2005 Mac Mini optical drives

[swamprock]

I've got a 2005 Mac Mini that I just overclocked to 1.42ghz. I figured I could tinker with it before putting it on the shelf, but discovered that the optical drives that they use are pretty specific (mine's dead). I read somewhere that the aluminum Powerbook drives would work, but the one I have doesn't. Early Macbook drives are also supposed to be compatible, so I tried the one in my dismantled 2006 black Macbook... nope.

Has anyone figured out a way to get other Powerbook/Macbook drives to work on these things? The system won't even boot with an incompatible optical drive. I also read somewhere that there might be a switch or jumper that I could set, but none of the drives I possess have any switches or jumpers.

I was going to use this as a Playstation emulator machine to run my discs, but may have to nix that idea...

EDIT: tried all of the jumper positions on the hard drive, but still no dice...

 

[AphoticD]

I've got a 2005 Mac Mini that I just overclocked to 1.42ghz. I figured I could tinker with it before putting it on the shelf, but discovered that the optical drives that they use are pretty specific (mine's dead). I read somewhere that the aluminum Powerbook drives would work, but the one I have doesn't. Early Macbook drives are also supposed to be compatible, so I tried the one in my dismantled 2006 black Macbook... nope.

Has anyone figured out a way to get other Powerbook/Macbook drives to work on these things? The system won't even boot with an incompatible optical drive. I also read somewhere that there might be a switch or jumper that I could set, but none of the drives I possess have any switches or jumpers.

I was going to use this as a Playstation emulator machine to run my discs, but may have to nix that idea...

EDIT: tried all of the jumper positions on the hard drive, but still no dice...

I did a little googling myself and can't find anything on how to set the master/slave arrangement on these drives. Seems they must come pre-configured (maybe set in ROM?) And considering the Mac mini was the only Mac to use a slim, jumper-less, portable ATA drive, shared on the same bus as the HDD, it may be a case of needing to locate the exact model.

Just curiously, grab a Tiger/Leopard boot DVD, disconnect the HDD and and see if the Macbook drive boots from the DVD. If this is the case then it would explain that there is a master/slave collision preventing startup.

Also, how dead is your existing drive? I can attest to resurrecting a few ODDs from the dead with just a tear-down, clean out and a rebuild.

 

[swamprock]

I did a little googling myself and can't find anything on how to set the master/slave arrangement on these drives. Seems they must come pre-configured (maybe set in ROM?) And considering the Mac mini was the only Mac to use a slim, jumper-less, portable ATA drive, shared on the same bus as the HDD, it may be a case of needing to locate the exact model.

Just curiously, grab a Tiger/Leopard boot DVD, disconnect the HDD and and see if the Macbook drive boots from the DVD. If this is the case then it would explain that there is a master/slave collision preventing startup.

Also, how dead is your existing drive? I can attest to resurrecting a few ODDs from the dead with just a tear-down, clean out and a rebuild.

Well, it turns out that it may just need a bias adjustment, as I can get it to read darker- surfaced CDs and DVDs. I took the cover off the drive and don't see a pot to make the adjustment, so the bias must be set with a voltage regulator. It's just as well, since adjusting the bias upwards burns the laser out at a faster pace, so it would be a temporary fix.

I'm considering a laser assembly transplant, but looking at the mechanism, it looks a bit daunting. Still, I've got nothing to lose since I've got a pile of slim drives out of various Powerbooks and Macbooks, and it's just a tinkerbox anyway, and not a very powerful one...