Mac Mini Server and Mac Book Air Superdriver

Serif · Oct 30, 2009

The Apple party line seems to be that the Mac Book Air Superdrive only works with the Mac Book Air and the new Mac Mini Server. Is this because of hardware, firmware, software or marketing?

Is there an actual hardware difference regarding the power rating of the USB interfaces on the server version of the Mini Server compared with the standard Minis?

Is there something special in the boot ROM of the Mini Server that allows it to use this drive? The boot ROM version on my server is MM31.00AD.B00, is this the same on the other Mini models?

I'm guessing I'd still be able to continue using the drive if I loaded the Mini Server with Snow Leopard Client.

psingh01 · Oct 30, 2009

if I recall there was something about the amount of power that the USB port on the air supplied that let it run the SuperDrive. I don't remember the details but it was discussed at length here when air came out.

MacToddB · Oct 30, 2009

Serif said:
The Apple party line seems to be that the Mac Book Air Superdrive only works with the Mac Book Air and the new Mac Mini Server.

(EDIT: I read that line wrong, I think. Were you questioning if the Mini SERVER supports the DVD, because it does... see below)

If you go through the motions of ordering the Mac Mini Server at store.apple.com, you'll see the Mac Book Air Superdrive as the first optional accessory.

When I bought my Mac Mini Server at the Apple store last week, they offered the external DVD (I passed).

"External SuperDrive
Compact and convenient, the external MacBook Air SuperDrive connects to your Mac mini with a single USB cable. It lets you install new software and play and burn both CDs and DVDs, including double-layer DVDs.
Learn more"

stukdog · Oct 31, 2009

To confirm your other question, it does work on the Mac mini server even if the client version of the OS is installed.

davidlv · Nov 1, 2009

stukdog said:
To confirm your other question, it does work on the Mac mini server even if the client version of the OS is installed.

I do not mean to hijack the thread, but this implies/states that the dual HD Server Mini can have the client version of Snow Leopard installed rather than the Server version included with the machine. Is that for sure? Also, excuse the ignorance, does the server version include all of the regular operation features of the client (regular) OS 10.6.x?
I would love to have that Mini as a 2nd computer, get rid of the huge, loud, hot G5 tower, but I have no need for a "server" per se.

Anybody know for certain?
Thanks

Serif · Nov 1, 2009

davidlv said:
I do not mean to hijack the thread, but this implies/states that the dual HD Server Mini can have the client version of Snow Leopard installed rather than the Server version included with the machine. Is that for sure? Also, excuse the ignorance, does the server version include all of the regular operation features of the client (regular) OS 10.6.x?

Snow Leopard Client runs fine on the Mac Mini Server. You do of course have to get it installed without a local DVD drive unless you have a USB / firewire optical you can use. That said, using the drive on another Mac isn't hard, either using target drive mode over firewire, or doing a remote install over a wireless or wired network. One thing you might need to be aware of is that the new Minis have Firewire 800 sockets (which are physically different from the older Firewire 400 ones), so you need appropriate cables.

The OS X server software runs anything I've installed so far. Admittedly that isn't much because I'm trying to keep it fairly clean. Is anyone aware of anything that won't run on OS X server?

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