Advice about best replacement for MacTower Super Drive and comparison between other brands both internal and external options. (4K or Ultra HD burn)?

[makinfilms]

There may be other posts asking similar but not in 2023 current posts.

My question is that I am not sure how much longer my internal drive a SuperDrive will survive. It makes noises and sounds or acts intermittent errors.

I use this now with Rocio Toast and for playing DVDs SD not HD borrowed from the library.

Also I have an extremely large inventory of DVD-R DL and CD-R
Even an older still working Lightscribe DVD color burner that used to work in my office PC. Once it died I had it removed thinking it would work at home for the mac or something like an external drive for my old SCSI Sampler music instrument . That did not happen.
One is not SCSI obviously but the other has no drivers for the mac.

My interface needs are internal for the tower mac as an option
It also could be compared as a
usb-C option external burning drive, like OWC. For a newer MacBook Air M1. The latter is a good idea I bet since the technology is newer than my Mac tower.

But I ask because I need advice on this issue, looking online I see some external options but it is not like going to Fry’s used to be!

Some have no reviews and the brand is not even one I can pronounce.

Lastly, what is the benefit with the M-Disc ? Should that be a must for my investment , and will it really last 1000 years!? ;-)

Thanks again I am grateful for any advice and suggestions on this matter or matters.

 

[makinfilms]

I add for Archive purposes as I use the cloud and external RAID for data storage or images of my library.
But having stacks of old HDs seem to have been the last option to not be obsolete like vhs, Betamax, DAT audio and CDs etc etc.

 

[Fishrrman]

Are you using an SCSI connection to the optical drive in the Mac tower (you didn't tell us WHICH Mac you have)?

Probably going to be difficult to find a new-production "bare" SCSI-based optical drive now.

Perhaps you might have to consider an external drive which connects via USB.

 

[makinfilms]

Sorry I was rambling in my inquiry.
The scsi was a side statement and needs to be disregarded.

That is just my digression about the pc light scribe drive that sits in a stack of hardware pulled from past computers.

I have the cheese grater but that doesn’t help either because some consider one more a cheese grater than the original but I will say I upgraded my processor or had help with the build. I will list the build in my next reply sorry.

Oh thanks for the quick response

The external USB seems to be the only thing I can find and it will work with High Sierra the last macOS this tower can handle due to my nvidia Titan X and web drivers or hacked into working but no metal!

The internal SuperDrive is the one that came originally with the computer and I assume it’s ide. Not sure and sorry for again rambling

I need to edit
But the last thing I might add is I had a LaCie external FireWire 400 device that worked for years until I think the power supply was misused or mixed up and it stopped working
But it might just be the enclosure I never thought to check .

That LaCie external drive was much faster than all of my internal super drives from MacBook Pro to tower .

I miss it indeed!

That was why I saw the OWC as an option and it handles BluRay or the larger optical discs I have not even considered yet.

Thanks again

And I just thought the internal is cleaner and doesn’t hog up a usb port or I have two firewire800 ports not even being used at present that might work but it’s obsolete or appears to be ?

 

[pmiles]

I purchased an LG 16x Internal Blu-ray/DVD/CD writer from OWC (Item code LGEBH16NS40) for my Mid-2010 Mac Pro Tower. Added it to the second bay. Worked flawlessly along with my existing SuperDrive. I eventually purchased a Mercury Pro External Case for it from OWC as well since I ultimately ended up switching to a PC about a year ago. This new setup (external) also works flawlessly.

My prior Mac Pro was SCSI based, the 2010 Mac Pro was not. I don't know if your older Mac will support the USB interface, OWC would know if you reach out to them.

I think your bigger concern is the DVDs/CDs that you have burned over the years. These babies are likely to become non-readable over time. In a lot of cases, the drive in which they were originally created with is usually the drive that will continue to play them, not necessarily other drives over the long haul. It's basically why user created DVDs for playback in commercial DVD players often failed over time. Optical drives went the way of the dodo, digital storage is the de-facto means of storage these days... for good reason.

Honestly, I think you need to get your stuff off the optical media while you still can and invest in a NAS to store the content on. I have a NAS for that very purpose.

Lastly, as much as I loved my old Mac Pro Tower, it eventually reached a point in which some sort of catastrophic failure was more likely in it's future than not. I chose to switch to the PC platform as opposed to getting one of the new ARM Macs. I haven't regretted my decision either. You're concerned about the optical drive now, next it will be a power supply, the motherboard, et al. Unless you have access to replacement parts for the machine, you're basically banking on the idea that the machine will survive. This is where having all your data on a NAS comes in handy... should your beast finally curl up it's toes, your data will still be accessible on a medium that at least isn't over a decade old or more.

It's sort of like finding a pile of old 8mm film rolls in the attic. Unless you have a means to watch them, they really have no value. If you can't play DVDs or CDs that once played on an older optical drive that you no longer have access to, you might as well not have them.

Sometimes you are just forced to upgrade. Not saying you should abandon your old Mac, just have a reliable alternative just in case.

 

[pmiles]

Just as a side note, in order to play UHD or 4K media, you need a drive that specifcally supports it. A standard Blu-Ray drive doesn't play UHD or 4K media for example. Same goes for burning said media.

Keep in mind however that burned discs are never as reliable as a pressed disc, which is why people stream content these days. You will need a massive amount of storage to rip UHD/4K content as opposed to standard DVD or Blu-Rays.