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External Superdrive solution for 12'' PB?

Zmmyt

Zmmyt

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 6, 2005
1,767
902
Hi everyone,

My Superdrive is giving me a headache. Got it repaired three times now, all under Apple Care, but I'm still not happy with it. Burning-speeds, reliability and acceptance of certain medias are a pain.

Is it possible to get a third party burner and if so, what make would you recommend?

Cheers!
 
It is possible I believe. However, if you want the rest of your unit covered under apple care then you will have to have the replacement done at a local authorized service specialist. OWC might be able to do it as well.
Personally, I wouldn't change the internal drive at this point in a PB. Buy an external that you can use with a future machine, or if you can afford it upgrade. Apples refurbished units are cheaper and in my experience more reliable than brand new. Best of luck.
(I know its hard to let go of the 12" PB, but at some point we all must let go) ;)
 
JasonK said:
It is possible I believe. However, if you want the rest of your unit covered under apple care then you will have to have the replacement done at a local authorized service specialist. OWC might be able to do it as well.
Personally, I wouldn't change the internal drive at this point in a PB. Buy an external that you can use with a future machine, or if you can afford it upgrade. Apples refurbished units are cheaper and in my experience more reliable than brand new. Best of luck.
(I know its hard to let go of the 12" PB, but at some point we all must let go) ;)
Click to expand...

I'm not planning on replacing the Superdrive, all I want is a reliable external burner which works flawlessly with my PB, in case such thing exists.

No.
 
iknowyourider said:
HaHa:D Your post made me feel better.

I sometimes use my 12" 1.5 PB for my main computer. I use an el cheapo Pioneer dvd burner for an external superdrive (mainly to preserve my internal drive). It is so easy to use.
Click to expand...

Cheers! Does this mean I could get any external burner and use it with my PB?
 
You can use any USB burner. I use one I got on ebay for $30 a few years ago and it works great.
 
Two years ago I took a 50 € internal LG DVD burner from an old PC and put it in a cheap 5.25" USB case. And surprise surprise I was able to burn a lot of DVDs on my PowerBook. It worked flawless for burning MP3-DVDs in iTunes. Sometimes I had some trouble with the regular burning of DVDs in Finder, however.
 
If your PB still has applecare, the problem is that they most likely lock you into the old UJ 845 Matashita burner because that's the last tecnhology that shipped on the 2005/2006 Powerbook 12" G4. I know because I had the last one made just about.

You need to ask Apple to upgrade the burner to either a UJ 846 or 847, tell them you will pay the difference, you just need a burner that works for you.

The UJ 845 was not dual layer. But the Uj 846 and 847 were.

There could even be faster internal dvd burners out there, I have not kept up with the technology.

The reason you want Apple to do this is because it is so difficult getting into the Powerbook 12" case. I would never attempt this myself.

I'd opt this way over the external.

But if you do go external burner, get firewire. Why would you waste your time with USB?
 
California said:
If your PB still has applecare, the problem is that they most likely lock you into the old UJ 845 Matashita burner because that's the last tecnhology that shipped on the 2005/2006 Powerbook 12" G4. I know because I had the last one made just about.

You need to ask Apple to upgrade the burner to either a UJ 846 or 847, tell them you will pay the difference, you just need a burner that works for you.

The UJ 845 was not dual layer. But the Uj 846 and 847 were.

There could even be faster internal dvd burners out there, I have not kept up with the technology.

The reason you want Apple to do this is because it is so difficult getting into the Powerbook 12" case. I would never attempt this myself.

I'd opt this way over the external.

But if you do go external burner, get firewire. Why would you waste your time with USB?
Click to expand...

I'll probably go with the Firewire option.

Thanks a lot.

EDIT: I have no clue which make to buy. Any recommendations are highly appreciated.
 
So I was over at Samsung and had a look at their slim slot-in drives:

SE-T084M

Bild 2.jpg


Will this drive work with my Mac? Do you think it is a reliable drive?

Cheers.
 
Do you still have any Applecare time remaining? If so, take it in for the fourth repair on the same issue. My understanding is sometimes after three unsuccessful repairs, you get a replacement.
 
joeybagadonutz said:
Do you still have any Applecare time remaining? If so, take it in for the fourth repair on the same issue. My understanding is sometimes after three unsuccessful repairs, you get a replacement.
Click to expand...

They have already replaced the drive a few times, but I think it's just an unreliable drive by nature. It always has been quite picky when it came to certain medias and the write-speeds were always awful compared to other drives.

It is time for a quality burner. I don't burn a lot of CD/DVDs but when I do I want to be sure it works and don't want to wait for 20 mins to finish burning a DVD.
 
Always get a firewire burner if you are going external.

Or you could hack the MacBook Air superdrive which is usb, but I bet it is much slower than firewire.

Again, if it were me, I'd ask Apple to upgrade me and have them put the best burner you can get inside your PB internally. It takes an ATA burner not the newer ones with SATA connections.

Also upgrade your hard drive to either a 100gb 7200rpm drive if you can find one or the WD 250gb 5400 drive. You will notice a difference. I had that PB, so I know.

Like I said, if you still have Applecare, talk them into upgrading you to a UJ 847 or buy a drive and have them upgrade you. I would not do this take apart myself on the Powerbook because it is difficult.
 
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