LG GGC-H20LI Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive install? [Archive]

janstett

Nov 1, 2007, 06:06 PM

The Mac Pro does have SATA (all four hard drive bays are SATA) but the question is about the optical drive bays. I think they're only equipped for ATA/IDE but I can't recall for sure from the last time I cracked open the case.

I may do it through USB/eSata but I'd prefer the drive to be internal.

EDIT: Double checked the Mac Pro manual online, unfortunately the optical drives are ATA/IDE so this new drive won't work on the Mac Pro (dammit).

I think the motherboard has 4 SATA ports and they're all used by the internal disk cage so that's not an option.

Not looking good :( I'll live with e-sata or USB in an external case, so the question of DVD player is still open.

iPhil

Nov 1, 2007, 06:16 PM

slicedbread

Nov 1, 2007, 07:12 PM

I think the mac pro actually has 6 sata ports on the motherboard. However there are only 4 located behind the hard drive racks. And the cd/DVD drives have the pata connectors behind. The 2 extra sata ports are located somewhere else and are hard to route to the DVD bays.

rhildinger

Nov 1, 2007, 10:52 PM

There have been several people in these forums who have installed SATA optical drives in the Mac Pro. It's actually very easy as long as you haven't used all the hard drive bay ports. Search the forums for pioneer drive install and you'll probably find the answers you need. There's absolutely no reason why you couldn't put the LG HD-DVD/BluRay drive in the Mac Pro.

-Robert

JesterJJZ

Nov 2, 2007, 12:12 AM

khoang

Jan 11, 2008, 04:42 AM

viltsu

Jan 11, 2008, 04:52 AM

It works fine. You need small hands to route the cable but not impossible. I can send pictures if you'd like. Works fine on Mac for burning. Haven't been able to get my Bootcamp Vista 64 to see it though for some reason.

Ken

Could you put the pictures in this thread? That would make installing process of blu-ray device easier!

Thanks in advance!

janstett

Jan 11, 2008, 08:32 AM

Update: I got my hands on an extrnal sata to USB case. I was disappointed to see leopard didn't do anything with either HD-DVD or Blu-ray even though it could see the drive and read discs.

Not too long after, my wife told me she needed a new pc for her business so I gave her my old home theater pc which I stopped using in favor of hd discs on the consoles. I replaced it with a quad core Gateway I got for $750 and put the combo drive in there. With PowerDVD it plays both formats and decodes to six analog output audio.

Now that hd-DVD is dead I may get a Blu-ray burner for my Mac depending on playback and what happens at Macworld.

But anyway, glad it can be done, thanks.

It just irks me that to play discs I have to go with a pc.

AdvocateUK

Jan 11, 2008, 10:43 PM

From what I've read the extra two sata connectors are actually quite easy to get to, you just need an sata cable that has one of the 90 degree connectors on one end.

Eidorian

Jan 11, 2008, 10:53 PM

From what I've read the extra two sata connectors are actually quite easy to get to, you just need an sata cable that has one of the 90 degree connectors on one end.SATA cables here on NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010010001+1177512111&name=The-SATA-Cables-at-Newegg). I doubt it would need to be very long but there are a wide variety that have 90 degree connectors.

khoang

Jan 13, 2008, 03:38 AM

Could you put the pictures in this thread? That would make installing process of blu-ray device easier!

Thanks in advance!

Here you go. Hope this helps. This is on a new 2.8GHz Mac Pro.

Ken

viltsu

Jan 13, 2008, 03:56 AM

Thank you Ken! That´ll do just fine!

Dark Dragoon

Jan 13, 2008, 06:33 AM

If you want to use two SATA drives and 90 degree connectors, make sure you buy one 270 degree and one 90 degree otherwise they don't fit. Also make sure to buy cables which are long enough, I tried with 50cm cables first and they were just a bit too short.

pkoch1

Jan 13, 2008, 11:20 AM

This is from DVD Player Help regarding playing HD DVDs

High definition DVD discs (called “HD DVDs”) provide excellent picture and sound quality. DVD Player plays only HD DVDs created using DVD Studio Pro. Your computer must support the HD format and your monitor must support Quartz Extreme. To check whether your computer and monitor can play HD DVDs created using DVD Studio Pro, choose Help > Show Supported Features.

That would explain why there is mention of HD in DVD Player.

kskaggs

Jan 21, 2008, 05:45 PM

Here you go. Hope this helps. This is on a new 2.8GHz Mac Pro.

Ken

Thanks for the picts. Installed my LG GGW-H20L with a 90 degree Sata cable and actually just broke off a little bit of the plastic above the ports for easier access. Now the Mac Pro recognizes the drive and recognizes discs when I insert them but I can only burn regular discs and not BD-R or BD-RE. Could this be a media brand problem? What brand are you using? I have tried Verbatim BD-RE and Panasonic BD-R. Mac Pro 2 x 2.66 Ghz Dual Core Intel Xeon OSX Sever 10.1.11. Any tips appreciated. Thanks in advance.....K

Rad

Jan 21, 2008, 06:05 PM

Are you using Toast (which is supposed to support Blu Ray recording) or directly burning from the finder?
Where did you buy the LG GGW-H20L? Looks like a good drive!

kskaggs

Jan 21, 2008, 06:29 PM

Are you using Toast (which is supposed to support Blu Ray recording) or directly burning from the finder?
Where did you buy the LG GGW-H20L? Looks like a good drive!

Yes, I am using Toast 8.0.3.

speakerwizard

Jan 21, 2008, 06:42 PM

you wont be able to watch off the shelf hd disks as no apple hardware has the right drm chips like most modern tvs

kskaggs

Jan 21, 2008, 08:12 PM

Just looking to burn large archive files to disc.

Random Chaos

Jan 21, 2008, 09:53 PM

Just a note on the drive itself. I know someone that picked up the LG GGC-H20N (same as the LG GGC-H20L but does't have Lightscribe) and loves it (not on a Mac though).

holograph

Apr 11, 2008, 02:00 PM

Hi guys, thanks for the interesting discussion re installing the LG GGW-H20L in the Mac Pro.

I intend to install this drive in a Mac Pro 2HGz in Optical drive bay 2.

Will this cable do? http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Cabling/Serial+ATA

Also will the power connection work in bay2, or do I need something like https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Cabling/Serial+ATA/4pin+Molex+to+SATA+Power+Connector+?productId=7683

I have all 4 HD drive bays full, so obviously I need to get to the two back SATA ports as discussed here..

Unfortunately I dont really see what I´m supposed to see in the pictures above, but I´m guessing that will clear up once I open up the Mac Pro? :)

Many questions, thanks in advance!

diotav

Apr 18, 2008, 05:59 AM

I installed the GGW-H20L 4 days ago in my Mac Pro. After taking the machine apart I was able to install the drive on the SATA connection. A lot of patience is needed. I can also confirm that Toast recognizes the drive but doesn't burn BD .. Finder on the other hand has no problem with burning.

@holograph .. you only need a 75cm SATA to SATA cable. The powercable is included with the drive and is compatible with the cable that's already in the Mac Pro for bay2.

holograph

Apr 18, 2008, 06:05 AM

yupyup, managed to install my GGW-H20L a couple of days aswell!. Works exactly as diotav mentioned. Veeery tight getting the SATA cable from the optical bay to the motherboard connectors.. (thanks diotav, I actually managed to do it with a 60cm cable, but yes would recommend a 75, definitely) Now we need a fix for it to work with BD in toast, as that´s kind of a big reason for me for using it.

MaddMacs

Apr 18, 2008, 06:43 PM

Yes, I am using Toast 8.0.3.
I'm pretty sure you will need Toast 9 and thier enabler program to burn blue-ray discs. They say they can burn HD content to standard DVDs (for short projects) too.

yeroen

Apr 18, 2008, 07:41 PM

LG's combo Blu-Ray & HD-DVD player has hit the streets at a price of $299. I'm thinking of adding one to my Mac Pro but first some questions:

(1) DVD player has an HD tab now with Leopard -- has anybody played either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD on Leopard? Not much use in buying the drive if I can't play anything back on it.

(2) The specs say this is a SATA device. I've never seen a SATA CD-ROM before -- any issues plugging this into bay 2 of my Mac Pro? I'm assuming the existing super drive is ATA.

Just so you're clear on this point, you won't be able to watch commercial Blu-Ray discs on your mac since this requires an HDCP compliant pipeline. In short the GPU, the graphics board, the OS, the display, and the Apple's DVD player all need to be HDCP-enabled, which they're not at the moment.

It's debatable whether or not one would even want such intrusive and resource-intensive DRM built into Leopard and Apple hardware. Just look at Vista, the OS that DRM built.

The only current solution for playback of commercial Blu-Ray discs is to install an XP or Vista partition and run Slysoft's Any-DVD HD which will rip the contents to your hard drive. I'm not sure whether or not the rip will be playable in Apple's DVD player, but Slysoft's package includes PowerDVD which will play it in Windows.

krye

Apr 21, 2008, 01:19 PM

Bummer. I thought for a second that the drive was a BR burner. I guess not at $299.

SilverL

Apr 21, 2008, 05:34 PM

Bummer. I thought for a second that the drive was a BR burner. I guess not at $299.

The GGW drive is a BR Burner.

madboom

Apr 21, 2008, 07:56 PM

My copy of Toast 8 asked if I wanted to enable BD support when I installed it. I just have not gotten around to installing the drive yet. I bought my MP with the expectation of not taking it apart all the time.

Oh well so much for that idea. Now I need to put in the BD drive and soon enough figure out how to wedge a new velociraptor in there too. :D

primetimex

Apr 21, 2008, 09:21 PM

It is unfortunate, but I bought one of these LG BR/HD-DVD drives and they only work properly in Vista. With Vista I was able to play commercial BR / HD-DVD movies with PowerDVD 8 Ultra with no problems.

Here's hoping that Apple will enable BR / HD-DVD capability somehow with MacPro in the future!

toke lahti

Apr 22, 2008, 06:03 AM

The only current solution for playback of commercial Blu-Ray discs is to install an XP or Vista partition and run Slysoft's Any-DVD HD which will rip the contents to your hard drive. I'm not sure whether or not the rip will be playable in Apple's DVD player, but Slysoft's package includes PowerDVD which will play it in Windows.
If they only made AnyDVD Hd for OsX...

paxjea

May 29, 2008, 03:32 AM

So, with a little time and effort, I managed to install my new LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray optical drive in my Mac Pro this evening.

I booted up my Mac Pro and immediately opened the drive, and voila, it is recognized. I inserted a BR Disc and it recognized it as a writeable disc.

However, my Mac is not recognizing my Mac Superdrive in Optical Bay 1.

Any suggestions? Has anyone else run into this problem.

I DID NOT change the jumper setting on the Superdrive in Bay 1, figuring it was wise to leave it in the default setting. Could this be a possible solution, and if so, how should I set the jumper?

Thanks in advance everyone.

PAX

Shurran

May 29, 2008, 07:30 AM

Just so you're clear on this point, you won't be able to watch commercial Blu-Ray discs on your mac since this requires an HDCP compliant pipeline. In short the GPU, the graphics board, the OS, the display, and the Apple's DVD player all need to be HDCP-enabled, which they're not at the moment.

I keep seeing this statement all over the internet about the mac pro. I'm not sure about the 2600, but the 8800 certainly does have the HDCP chip on board, so should in theory be able to output protected content, also its not that hard to find an HDCP compliant display - I have a Samsung 245B that I switch between my Pro and PS3 - works a treat (apart from not having 1:1 pixel mapping). Of course this is not to say that DVD player or the OS itself support HDCP, but they are software so upgradable.

paxjea - I understand the BD drive is connected using SATA. If so, you shouldn't have to change the jumpers. To be safe though (in case there is a conflict) I would ensure the superdrive is connected to the primary part of the PATA cable (on the end, not in the middle) and set it to master. Also, just check that the power or PATA havent been dislodged while you were working on the BD Drive.

zmttoxics

May 29, 2008, 10:17 AM

Are you sure you need an "HDCP" drm enabled display for that stuff? My ps3 plays blue rays on my tv thats 7 years old and only does 480i.

CWallace

May 29, 2008, 10:22 AM

I DID NOT change the jumper setting on the Superdrive in Bay 1, figuring it was wise to leave it in the default setting. Could this be a possible solution, and if so, how should I set the jumper?

I am hazarding a guess that the Mac Pro's also use IDE Cable Select like the Power Macs did. So if you only had one optical drive, it should be fine.

Sure you didn't dislodge the IDE cable at either end or the power cable when you were routing the SATA cable up to the BR unit?

zmttoxics

May 29, 2008, 10:27 AM

I am hazarding a guess that the Mac Pro's also use IDE Cable Select like the Power Macs did. So if you only had one optical drive, it should be fine.

Sure you didn't dislodge the IDE cable at either end or the power cable when you were routing the SATA cable up to the BR unit?

Not to mention an IDE drive's jumper settings wouldn't effect a drive on Sata or vice versa - 2 different controllers.

downset

May 29, 2008, 12:19 PM

does it show in system profiler?

if so, you open the second optical with alt-eject or enable the menu eject button
http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/22/mac-101-eject-button-in-the-menu-bar/

downset

May 29, 2008, 12:24 PM

if anyone is trying to get them to work in windows, while using (one of) the two sata ports on the motherboard it is possible, but you need to boot windows through a bootloader (GRUB) and use a customised bootfile, this has added benefit that all sata ports are faster in windows

CWallace

May 29, 2008, 08:51 PM

Not to mention an IDE drive's jumper settings wouldn't effect a drive on Sata or vice versa - 2 different controllers.

True, but the Super Drive uses the IDE controller and that is the drive paxjea said was no longer working. :)

zmttoxics

May 29, 2008, 10:28 PM

True, but the Super Drive uses the IDE controller and that is the drive paxjea said was no longer working. :)

I was half agreeing with you on that one. Ya, the old drive should be fine - its on cable select and a new ide drive on the same controller would be fine. But the second drive is sata - meaning the jumper settings on the either drive is irrelevant as it's two different controllers. So the only the thing would be he knocked a cable loose - like you suggested. :D

Shurran

May 30, 2008, 04:09 AM

Are you sure you need an "HDCP" drm enabled display for that stuff? My ps3 plays blue rays on my tv thats 7 years old and only does 480i.

HDCP only counts for HD content being delivered at HD quality. Your PS3 is currently downscaling to SD for playback on your TV. If you had an HD TV without HDCP then the PS3 would either downscale to 480/575 or not show anything at all

The only reason I suggest checking the jumper setting is that I never really trusted CS - bit of a control freak!

waldo99

May 30, 2008, 06:59 AM

I have the LG installed in my mac pro. I used a sata to eide converter. I got it from .span.com, they tested the the firmware in the adapter becase not all adapter spport disc burning. Using the spare sata ports will not work,(use google) it will only anoy you. Encyrpted HD or Blue Ray discs are not supported in OSX. You can play back HDVIDEO_TS unencyrpted folder that you created DVD SP. I use dvd Encore to auther Blu -Ray Discs ( unencyrpted )
Toast also supports Blu - Ray data and video burning ( unencyrpted ). Thats about it, unless you go the ChaVista route. :cool:

downset

May 30, 2008, 07:27 AM

Using the spare sata ports will not work,(use google) it will only anoy you.

you are wrong, they do work, i have 2 DVD writers installed in my mac pro on the spare SATA ports, they work perfectly for burning in both os X and Windows, i also tried the above mentioned LG Blu Ray player which also worked, but removed it again as i have no need for blue ray movies.

only annoying thing is fiddling to get the cables connected

Mark Booth

May 30, 2008, 11:03 AM

He meant that the Mac Pro's internal SATA ports won't work properly with the LG GGW-H20L for Blu-ray burning in Toast. Which was actually true until very recently.

See page 3 of this thread at the Roxio forum:

http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=36830&st=0

From what I've gathered, Roxio is sending out beta versions of Toast 9 (to current Toast 9 owners obviously) that allows the burning of Blu-ray discs in Toast using the LG GGW-H20L Blu-ray drive in a Mac Pro connected to the optical drive SATA ports (the ones hidden behind the fan).

In the above thread, you will also see mentioned two different firmware versions for the LG GGW-H20L. I'm not certain if the beta version of Toast 9 being sent to individuals works with BOTH LG firmware versions, or just one. However, read the message by Mike Boreham in this Apple Discussion thread:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7209692

Mike seems to indicate that you will want the older YLO2 version of the firmware installed for proper Finder Blu-ray burning.

Also, you will see that Mike received a mysterious "check your E-mail" message from Roxio on May 5. Then, in the Apple Discussion thread above, Mike mentioned a beta version of Toast that fixes the Blu-ray burning in Toast. That was on May 15. I think it's pretty safe to assume Mike received a Beta version of Toast from Roxio.

Mark

ambidext

Jun 19, 2008, 05:50 PM

utekineir

Jun 19, 2008, 08:29 PM

How about putting a blu-ray into an external enclosure, would that work without adapter, sata, ide, etc issues?

This wouldn't be for hdcp movies obviously.

kingkezz

Jun 19, 2008, 11:09 PM

Can somebody tell me how to modify the GRUB bootload so I can use this drive in XP on my early 08?

asencif

Jun 20, 2008, 01:38 AM

I was able to install the LG GGW-H20L blu-ray into the 2nd optical slot in my Mac Pro, but the front of the drive tray is larger than the slot hole on the Mac. I'm thinking I have something wrong since no one has mentioned this issue here. Is there a way to take off the front part of the tray so it is thinner? It really is just the very front lip that is an issue.

steve

Did you take out the face plate off the front of the tray? G5's and Mac Pro Optical drives are installed with the face plate off, so the tray ejects through the front case drive slots.

downset

Jun 20, 2008, 02:33 AM

Can somebody tell me how to modify the GRUB bootload so I can use this drive in XP on my early 08?

this thread has all the info:
http://forum.onmac.net/showthread.php?t=2739

i did the following:

i installed unbuntu and windows xp, on two partitions of a hard drive, the unbuntu one can be small, i don't actually use unbuntu, it just makes it easier to change and setup grub, i have a 250gb HD, and used 70gb for unbuntu

changed the driver in xp to the intel ahci one:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Default.aspx?lang=eng
get the correct one, as far as i know the old mac pro is 5000x board the new mac pro 5400

then i booted in ubunted and loaded the stage1 grub file as posted in the thread i linked, just make sure to always boot windows through grub from then on, i am not 100% sure the stage1 is still correct for the new macPro, but i think it is, it only changes behaviour after booting through grub so it wont hurt to try this out

mc2020

Jul 19, 2008, 02:19 PM

As I see it there are five choices to get some functionality out of
the LG GGW-H20L Blu Ray drive in a Mac Pro Desktop.

1. External case and USB SATA converter ten use USB port on Mac Pro.
connection. In this case can the USB support the highest possible
output resolutions that the drive is capable of?
(Can anyone recommend an external case that facilitates all drive functions.)

2. External case and a firewire connection. Faster than USB.
Only one poster seems to have done this, most going for USB.

3. Connect to one of the two Optical Disk Drive (ODD) SATA connections on
the mother board using right angle connector and approx 60cm cable.
But it will be difficult and involve removing fan (and power supply?).

See description and image of ODD SATA pins here;
http://blogs.adobe.com/davtechtable/2008/03/_updated_march_2008_working_wi.html

4. Connect to spare hard disk SATA port (4 ports total). Much easier to do than solution 2,
but you lose a hard disk output.
Not sure how well this works?

5. Get a SATA to IDE adapter circuit board. Then connect to the spare optical drive socket.
This seems by far the easiest and most reliable, though I am not sure if there is any performance cost.
A couple of choices of boards are available

A. Manhattan 170000 http://www.computercablesource.com/sata-adapter-adapt-your-serial-ata-drive-to-a-ide-40-pin-controller-manhattan-170000-internal-use-1383.html
See description here.
http://blogs.adobe.com/davtechtable/2008/03/_updated_march_2008_working_wi.html

B. Cooldrive adapter
http://www.cooldrives.com/sahadradtoid.html
See description of how to here.
http://www.echenique.com/2008/06/mac-pro-sata-blu-ray-howto.html

But (etrigan63) and others mentioned that:

> Please keep in mind that Blu-Ray/HD-DVD playback is not
> supported in any Mac OS yet (the jury is still out on Snow
> Leopard) so you won't be able to play commercial discs. You
> will be able to burn BD discs for playback on set top players
> and for data storage. Roxio Toast Titanium 9 offers BD support
> via an optional plugin.

Is this the same with all three possible solutions? i.e No matter
what you do you cannot ever play commercial Blu-Ray discs?
I am using 10.5.4 will any solution work with this OS?

Are there any other solutions?
What do people think is the best solution?

Also some people on Roxio forum report that new 9.02 Titanium Toast
solves many problems, but it is not a player.
http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=36942&hl=GGW-H20L%20mac%20pro%20sata&st=0

Amazingly it seems the only solution to play commercial Blue-Ray disc movies is to run "Boot Camp (Parallels/Fusion video drivers are not HDCP enabled)." (quoting etrigan63)
Also see http://www.mcetech.com/blu-ray/#bdplayback under heading Blu-ray and HD DVD Movie Playback on your Mac, which says the same thing as of 12 Jul 2008.

janstett

Jul 19, 2008, 03:27 PM

I must say I am disappointed by Apple's continued indifference especially since the format war is over. There are at least two players on Windows, so if you want HD disc playback you have to go Windows.

darthraige

Jul 21, 2008, 12:59 PM

I know it's a bit late, but here's a few more pics of running the sata cable up to the top...

http://www.galaxyediting.com/viewing/macsata1.jpg

http://www.galaxyediting.com/viewing/macsata2.jpg

http://www.galaxyediting.com/viewing/macsata3.jpg

mc2020

Jul 23, 2008, 10:10 PM

thanks darthraige, which solution did you use exactly?

SATA to spare Hard disk SATA port?
SATA to one of the two unused ODD SATA ports?
SATA - IDE converter then use standard Optical port?

darthraige

Jul 28, 2008, 11:43 AM

thanks darthraige, which solution did you use exactly?

SATA to spare Hard disk SATA port?
SATA to one of the two unused ODD SATA ports?
SATA - IDE converter then use standard Optical port?

Actually, I went back in and took out that SATA cable and attached 2 Sata Cables which are now both going up top. I will be using them for 2 Blu Ray drives in the future.

GMancusa

Sep 3, 2008, 10:53 AM

I'm sorry but after an exhaustive search I can't find info on whether the G5 Quad (Late 2005) has any sata connectors like the Mac Pro does. Can anyone please advise if they know, otherwise I have to pull my Mac apart and have a look for myself.

Thanks in advance

Regards
GMan

Tallest Skil

Sep 3, 2008, 10:57 AM

I'm sorry but after an exhaustive search I can't find info on whether the G5 Quad (Late 2005) has any sata connectors like the Mac Pro does.

Looking at the first result in Google (and from what I already knew), the HDD bays were SATA. You could rout a cable through there. You only have one ODD bay, anyway; why not just go external?

GMancusa

Sep 3, 2008, 11:27 AM

Thanks Tallest Skil,

Yes I did know the HDD drives are SATA, unfortunatly they are both occupied. I just wanted to know if the mother board had another SATA connector like the Mac Pro.

I have a Galaxy Enclosure for the H20L (USB2 and eSata) unfortunately my Mac is not recognizing the drive on the USB2 port. I was hoping to have better luck with the eSATA. But before buying an eSATA/PCIe adapter card I wanted to connect the H20L drive up directly using SATA that way bypassing Galaxy's on board processor which may be causing the problem in the first place.

So if anybody knows whether a Late 2005 G5 has additional SATA connectors other than the two for the HDD's please let me know.

Thanks

GMan

Rankrotten

Sep 3, 2008, 12:39 PM

Got the GGW-H20L installed in my Mac Pro 1,1 in the lower optical bay using the ODD SATA port on the motherboard. When I say installed I really mean with much scraping of knuckles and cursing as the connector is not user friendly.

Being an 06 Mac Pro the ODD ports work fine in OSX - except for Toast BD burning which has been mentioned above. However I need some help with Bootcamp as the ODD SATA ports 5 + 6 are not working in Vista as previously reported.

In Vista's device manager it lists the ATA/ATAPI controllers as:
"Intel(R) 631xESB/6321ESB/3100 Chipset Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2680" The chipset driver should read "SATA AHCI Controller" 2681 for ports 5+6 to be active in AHCI mode.

Intel has the AHCI drivers for the Mac Pro's motherboard on their site
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&Inst=Yes&ProductID=2308&DwnldID=14494&strOSs=All&OSFullName=All%20Operating%20Systems&lang=eng
but I cannot find a way to install it as there is no real BIOS on Bootcamp.

Could someone give me a runthrough as to installing GRUB as a bootloader in this scenario if it is the only way to enable it.

wflan

Sep 5, 2008, 04:30 PM

I'm also having trouble getting it to show up in Vista. If it's an issue with the ports not being recognized, maybee a long cable and a cannibalized HD SATA port is the only way unless some MR wizards can sort this out.

Rankrotten

Sep 5, 2008, 05:13 PM

It has been done but it requires Ubuntu linux and a patched GRUB bootloader. I've got all the tools but not quite enough knowledge so any help would be fantastic.

My setup is:
HD1: Startup OS X 10.5.4 (HFS+)
HD2: HFS+ (partition1) / Vista 64 (partition2)
HD3: Backup of HD1 - currently HFS+
HD4: Spare - currently HFS+

Anyone fancy lending me a hand similar to here
http://forum.onmac.net/showthread.php?t=2739
:rolleyes:

asencif

Sep 10, 2008, 01:05 AM

Anyone try the SATA to IDE adapters posted above? It seems like they should work with the Blu-Ray drives under Boot Camp.

Any performance issues with this setup?

Thanks.

nanofrog

Sep 10, 2008, 05:50 AM

Anyone try the SATA to IDE adapters posted above? It seems like they should work with the Blu-Ray drives under Boot Camp.
I've not used the adapter, but I don't know of any issues that would prevent their use with an optical drive.
Any performance issues with this setup?

Thanks.
Optical drives are slow. The spec sheet (http://us.lge.com/download/product/file/1000003670/GGC-H20L_spec_sheet22108.pdf) for the GGC-H20L lists a sustained speed of BD-ROM 215.79 Mbits/s (6x max.)That translates to about 27 MB/s.

IDE/PATA runs at 133MB/s, so there shouldn't be a performance issue. :)

asencif

Sep 11, 2008, 11:52 PM

I've not used the adapter, but I don't know of any issues that would prevent their use with an optical drive.

Optical drives are slow. The spec sheet (http://us.lge.com/download/product/file/1000003670/GGC-H20L_spec_sheet22108.pdf) for the GGC-H20L lists a sustained speed of That translates to about 27 MB/s.

IDE/PATA runs at 133MB/s, so there shouldn't be a performance issue. :)

Thanks for the reply nanofrog. I am going to setup Bootcamp on my boot drive, get the BD drive with the adapter, and install on the second Optical bay. Let's see how it goes under WinXP Pro.

wflan

Sep 14, 2008, 09:19 PM

nanofrog

Sep 15, 2008, 12:40 AM

has anyone gotten anywhere with windows using it with the 'secret' sata ports near the fan? I'd really love if I didn't have to spend $30-50 for the adapter and wait for it to arrive, especially after all that effort to get the damn thing plugged in...
Perhaps this may help. :)
Got the GGW-H20L installed in my Mac Pro 1,1 in the lower optical bay using the ODD SATA port on the motherboard. When I say installed I really mean with much scraping of knuckles and cursing as the connector is not user friendly.

Being an 06 Mac Pro the ODD ports work fine in OSX - except for Toast BD burning which has been mentioned above. However I need some help with Bootcamp as the ODD SATA ports 5 + 6 are not working in Vista as previously reported.

In Vista's device manager it lists the ATA/ATAPI controllers as:
"Intel(R) 631xESB/6321ESB/3100 Chipset Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2680" The chipset driver should read "SATA AHCI Controller" 2681 for ports 5+6 to be active in AHCI mode.

Intel has the AHCI drivers for the Mac Pro's motherboard on their site
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&Inst=Yes&ProductID=2308&DwnldID=14494&strOSs=All&OSFullName=All%20Operating%20Systems&lang=eng
but I cannot find a way to install it as there is no real BIOS on Bootcamp.

Could someone give me a runthrough as to installing GRUB as a bootloader in this scenario if it is the only way to enable it.
Perhaps this may help. :)

This thread (http://forum.onmac.net/showthread.php?t=2739) (different forum) may also help. Gives some detail on the subject (AHCI for a Mac Pro).
If you try this, and it's successful, please post. It could definitely help other members. :D
Thought I'd just use quotes this time. ;)

Good Luck. :D
NF.

phrehdd

Nov 23, 2008, 06:50 AM

Just more fuel to the fire.

I bought back when a blu ray burner for my older Mac Pro. It was not easy taking apart the computer to get to the ports on the mother board. What I decided to do is once open, run sata cables to both open ports on the mother board and snake them up to the optical drive area .

Presently I have one regular DVD RW drive from Apple and the blu ray.
I will be planning to get the LG offering and replacing the Apple DVD RW.

For movie playback. Don't fret!

If you are willing to use VMware Fusion and XP it will see your Blu Ray drive. (At least it sees mine.) Parallels 3x does NOT see the Blu Ray (more to do with the onboard sata ports 5 and 6).

This is what I do -

Fusion VMWare with XP.
AnyDVD HD
TSMuxer
EACt3to (GUI)
Delaycut.

From the above, I can archive the entire blu ray to the drive. I opt to use the VM/OSX share folder so both operating systems can engage the files.

I find the main movie file(s) and use TSmuxer to remux and remove unwanted streams. Originally, I used the vid stream and AC3 so that the files could play on PS3.

Presently, I like playing back on the Mac itself and use PLEX. My iMac 2ghrz 20" alum, plays back the movies 1080p for the most part very well. Some movies remain skiddish due to very high bitrate.

PLEX is free and is a neat replacement for front row. Only draw back is related (in my opinion) to iTunes and in general, Music playback. However, for DVD and blu ray archive of the main move, its impressive.

Recap - VMware with AnyDVD HD to archive your blu ray to hard drive. Manipulate the movie file(s). Most movies you can actually just use the main movie file as is. Plex can pull DTS from HD-DTS and can do AC3 from Dolby audio.

Hope this helps.

For those inclined to convert the M2TS file from your blu ray back up archive, check out Ripbot. It will work in your XP virtual windows but be aware, it takes a LONG time to process.

- Phrehdd

ildondeigiocchi

Nov 23, 2008, 10:00 AM

I want to save myself this whole hassle so I plan on getting the MCE 6X Bluray drive which is made ready to set up in Mac Pro with IDE (I think and hope). Any ideas?

Supaklaw

Nov 24, 2008, 02:45 PM

Well according to the specs, the IDE internal solution will work as the bluray bandwidth is slower than the IDE connection. There may be issues with setting master and slave drives on it, I'm not sure. But whoever said they were going to test it haven't reported back so not sure if IDE will create a bottleneck for speed... I think the reason most Blurays are SATA is simply IDE is being phased out, not necessarily due to needing that speed.

Cave Man

Nov 24, 2008, 02:48 PM

Well according to the specs, the IDE internal solution will work as the bluray bandwidth is slower than the IDE connection... But whoever said they were going to test it haven't reported back so not sure if IDE will create a bottleneck for speed.

Yeah, IDE is plenty. My BD ROM drive for my Macs is USB2 and it plays Blu-ray movies just fine.

Tallest Skil

Nov 24, 2008, 02:49 PM

I want to save myself this whole hassle so I plan on getting the MCE 6X Bluray drive which is made ready to set up in Mac Pro with IDE (I think and hope). Any ideas?

That thing costs around $200 more than you need to pay. Get an LG drive. You can get one that even reads HD DVD for far less than the MCE extortion.

Supaklaw

Nov 24, 2008, 02:53 PM

What USB enclosures did you guys use or could recommend? (just bought the GGC-H20L and don't plan on internalizing it until Apple supports BR)

Tallest Skil

Nov 24, 2008, 03:00 PM

...until Apple supports BR

You mean, supports playing Hollywood Blu-ray movies, right?

Seeing as it supports doing EVERYTHING else from burning data BD-Rs and -REs to authoring HD video disks for playback in standalone Blu-ray players.

Supaklaw

Nov 24, 2008, 03:13 PM

You mean, supports playing Hollywood Blu-ray movies, right?

Seeing as it supports doing EVERYTHING else from burning data BD-Rs and -REs to authoring HD video disks for playback in standalone Blu-ray players.

Yes I mean playing Bluray movie disks, so I can watch Iron Man in high def off my Mac drive as opposed to in Bootcamp.

Tallest Skil

Nov 24, 2008, 03:15 PM

Yes I mean playing Bluray movie disks, so I can watch Iron Man in high def off my Mac drive as opposed to in Bootcamp.

Just clarifying. Wouldn't want to just get a standalone Blu-ray player for a TV, as those are cheaper than both the MCE and LG drives, then, right?

Supaklaw

Nov 24, 2008, 03:29 PM

Just clarifying. Wouldn't want to just get a standalone Blu-ray player for a TV, as those are cheaper than both the MCE and LG drives, then, right?

The LG is $150, I don't see any players for that price, plus its a good burner.

Tallest Skil

Nov 24, 2008, 03:32 PM

The LG is $150, I don't see any players for that price, plus its a good burner.

Just Blu-ray burning or is that the HD DVD playing one?

Fhoo... times have changed. That's cheaper than I thought.

Supaklaw

Nov 24, 2008, 05:35 PM

Just Blu-ray burning or is that the HD DVD playing one?

Fhoo... times have changed. That's cheaper than I thought.

One fitty at OWC, that's the combo HD/BR-DVD player/DVD burner.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/LG/GGCH20L/

kainjow

Nov 25, 2008, 04:30 PM

What USB enclosures did you guys use or could recommend? (just bought the GGC-H20L and don't plan on internalizing it until Apple supports BR)

I didn't buy that drive, just some random one at my local retail store, but the enclosure shouldn't matter, as long as it's the 5.25" one. I went on newegg.com and bought one that was highly rated. It's been working great under Vista.

Supaklaw

Nov 25, 2008, 05:51 PM

I was just asking since a few comments on newegg for certain enclosures claim that the GGC-H20L won't fit certain enclosures due to size... or I guess undersized enclosure design. Was hoping someone who bought my model, and has a functioning enclosure could provide a link or manufacturer/model #.

Neurorad

Nov 27, 2008, 11:07 AM

Supaklaw

Dec 1, 2008, 10:52 AM

Rather than go through all of the problems putting an internal Blu Ray drive for a Mac Pro, I found an external drive that works perfectly with OS X 10.5.5. No issues regarding recognizing the drive or burning with Toast.

I have a Buffalo external Blu Ray Recorder that works great for data. It was very inexpensive ($249 on sale a few weeks ago) and bought at Circuit City.

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/Search.do?c=1&searchType=user&keyword=buffalo+blu&searchSection=All&go.x=0&go.y=0

It is a 6X Blu Ray recorder. It uses USB 2.0 - which works without a problem even through a USB hub.

As others have noted, I cannot play Blu Ray movies on my Mac for both a lack of native Mac software and a lack of HDCP, without resorting to ripping the disk in Windows.

The price is a fraction of all the others, yet uses the same Hitachi drive as many other more expensive units.

Nice suggestion but it's back up to $329, might as well get a PS3, and I wouldn't trust that would be HDCP once it is implemented on Mac.

I tried using a PATA to SATA internal interface but unfortunately it only showed up as a CD drive, and therefore couldn't even recognize the disk.

At this point I'm just getting an enclosure for it, anyone have success with an enclosure and one they can recommend? I'm looking at the Galaxy Metal Gear and the Vantec.

Supaklaw

Dec 3, 2008, 09:57 AM

Nice suggestion but it's back up to $329, might as well get a PS3, and I wouldn't trust that would be HDCP once it is implemented on Mac.

I tried using a PATA to SATA internal interface but unfortunately it only showed up as a CD drive, and therefore couldn't even recognize the disk.

At this point I'm just getting an enclosure for it, anyone have success with an enclosure and one they can recommend? I'm looking at the Galaxy Metal Gear and the Vantec.

Anyone get this specific drive to work? Now I tried using my HD enclosure with a SATA cable and that doesn't even work... maybe I have a dud but anyone have success with this DVD drive?

EDIT: got it to work off one of the internal SATA HD bays, so clearly unit works... apparently both my enclosure and PATA adaptor have some bios that's preventing the drive from being read. I also had to install both AnyDVD HD, and PowerDVD (any to remove region, power to play). So I'm down one harddrive until I get a proper DVD enclosure, and Apple hopefully has Bluray playback support in snow leopard.

phrehdd

Dec 5, 2008, 07:10 PM

Anyone get this specific drive to work? Now I tried using my HD enclosure with a SATA cable and that doesn't even work... maybe I have a dud but anyone have success with this DVD drive?

EDIT: got it to work off one of the internal SATA HD bays, so clearly unit works... apparently both my enclosure and PATA adaptor have some bios that's preventing the drive from being read. I also had to install both AnyDVD HD, and PowerDVD (any to remove region, power to play). So I'm down one harddrive until I get a proper DVD enclosure, and Apple hopefully has Bluray playback support in snow leopard.

If you are archiving those Blu Rays to your hard drive, give Plex a try on OSX (just the main m2ts movie file) or, XMBC in Windows. I don't know what your set up is.

Plex and XMBC are FREE. I have ANYDVD HD and its simply excellent given the complexities of Blu Ray. I also have PowerDVD Ultra which while it does "work" it has a damn ugly interface and can be glitchy. You can also use ANYDVD HD to archive your Blu Ray in ISO form, use a mounter software and PowerDVD will see the entire archive ISO as a "disc" and play back.

For me, I'll stick to archiving my blu rays. I am uninterested in seeing more than once the extras so its just the movie M2TS's I consider. Plex is very good on faster computers and XMBC is also good on Windows (Plex is a "spin off" from XMBC).

- Phrehdd

phrehdd

Dec 5, 2008, 07:13 PM

Anyone get this specific drive to work? Now I tried using my HD enclosure with a SATA cable and that doesn't even work... maybe I have a dud but anyone have success with this DVD drive?

EDIT: got it to work off one of the internal SATA HD bays, so clearly unit works... apparently both my enclosure and PATA adaptor have some bios that's preventing the drive from being read. I also had to install both AnyDVD HD, and PowerDVD (any to remove region, power to play). So I'm down one harddrive until I get a proper DVD enclosure, and Apple hopefully has Bluray playback support in snow leopard.

I have my blu ray internal working from the Mac Pro on board port. (Messy process to take apart and re-install parts).

using a SATA to PATA adaptor is doable. You need to make sure you get the right adaptor and, try to get a "shallow" Blu Ray unit so you have room inside the Mac Pro for the adaptor. It shouldn't be a problem but some Blu Ray and CD internal units are a bit "long" and that's problematic.

If I had to do it again, I would opt for the LG (might still do it) and use an adaptor even though i took both ports 5,6 and ran SATA cables to the location of the optical drives (only one being used now and the other for the future).

I believe that at times, those ports are problematic (5,6) when compared to the SATA to IDE solution.

- Phrehdd

Supaklaw

Dec 8, 2008, 04:02 PM

I have my blu ray internal working from the Mac Pro on board port. (Messy process to take apart and re-install parts).

using a SATA to PATA adaptor is doable. You need to make sure you get the right adaptor and, try to get a "shallow" Blu Ray unit so you have room inside the Mac Pro for the adaptor. It shouldn't be a problem but some Blu Ray and CD internal units are a bit "long" and that's problematic.

If I had to do it again, I would opt for the LG (might still do it) and use an adaptor even though i took both ports 5,6 and ran SATA cables to the location of the optical drives (only one being used now and the other for the future).

I believe that at times, those ports are problematic (5,6) when compared to the SATA to IDE solution.

- Phrehdd

Well the SATA/IDE adaptor I got fit in in the drive bay with the LG... I think because it was cheap it couldn't read the drive properly. Even on the Mac side it wasn't reading he mounted drive except ghosted out so, the adaptor is sort of critical too. I didn't do much research on to what works with Bluray, perhaps if I find one I'll put it internally. Much easier than running SATA cables behind the fan, agreed.

FYI the enclosure I used it excellent, Vantec. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392021

jhonnyzinho

Mar 16, 2009, 02:53 AM

SilverL

Mar 17, 2009, 12:28 AM

Hello everybody I have problems with this drive, sometimes it works one time, then the finder hangs and drawer
only open again if you restart the os. the recording of discs and the majority of problem. I made the connection scheme
as shown here in the forum

thanks:o

sorry my english.

Your english is good, no need to apologize.
I have never noticed that problem on my Mac Pro with the same software.
Maybe you should try reseating the connectors?
Also, do you have anything connected to the second SATA plug?

Dragonforce

Apr 8, 2009, 11:05 AM

Dark Dragoon

Apr 8, 2009, 11:54 AM

I just installed the GGC-H20L in the upper bay - works fine, but exactly every 7 minutes it seeks for a disc (you can hear the laser assy move). Any idea what I could do ? I don't think thats normal :confused:
I have a similar issue with one of my optical drives (Lite-On LH-20A1S), though sometimes it doesn't seek for a long time. The other drive (Samsung SH-S203B) stays quiet.

I haven't managed to find any way of stopping this from happening, though it doesn't appear to have caused any issues.

Dragonforce

Apr 8, 2009, 11:57 AM

Interesting... its kinda annoying though, and it happens EXACTLY every 7 minutes... :(

nanofrog

Apr 8, 2009, 12:10 PM

Dragonforce

Apr 8, 2009, 12:50 PM

Is there a newer firmware available for it?

I got firmware 1.03 on it.
I don't think that theres a newer one available, at least a quick Google search wasn't successful.

System profiler shows the drive as HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW GGC-H20L

Dragonforce

Apr 8, 2009, 02:26 PM

Quick update: I brought it back to the store where I bought it, got a new one and it does exactly the same thing. Seeks after 6-7 mins. I have no idea whats causing this but I'm not going to keep it.

Supaklaw

Apr 9, 2009, 05:45 PM

Quick update: I brought it back to the store where I bought it, got a new one and it does exactly the same thing. Seeks after 6-7 mins. I have no idea whats causing this but I'm not going to keep it.

Which OS is this happening on?

1.03 is the latest firmware.

Tom Sawyer

Dec 20, 2009, 11:42 AM

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but wondering if anyone has run into problems with their MP not going to sleep (on it's own) after installing a BR drive?

I've got an LG model HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW GBC-H20L, just a reader, but ever since I installed it my MP will not sleep on it's own. I can put it to sleep with no problem. It is the only Optical drive installed, the IDE port is not being used. The machine does sleep fine with the drive disconnected (or the original super drive installed).

I have tried the drive with an IDE to SATA adapter and now have the drive connected directly to the ODD Sata port 0 on the motherboard. Early 2008 Octomac here.

TIA!