CD/DVD Burner died. What to do?

[NealF]

Hi.

I've got a 2009 Mac Pro. Apparently, there's a problem with the CD burner in system 10.6.8, do I'm not sure if this drive is actually broken.
I can't upgrade now so I need to find another solution.

Should I buy an external DVD/CD Burner? If so, can you recommend one?
Or am I better off getting another internal superdrive? (Although, if it's the system's problem, that might not help.)

I saw something on OWC that was also a Blue Ray device. Is that something I can use? I have no experience with Blue Ray. Here's the link to the device: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/

Thanks.

[HCMarkus]

I've been using an external CD/DVD burner for years; it allows me to have access to and burn optical discs while my Mac sits comfortably in another room. The OWC solutions are good. The full-size drives are, I believe, faster (and more costly) than the compact ones.

[NealF]

Thanks.

I've not experience with optical drives but I'll look into it.

[mikehalloran]

An inexpensive CD/DVD burner is a lot less expensive - and will run circles around - the Superdrive.

Depending where you live, you should be able to buy the drive and external housing separately. Buy the drive first and install it in your Mac Pro. If it works, you are done. If not, buy a usb drive housing.

Externals for an Intel Mac need to have usb in case you ever need to boot from the drive. It's ok to have a usb/FW housing and hook up via FW but usb should be available just in case.

I have usb, usb/FW and usb/FW/eSATA housings. I have never seen the advantage of FW or eSATA for optical drives. Since Toast 11 can burn to multiple drives simultaneously, I have tested. I keep a FW optical in my tool kit as some of the Macs I take care of are still PPC and cannot boot from usb.

[NealF]

Great.

Thanks.

[billf]

I had the lasers go bad in my Mac Pro 1,1 SuperDrives. I found remplacement drives at OWC which cost <$30 for each drive (at least they did when I replaced mine) and were very easy to swap out.

[mikehalloran]

I had the lasers go bad in my Mac Pro 1,1 SuperDrives. I found remplacement drives at OWC which cost <$30 for each drive (at least they did when I replaced mine) and were very easy to swap out.

Indeed. I miss the Santa Clara MicroCenter. $19-$22 depending on the features.

You want SATA from 2009 on. OWC has for less than $30 - also see MicroCenter below.

PATA is the older IDE/EIDE/ATA interface - The 2006-2008 Mac Pros took those as did everything back to the G3. According to OWC, new IDE drives are no longer available but they have an SATA bundled with the cables to install it in a 2006-2008 for $35.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/LG/GH24NS95MP/

Microcenter.com, however, still has a few IDE drives for $16 or so. Since none support DVD-DL, I would pass in favor of the OWC above.
http://www.microcenter.com/category/429 ... ay-Burners

[NealF]

Excellent! Thanks.