I have an old 2008MBPro. Is it possible to uninstall its optical/DVD drive and place it in an enclosure, in order to make it an external optical/DVD drive?
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DVD drive enclosures?
- Thread starter zoran
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- drive dvd enclosure macbookpro
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OldMacs4Me
macrumors 68030
Yes no doubt, but I am seeing tray loading complete external USB-CD/DVD drives/enclosures in the $20-50 CDN range. Might as well get the entire unit brand new. Personally I much prefer tray loads, just because it is impossible to clean the head on slot drives.
OldMacs4Me
macrumors 68030
Assuming your old optical drive is SATA 1 or 2. Check in system profiler as I am not sure when Apple changed over the MBP lines from the older ATA. You could use this enclosure, but you would still be housing a 12 year old optical drive. Others also available at a higher cost.
NOTE: This is the Canadian version of Amazon, you will need to search for your own location.
Should handle either tray or slim line version SATA optical drives, but best to check before you buy. I do have an older 2004(?) Vantec 5.25" ATA/USB/FW400 enclosure I still use as it has better optical drive, than came with my MacPro and have had no issues with that Vantec.
NOTE: This is the Canadian version of Amazon, you will need to search for your own location.
Vantec USB 3.0 Slim SATA Optical Drive Enclosure - 12.7mm (NST-520S3-BK)
USB 3.0 Slim SATA Optical Drive Enclosure (for 12.7mm, Tray type Optical Drive) Introducing the NexStar USB 3.0 Slim SATA Optical Drive Enclosure (12.7mm); a thin optical drive enclosure designed to be compact and light to complement your Laptop. This enclosure will convert your slim 12.7mm heigh...
www.amazon.ca
Should handle either tray or slim line version SATA optical drives, but best to check before you buy. I do have an older 2004(?) Vantec 5.25" ATA/USB/FW400 enclosure I still use as it has better optical drive, than came with my MacPro and have had no issues with that Vantec.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
You can get a brand new slim optical USB external drive for about $25.
OldMacs4Me
macrumors 68030
Agreed. I can see no advantage or reason for going the separate enclosure route here.
You could just get a USB to SATA cable for $7.99.
One nice thing about having a desktop is you could just slap it in there. Perhaps you could find an old, working desktop for free to put it in.
One nice thing about having a desktop is you could just slap it in there. Perhaps you could find an old, working desktop for free to put it in.
Erehy Dobon
Suspended
Yes, this is a valid solution. It won't win any style points but from a Wife Acceptance Factor score, it's very inexpensive.
mmomega
Suspended
Some of the drives in some models of MacBook Pros and iMacs have non-standard sata and power connectors.
So some models can be repurposed, some can't without a specilized connector.
Also many Macs that came with CD/DVD drives can only be formatted/reinstalled from the internal CD/DVD drive.
I have 2 machines that will not boot from a USB stick and have to be formatted with the internal drive.
1 of them works with an Apple only external drive but not another brand, the other will not boot from any external drives.
I had removed the internal DVD drive and put an SSD in it's place.
Tossed the drive. Years later wanted to format/reinstall, no go.
I found a work around but if anything hold on to the drive if you plan on keeping the computer.
If you have found and put RPC1 or RPC2 auto-reset firmware on an optical drive keeping that optical drive can be handy if you have DVD disks from multiple different regions. That would be the main reason to do this in my opinion. Otherwise, I agree getting a new drive would be best.