Question: Macbook Pro External DVD Burner

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External Enclosures Discuss, Macbook Pro External DVD Burner at CD and DVD Writers forum; This thread is about the Apple MacBook Pro 15.4" TFT, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 2048MB, 160GB, OSX 10.5 . Click here to see full specs The DVD burner in my Macbook Pro is flaky. I would like to get an external DVD Burner. All of the ones I've looked

Apple MacBook Pro 15.4" TFT, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 2048MB, 160GB, OSX 10.5: 1 other people have this product

DSL67 (New on Forum): Posts: 1; Posted: 09-03-2009

This thread is about the Apple MacBook Pro 15.4" TFT, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 2048MB, 160GB, OSX 10.5. Click here to see full specs

The DVD burner in my Macbook Pro is flaky. I would like to get an external DVD Burner. All of the ones I've looked at so far only say they are compatible with Windows. I'm running OS X (10.5.6), and I'm using Toast Titanium, btw. Any suggestions?

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Today (MyCE Staff): Posts: 15,596

evo69 (CDFreaks Resident): Posts: 904; Posted: 09-03-2009

Almost any external drive will now work with an Intel Mac - all of the drives in my signature all run using USB/FW400/eSATA on my Mac Pro using Toast 8/9/10. There are three levels of drive support as detected under Mac OS X - Generic, Vendor Supported, and Apple Shipping. Things are different now than when Macs were PPC-only, and I've yet to use an old or recent drive that doesn't work with my Mac.

I'd suggest you bring your MBP to the store and test the external drive (Mac or even non-Mac supported) there before you purchase it. If System Configuration > Hardware > Disc Burning shows that the drive has burn support (be it one of the three) then it's a drive that you can use. I'd suggest you use a half-height 5.25" external drive though - only get a slim one if portability is more important than burn quality. But most likely you'll be getting the half-height since you know how bad laptop slim drives can be.

You might want to check what drives are available in your fave store, then we'll be able to help picking out a suitable drive then.

__________________
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negritude (MyCE Resident): Posts: 3,836; Posted: 09-03-2009

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Originally Posted by evo69

Things are different now than when Macs were PPC-only...

No they're not.

Just about all external burners on the market will work with Macs, whether they are PPC or Intel. People have these outdated ideas about Mac compatibility held over from the 1980s, when a lot of Mac stuff was proprietary. Things haven't been that way in at least a decade. Hard drives, DVD burners, and other kinds of drives are standard storage devices that will work with just about any computer.

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evo69 (CDFreaks Resident): Posts: 904; Posted: 09-03-2009

I disagree to an extent... I had to use "Patchburn" to make some of my non-Mac supported drives useable with my G4 on several occasions.

While Patchburn only made device profiles to make some drives accessible under PPC Macs, they wouldn't work well (or not at all) if those device profiles weren't present.

That's the difference then and now. On two occasions I was unable to use a Toshiba DVD-ROM and a Samsung DVD-RW even with Patchburn due to the program unable to create a device profile which let me use the drives at the lowest speed settings...

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negritude (MyCE Resident): Posts: 3,836; Posted: 12-03-2009

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Originally Posted by evo69

I disagree to an extent... I had to use "Patchburn" to make some of my non-Mac supported drives useable with my G4 on several occasions.

While Patchburn only made device profiles to make some drives accessible under PPC Macs, they wouldn't work well (or not at all) if those device profiles weren't present.

The device profiles don't have anything to do with hardware compatibility, and they aren't drivers. A profile simply lets the OS know what the drive is capable of and what features it supports. Every drive that works out of the box with OS X already has a device profile. The need to install them is a result of a failure on the part of pre-Leopard systems to have the proper information about a drive already installed or detected by the OS. It's the most minor of tweaks, and everyone using Tiger or before uses it. That has nothing to do with PPC vs. Intel, or with actual compatibility. An issue of compatibility is when something is hardware incompatible, or requires a non-standard hack to get something to work. Device profiles are a standard part of the OS. All PatchBurn does is install what the OS should have done automatically when you plugged it in. This falls squarely on the shoulders of the software people, not the hardware people. It's not about the machine, but the operating system.

As for the problem you had with the DVD-ROM and other drive, I'd really like to know what sort of error you had there. I never found a situation in which it didn't work. As I said, it's not doing anything special or non-standard.

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evo69 (CDFreaks Resident): Posts: 904; Posted: 12-03-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by negritude

An issue of compatibility is when something is hardware incompatible, or requires a non-standard hack to get something to work. Device profiles are a standard part of the OS. All PatchBurn does is install what the OS should have done automatically when you plugged it in. This falls squarely on the shoulders of the software people, not the hardware people. It's not about the machine, but the operating system.

Pretty much my line of thought (except I factored in PPC/architecture when I should've just said pre-Leopard/OS), and you were more technical and detailed at it.

I'm happy that Apple finally got rid of those device profile problems and stuck to standards (finally).

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Originally Posted by negritude

As for the problem you had with the DVD-ROM and other drive, I'd really like to know what sort of error you had there.

It worked, but the Toshiba DVD-ROM (can't remember which model) wouldn't let me play Region 3 DVDs (when it was set correctly) and just spat out the discs, the Samsung SD-R5732V wouldn't let me burn past 1x. I returned them and got Pioneers the next day.

Obviously, there were no problems then (under Panther).

Anyway, DSL67 doesn't seem to be checking back...

He must've just plugged an external in and found out it works instantly.

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