 19, 2019 an optical drive is a piece of computer hardware about the size of a thick softcover book. This is my project and guide on replacing the internal optical drive to a 2nd hard drive in the apple mac mini mid2010. The disc should then be available on any mac thats connected to the same network. Swap your imac, mac mini or macbook cddvd drive for a. Place any internal bluray, dvd or cd drive into an owc external enclosure to. Use the cd or dvd drive from another computer with your mac. Looking to add storage, or for a smart way to back up your mac. Apple has begun to stop installing cd dvd drives since the introduction of macbook air in january 2008.
Im trying to determine whether i will need to remove the entire optical drive or not. Mac mini memory, hd, and optical drive installation videos. It should just work, i have been doing exactly that for many years and external dvds have always worked on my macs. Dec 27, 2010 the dvd drive was acting up and i didnt have one of those cleaning discs around, so i had to clean it the hard way. Anyway, i buy used electronics in large lots and put them up on ebay individually. Apple and the incredible vanishing cd drive macworld. The best external hard drives for mac in 2020 pcmag. Optical drive in imac not accepting cddvd powermax. The last apple mac to ship with an optical cd or dvd drive was a in macbook pro, originally released in june 2012, but on sale until october. Mac mini is designed without an optical disc drive. With your new mac devices, you are not able to run cds or dvds.