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Cheapest external Optical drive the boots ISO's

C

chupacabra31

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 6, 2011
58
0
In need of a cheap (inexpensive and works) Optical drive for my mid 2010 macbook pro 13". that can boot ISOs.

Unfortunately the internal optical that came with my mac in a usb external enclosure does not boot ISOs (plays dvds and reads cds fine, but no booting of ISOs).

Thanks in advance!
 
I feel like iso format can only be bootable under a windows OS.
 
And1ss said:
I feel like iso format can only be bootable under a windows OS.
Click to expand...

Anyone else comment on this?

I think I know of at least one individual who used a bootable ISO from Intel to update his firmware via his samsung usb external optical drive and I think he does not have windows of any kind.
 
Did a quick google search and it does seem possible thought not that pretty booting from iso files.
 
An iso is a disk image file. You're not supposed to boot from them directly. (Well you can in VMWare or Parallels, but that's different.) You are supposed to burn them to a CD or DVD, using a program like Disk Utility or Toast, then boot from them.

In other words, if you open your burned disc and see the iso file, you did it wrong. I've burned several iso files to CDs and booted from them using the built in Superdrive.
 
Darth.Titan said:
I've burned several iso files to CDs and booted from them using the built in Superdrive.
Click to expand...

The apple superdrive in an external enclosure?

Actually The firmware ISO from intel is made to work with macs, and it does work when the superdrive is in the mac, however when it is in an external enclosure usb bus powered, it does not work.
 
Last edited:
jdechko said:
What Darth.Titan said is correct. The ISO format is more like a zip file or a dmg file than anything else. Using Disk Utility (OS X) or ImgBurn (Win), you can burn an exact copy of the source media to a physical disc. And, as Darth.Titan pointed out, if you browse the drive and see only one file (the .iso) you are doing it wrong.

Here is an illustrated guide to burning an ISO to DVD using Disk Utility.
Click to expand...

Your comment does not make sense. I did not have an issue with how to burn and ISO disk, I can burn them just fine. The ISOs boot just fine as long as I have the optical drive inside my mac not in an enclosure connected via the USB

-peace
 
Last edited:
Turns out you can boot from the apple optical drive from an external usb enclosure. I am not sure what was the deal before, but it works fine now and I was able to see the CD at boot up and update my SSDs firmware.:eek:
 
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