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External Optical Drive

I was told that a blu ray won't work on macs and you have to make sure any drive will work with a mac. Based on that I went with a apple super drive to avoid any problems. It works great for what I need and I didn't work about compatibility. A few days ago I read on one of these forums where someone was using a blu ray drive on his mac so now I am confused. I would be curious as well if you could use a blu ray drive on a mac.
 
Recommendations would also be nice. The Apple drive seems a bit pricey considering how seldom I'll use it combined with the fact that it can't read BluRays.
 
The external Superdrive has a special usb plug that pulls more power out of the Air. Other manufacturers do not have this adaptation and require 2 usb ports to run at full speed.
 
kwajkat said:
I was told that a blu ray won't work on macs and you have to make sure any drive will work with a mac. Based on that I went with a apple super drive to avoid any problems. It works great for what I need and I didn't work about compatibility. A few days ago I read on one of these forums where someone was using a blu ray drive on his mac so now I am confused. I would be curious as well if you could use a blu ray drive on a mac.
Click to expand...

OS X does not support Blu Ray. You may be able to get the drive to work in Boot Camp under Windows 7, but it would not work with OS X.
 
Thanks KPOM, that was my understanding as well. I am happy with my apple superdrive for those rare times that I will need a drive. Was just thinking that using the blu ray for movies would be nice especially if I want to put the digital copies into my itunes.
 
How hard is it to use another computer's disk drive to install something on an Air? You can do that right? I only need to use an optical drive once to install my school's copy of Office on my computer and I really don't want to buy an external drive to use once.
 
bigp9998 said:
How hard is it to use another computer's disk drive to install something on an Air? You can do that right? I only need to use an optical drive once to install my school's copy of Office on my computer and I really don't want to buy an external drive to use once.
Click to expand...

You can "borrow" a drive, not sure how it works exactly though.
 
bigp9998 said:
How hard is it to use another computer's disk drive to install something on an Air? You can do that right? I only need to use an optical drive once to install my school's copy of Office on my computer and I really don't want to buy an external drive to use once.
Click to expand...

It's very easy with another Mac.

With a Windows PC I'm not so sure.
 
This is the drive I'm getting after doing some research. There are a few cheaper drives but this works on both OS X and Windows 7, and the reviews seem pretty good. Cheapest by $15 ($45 vs. Apple) or so after going to stores today as well, and Amazon means quick shipping/returns if needed.



Samsung USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive
 
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Please note with this drive any most drivers that are not the superdrive, you will need to plug it into two separate USB ports to draw enough power. Since the MBAs two usb drives are on either side, you will probably need a separate extension cable to bring one of the connectors to the other side.

Note: Picture of what I am describing from that same drive

Amazon Picture


edit: apparently it works with only one usb but will run slower when burning. i might just pick this up...
 
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Does Samsung SE-084F support booting

I am looking to get a third party external USB DVD. Does anyone here us the Samsung SE-084F? I want to confirm that it supports booting from the DVD ROM for my MBA 13 2011.

Thanks
 
You should be able to boot from any USB drive. I was even able to boot from an Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive.
 
Fuchal said:
You should be able to boot from any USB drive. I was even able to boot from an Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive.
Click to expand...

Thank you. A retailer here was telling me that the 084F cannot boot while the 084C/D supports booting.
Does anyone here use this specific model? I would really appreciate some feedback.
 

Samsung USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive

The Samsung drive comes with a USB lead with 2 plugs in case one USB port does not provide enough power. However, I have this Samsung drive and can vouch that one USB port on the MBA (2011) provides enough power for the drive in both OSX and Win7.
 
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atruong said:
Please note with this drive any most drivers that are not the superdrive, you will need to plug it into two separate USB ports to draw enough power. Since the MBAs two usb drives are on either side, you will probably need a separate extension cable to bring one of the connectors to the other side.

Note: Picture of what I am describing from that same drive

Amazon Picture


edit: apparently it works with only one usb but will run slower when burning. i might just pick this up...
Click to expand...

I have the samsung drive, I use only one USB port (2011 MBA) and it works just fine.
 
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