Can CR-RW iMacs use external DVD drives?

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Pretty self-explanatory really - if I had a CD-RW iMac, could I fit one of the many external DVD drives available and watch films, etc, provided said drive had a suitable firewire connection, etc? Are there any hardware issues that might prevent this working? Will Apple's DVD Player software (X version) work with external drives?

I'm hoping the answer will be yes, but I suspect it will be no....



Any info gratefully received

Thanks

TBM

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    Wot no replies? Does this mean the answer is blindingly obvious or a great mystery?
  • Reply 2 of 10
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    The OS X DVD Player won't work with external drives.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    [quote]Originally posted by EmAn:

    <strong>The OS X DVD Player won't work with external drives.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Thanks for the info, EmAn. The logical next question is: what else can I use? Is there any other DVD software for the Mac?
  • Reply 4 of 10
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    Well if you're willing to boot into OS 9, I think you can use an external drive with OS 9's DVD Player. As for other software, I can't think of any other players.
  • Reply 5 of 10
    tmatma Posts: 76member
    The prices for an external DVD player are really high.



    You could probably pick up a cheapish (but fully functional) DVD box for a normal TV and find a RF/Video to USB Adapter (the ones that let you watch TV on your desktop) & still have change left over for two or three films.
  • Reply 6 of 10
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    sell the cdrw and put the money towards a combo drive to put in the imac. just swap drives.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    Thanks TMA and janitor. Very interesting ideas. I didn't know either was possible.

    janitor, so you can actually have a combo drive fitted in a CRT iMac?
  • Reply 8 of 10
    [quote]Originally posted by EmAn:

    <strong>Well if you're willing to boot into OS 9, I think you can use an external drive with OS 9's DVD Player. As for other software, I can't think of any other players.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Hmm, interesting. The OS X DVD player does seem to be missing some features of the OS 9 equivalent, such as the 'resume play' function. I've no idea why
  • Reply 9 of 10
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by The Blue Meanie:

    <strong>

    janitor, so you can actually have a combo drive fitted in a CRT iMac?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Well all you have to do is find a slot-loading drive I suppose. If the TiBook could have a Combo drive why couldn't the iMac?
  • Reply 10 of 10
    Ah, if only it were that simple. Incompatible hardware would be the number one problem I imagine...
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