Third Party Superdrive

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I wanted to know if anybody here has a third party superdrie in there powerbook. I"m thinking about buying a dual layer superdrive and installing it in my powerbook.



2. Is it difficult to change the superdrive?
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 39
    i have, and you need to be EXTREMELY patient and pretty good at working your way around the insides of computers. MacFixIt has some guides that will help you, but you need to know what you're doing. Don't do it if you have some apprehention. Its tough.
  • Reply 2 of 39
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    The other problem that can totally suck is iDVD wont burn a DL-DVD on a 3rd party Dual layer Drive.
  • Reply 3 of 39
    hmmm..good point...well i need to add a new superdrive...because sometimes cd's get stuck in the drive...i have to tilt my book just to get it out sometimes.
  • Reply 4 of 39
    The other problem that can totally suck is iDVD wont burn a DL-DVD on a 3rd party Dual layer Drive





    I though OWC has 100 percent compatible drives?
  • Reply 5 of 39
    that's a good question...I'm planning on buying one of those superdrives from owc.



    Let me know I don't really care about iDVD not being able to burn DL DVD's...I can use some third party software to do that. But if iDVD can do it...then that would most definitely be a plus
  • Reply 6 of 39
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by theapplegenius





    I though OWC has 100 percent compatible drives?






    Almost every drive is 100% compatible, but getting a NON Apple OEM version to burn Dual Layer DVD at any capacity over a single layer disk in iDVD isn't going to happen.

    I have the exact same drive that comes in the last PowerMac only it's not the Apple OEM version. If you go to Apples discussion forums you'd know their is no support for NON OEM drives for dual layer burning in iDVD. It's a pain. You can burn a Dual layer disk, but not anything over the size of a single layer disk.



    If you open About this Mac with a non OEM drive

    Here is what it will say:





    Firmware Revisiont1.50

    InterconnecttATAPI

    Burn Support: Yes (Unsupported)

    Profile PathtNone

    Cachet2000 KB

    Reads DVDtYes

    CD-Writet-R, -RW

    DVD-Writet-R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL

    Burn Underrun Protection CDtYes

    Burn Underrun Protection DVDtYes

    Write StrategiestCD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO

    MediatNo





    I'm sure you made a note of what I highlighted in red. It will burn DVD, and DVD-DL's but if your total calculated disk size is 5GB even with a dual layer DVD in there it will say: not enough space on disk, or something of that nature.
  • Reply 7 of 39
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Can't you just save your 8GB iDVD project as an image, and burn it as such using Toast?
  • Reply 8 of 39
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    You shouldn't, but you can. Burning DL images is unreliable.
  • Reply 9 of 39
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    I agree you shouldn't. And Apple should facilitate that all their programs and the OS itself recognize and use third-party drives as fully-fledged pieces of hardware, not cripple them to make more money selling SuperDrives.



    This is a company selling 6 million iPods a quarter after all. They don't need the $5 they make off SuperDrives or whatever it is that they make.
  • Reply 10 of 39
    Man...thanks for the information. A burning dual layer dvd's is not a big deal to me. I'm just having problems with my Superdrive every time I pop a CD in there it gets stuck. I have to tilt my book sometimes just to get it out. So it seems like OWC has the cheapest superdrive....but i like the information that you guys have posted.
  • Reply 11 of 39
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gene Clean

    I agree you shouldn't. And Apple should facilitate that all their programs and the OS itself recognize and use third-party drives as fully-fledged pieces of hardware, not cripple them to make more money selling SuperDrives.



    This is a company selling 6 million iPods a quarter after all. They don't need the $5 they make off SuperDrives or whatever it is that they make.




    Who says their crippled? No one says they have crippled anything other than you. Apple can't be made responsible to write the iDVD specific DL-Burning ROM, and firmware for every 3rd party Dual Layer burner. I'm not sure it's even legal for them to do so. But with a drive that is provided as as part of an OEM agreement this would not apply.

    You shouldn't go jumping to conclusions before you know what the hell your talking about.
  • Reply 12 of 39
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by onlooker

    Who says their crippled? No one says they have crippled anything other than you. Apple can't be made responsible to write the iDVD specific DL-Burning ROM, and firmware for every 3rd party Dual Layer burner.



    I'm sorry, what was that? If they're not crippled (their apps) than what are they? A program that deliberately doesn't allow DL burning if the burner is an external third party DVD-R(W) is a program that has been crippled. Its functionality has been crippled.







    Quote:

    I'm not sure it's even legal for them to do so.



    It is quite legal for them to provide a universal driver that will recognize external drives and make the OS support their most basic functions (such as DL burning). Just like Windows does. Have you noticed how when you plug-in an external drive in WindowsXP it will automatically install and the OS will automatically allow it to perform its functions? That's because it comes with a driver pre-installed that makes it possible to do that. If you want the software provided by your OEM, you can still install that and disable the XP driver. Very simple.



    Of course, Apple doesn't have to do that.. as long as its programs support drives that are sold with legal, solid, OS X-compatible drivers/software. But they're not. You need to install patches and haxies in order to even get your OS to recognize your drive, let alone use DL burning.





    Quote:

    But with a drive that is provided as as part of an OEM agreement this would not apply.



    How so?



    Quote:

    You shouldn't go jumping to conclusions before you know what the hell your talking about.



    No, I think you shouldn't be telling me where to jump if you have no idea what you're talking about.
  • Reply 13 of 39
    Quick question, will the OWC Superdrive for the PowerBook work for the iBook?
  • Reply 14 of 39
    They have ones that will fit the ibook
  • Reply 15 of 39
    OWC doesn't
  • Reply 16 of 39
    sorry
  • Reply 17 of 39
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gene Clean

    I'm sorry, what was that? If they're not crippled (their apps) than what are they? A program that deliberately doesn't allow DL burning if the burner is an external third party DVD-R(W) is a program that has been crippled. Its functionality has been crippled.





    Apple isn't responsible for writing the DL ROM, and firmware for every DVD player manufacturer out there. Even if they did try they would likely have to flash the drive which can cause damage. (I know I've burned one out) And if Apple unsuccessfully flashed any number of 3rd party drives they would likely be legally accountable for it. The OEM drives compatibility is their responsibility, and comes preloaded with the compatible ROM, and firmware.

    iDVD also worked just fine with many External, and internal DVD players, and burners, and still does. Manufacturers write the ROMS for them. If it's not working in iDVD it's not crippled by Apple. It's not been addressed by the manufacturer yet. Email them. They have a ROM profile for iDVD to update. Apple has already updated theirs. because you can write DL DVD's on their OEM drives.

    And that is just part of the argument. There is plenty more, but all you need is one.
  • Reply 18 of 39
    slugheadslughead Posts: 1,169member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gene Clean

    This is a company selling 6 million iPods a quarter after all. They don't need the $5 they make off SuperDrives or whatever it is that they make.



    Try 50



    they sold a million imacs last quarter (or something to that effect).. if they all had superdrives, that'd be $50,000,000..



    Apple doesn't support 3rd party stuff, they do it to make money, do we really need to go over this again?



    Personally, I don't like Apple's hardware. They tried to stick me with a maxtor hard drive in my $3000+ G5. I'd pay $1000 for an OS X that ran on regular PC hardware. I could build a faster that suited MY needs at a greater savings than that.
  • Reply 19 of 39
    What would you do with OSX on your dell computer, without any drivers. Apple couldn't support drivers for every imaginable device around there. And before you say that manufacturers could provide them, look how well it has worked for Windows, it's a mess, and even more so look how many manufacturers provide linux drivers, with 5% marketshare they just wont bother. Same goes with dvd writers, apple disables third party drives on purpose so that they don't have to listen people whining why their computers don't work, just because manufacturers didn't bother to write proper drivers.
  • Reply 20 of 39
    slugheadslughead Posts: 1,169member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Project2501

    What would you do with OSX on your dell computer, without any drivers. Apple couldn't support drivers for every imaginable device around there. And before you say that manufacturers could provide them, look how well it has worked for Windows, it's a mess, and even more so look how many manufacturers provide linux drivers, with 5% marketshare they just wont bother. Same goes with dvd writers, apple disables third party drives on purpose so that they don't have to listen people whining why their computers don't work, just because manufacturers didn't bother to write proper drivers.



    Old argument which is flawed. Windows is no broken because it has wide driver support, it's flawed because .. well, it sucks.



    Linux proves that you can have a really wide range of drivers and still have stability. Not quite as wide as windows, but wide enough. Christ, even Apple can't keep up with the driver updates linux does and Apple's got an extremely limited hardware base!



    We're not talking about EVERY LITTLE PIECE of hardware. Besides, if you could run OS X on a Dell, I bet Dell would make the drivers themselves!



    Do you really think Microsoft designs all the device drivers? Hah!
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