Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Blu-Ray Drive using extra SATA port on Mac Pro not recognized in Windows!!

pkoch1

pkoch1

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 3, 2007
527
0
Boston
Hi everyone!

So I bought that LG HD-DVD/Blu-Ray drive for my Mac Pro. I used the extra SATA ports near the fan to install it, and it works great while using OSX, but it won't work in Windows.

I read somewhere about enabling AHCI or something like that in Windows so it can recognize the spare SATA port, and therefore recognize the Blu-Ray drive, but I cannot figure it out for the life of me. It's awful confusing...

I want to be able to rip my Blu-Ray movies onto my computer to pop them onto the :apple:tv, but the only hurdle is having Windows recognize the drive. Any help at all would be very appreciated.

Thanks!!
 
I know it's kind of a weird issue, but if anyone has had any success using the extra SATA ports in Windows, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks!
 
Sorry can't help you, but you may have more luck posting this in Desktops forum rather than here.. as this doesn't have anything to do with AppleTV directly.

FWIW, I use my PS3 as "remote" BluRay drive for my iMac :)
 
hitekalex said:
Sorry can't help you, but you may have more luck posting this in Desktops forum rather than here.. as this doesn't have anything to do with AppleTV directly.

FWIW, I use my PS3 as "remote" BluRay drive for my iMac :)
Click to expand...

yeah, duh you're probably right.

I'll try over there. Thanks.
 
Tallest Skil said:
Windows cannot see the open SATA ports. There is no solution to this problem that allows you to continue using them.
Click to expand...

I've read a few things about enabling AHCI or something to use it in Windows. Someone else mentioned Ubuntu letting it work for something but it's not something I understand.

From what I hear, it is possible, it just requires some advanced knowledge, or someone with advanced knowledge who can help me out.

Thanks for your help though, and I'll have this thread moved instead of creating a new one.
 
pkoch1 said:
Hi everyone!

So I bought that LG HD-DVD/Blu-Ray drive for my Mac Pro. I used the extra SATA ports near the fan to install it, and it works great while using OSX, but it won't work in Windows.

I read somewhere about enabling AHCI or something like that in Windows so it can recognize the spare SATA port, and therefore recognize the Blu-Ray drive, but I cannot figure it out for the life of me. It's awful confusing...

I want to be able to rip my Blu-Ray movies onto my computer to pop them onto the :apple:tv, but the only hurdle is having Windows recognize the drive. Any help at all would be very appreciated.

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

First - try getting either a SATA to IDE type adaptor and attach it to your IDE connection (same as what superdrive's use)..

Second - try using your SATA blu ray in an external enclosure via USB2 connection

Third - This is mixed here but... I bought back when from FASTMAC a blu ray burner for MAC that does work within XP running in Fusion. Only catch was the drive is not perfect. It could read about 80 percent of the discs thrown at it and the rest would not mount under Mac or Windows in Fusion.

My guess your best shot is using an external enclosure. I will probably have to go that route though it pains me after the limited success I had (getting a refund from FASTMAC after HORRIBLE communication with them and their lack of help). I'll probably put back in the SuperDrive and chalk it up as a learning experience.

- Phrehdd
 
While I appreciate the advice, and it will be a last resort for me, I am really looking for a way to get the internal drive working via the ODD SATA ports. The only real hurdle I have is enabling AHCI in Windows XP so I can install this driver from Intel that should enable use of the SATA ports.
 
You need to modify the GRUB bootloader in windows. Pretty sure it can only be done in Linux.

Get a SATA to IDE adapter and enjoy!
 
nanofrog said:
Installing the AHCI drivers will solve this, no hardware solutions necessary. :)

How to. ;)
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don't speak Windows very well, so that collection of forums all seemed like gibberish to me. It leads me to about 6 different threads without really giving me any steps on how to accomplish anything. If anybody understands any of it, could they please try (in plain english) to explain how to do it?

Thanks!
 
I have still not done it yet as I had an irrational fear of erasing my Mac OS X boot disk in some ubuntu partition editor. Still waiting to find the courage !!
 
pkoch1 said:
Unfortunately I don't speak Windows very well, so that collection of forums all seemed like gibberish to me. It leads me to about 6 different threads without really giving me any steps on how to accomplish anything. If anybody understands any of it, could they please try (in plain english) to explain how to do it?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
IIRC, other members have done it successfully. :)
It would take some patience while doing a search though. I saw more on this some time back, but not so much lately. :( Even the search function here didn't turn up too much this time.
Rankrotten said:
I have still not done it yet as I had an irrational fear of erasing my Mac OS X boot disk in some ubuntu partition editor. Still waiting to find the courage !!
Click to expand...
Coward! :p

I've not had problems with wiped partitions due to a partition tool malfunction. Only when I did something stupid. :eek:

Can you, or are at least willing, to separate the OS's on different drives?
(My solution to the same paranoia). :D Cheap, as in smaller HDD's work well. :p
 
nanofrog said:
Can you, or are at least willing, to separate the OS's on different drives?
(My solution to the same paranoia). :D Cheap, as in smaller HDD's work well. :p
Click to expand...

Already have done, this is my setup:
HDD1: Mac OS X 10.5.6
HDD2: Partition 1 HFS+, Partition 2 Windows Vista x64
HDD3: Spare
HDD4: Spare
 
nanofrog said:
IIRC, other members have done it successfully. :)
It would take some patience while doing a search though. I saw more on this some time back, but not so much lately. :( Even the search function here didn't turn up too much this time.
Click to expand...

It's not about patience. I have searched and searched many forums for an answer and have spent probably about 30 hours trying what I've read. The roblem is that I don't understand what is in these forums. If it's a 5 step process, step 1 is made up of a good 5 steps that I don't understand, and step one of that is made up of 5 more steps I don't understand. I really don't want to have to buy anything else because it should all just be os settings at this point.
 
pkoch1 said:
It's not about patience. I have searched and searched many forums for an answer and have spent probably about 30 hours trying what I've read. The roblem is that I don't understand what is in these forums. If it's a 5 step process, step 1 is made up of a good 5 steps that I don't understand, and step one of that is made up of 5 more steps I don't understand. I really don't want to have to buy anything else because it should all just be os settings at this point.
Click to expand...
Hmm... Yeah, information you can't understand won't do you much good. :(

Could you post the links?
It might help get it figured out.
 
nanofrog said:
Hmm... Yeah, information you can't understand won't do you much good. :(

Could you post the links?
It might help get it figured out.
Click to expand...

Haha, yeah. I work with OSX all the time, and am pretty proficient with it, but windows on the other hand...I'm kinda a dummy.:eek:

Well I was following the link you sent me a few posts up. Your post had lots of links to other threads on it, which had links to other threads. I feel like enabling AHCI is something that should be pretty easy. I hope that anyone who has accomplished it can just come in here and do a little thing like this:

1. go to ______
2. click on ______
3. under _____, make sure that ______ is set to ______

rather than

1. add an entry to grub to chainload to your windows partition:confused::confused:
2. add an entry to grub BIOS bootloader ubuntu ahci windows crazy:confused::confused:
3. simply write 0x40 instead of 0x80 to the PCI config space:confused::confused:

haha. As you can see I need some serious help in this department.:D

thanks!
 
Did you ever enable ahci when booting either linux or windows via the grub bootloader? I'm working on it presently...I installed my sata drive on friday and then on saturday and sunday I installed both vista and ubuntu. From my understanding, you do not need to install ubuntu at all, you can just load the Live CD, create a small /boot partition, add in the grub stage1, stage2, and menu files, edit vista registry to have it check for ahci, use terminal in ubuntu to have windows access the /boot partition. And once in ahci mode, just install the intel drivers. I'm just thinking off the top of my head of what I've read, but I'm going to give it a shot tonight most likely. I might pull my Mac OS X HDD from my MP before I start screwing with stuff. We'll see :D
 
Just found this out!

BOOTCAMP 3.1 or apple's latest bootcamp drivers will include firmware updates to allow 2008 mac pros to boot off odd ports to windows. I got this from an inside who works in Apple Engineering.
 
but..

If you buy a sata optical drive and convert the connector to PATA, will you lose native sata speed?? I am now seeing that it is not worth it to buy sata optical drives for 2006-2008 mac pros because Apple ****ed up the firmware!!!!!!!!!! DAMN APPLE!

YES, I AM EXTREMELY ANGRY ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!


kingkezz said:
You need to modify the GRUB bootloader in windows. Pretty sure it can only be done in Linux.

Get a SATA to IDE adapter and enjoy!
Click to expand...
 
Solution

I guess get SATA optical drives and get sata-pata converters which will not only keep the native sata speed, but will also allow you to use them in the ODD PORTS.

2ND: BOOTCAMP 3.1 has the firmwares needed to make odd ports bootable in any OS, even windows.



Tallest Skil said:
Windows cannot see the open SATA ports. There is no solution to this problem that allows you to continue using them.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back