mac DVD burners?

[Muzukun]

Hey,

I have a question, I'm still a PC user and now and then I'll just go out, grab a new cdrom drive just cuse it's faster (and they're cheap ). Since I'm looking at a mac now... can I still do this? Example if I got the powerbook could I just go out, buy a new dvd burner IDE form and slap it into a firewire enclosure and expect the mac to recognize it? Or is there something entirely different I have to do? I looked at some sites and the drives I was looking at didn't mention anything about mac os support (which should answer the question in and of itself).

Also does the same apply to hard drives? Can I buy a random 120 gig hd and throw it in a firewire enclosure and expect it to work? Thanks!

 

[BrianKonarsMac]

welcome to macs

anything will work as long as it's standards based and not some propietary windows only thing (the only hardware that never worked for me was a D-Link Wireless PCI card, everything else is plug n play from hard drives to dvd burners. PC audio cards/graphics cards won't work without some messing around typically. most hardware will work without using the supplied software (which tends to windows only anyways).

in short form. yes.

 

[ChrisFromCanada]

but external burners don't have support for external DVD burners (I think) so you might need a patch or two (we can help you with that). 90% of the time you will truly be plug and play.

EDIT yes that looks very stupid I meant to say iApps don't have support for external DVD burners.

 

[Muzukun]

but external burners don't have support for external DVD burners (I think) so you might need a patch or two (we can help you with that). 90% of the time you will truly be plug and play.

EDIT yes that looks very stupid I meant to say iApps don't have support for external DVD burners.

ummm... yeah ^-^ so all in all just get the DVD burner I want and in the overall worst case scenario just use it on my windows PC?

What about hard drives? all I have to do is just get one and format it to the mac FS right?

 

[Mord]

if it dosent work out of the box just use a program called patch burn (google it)

as for hard drives any one will work (unless it has some kind of fault) but if you are looking for an internal one for a powerbook make sure it's 9.5mm high any higher and it wont fitbut with caddys and caddy will work with any hard drive (as long as it fits)

 

[Muzukun]

if it dosent work out of the box just use a program called patch burn (google it)

as for hard drives any one will work (unless it has some kind of fault) but if you are looking for an internal one for a powerbook make sure it's 9.5mm high any higher and it wont fitbut with caddys and caddy will work with any hard drive (as long as it fits)

oh hell no, I saw that ibook how to and that just looks terrifying 0o I'm just going to do it all through firewire. But yeah, guess all the stuff that was said here doesn't freak me out to much thanks!

... so overall they all just work it's just that the companies don't supply any drivers/software for the mac with them?

 

[Mord]

most of them don't need drivers unless they are not apple supported optical drives in which case you can just use patch burn

 

[Muzukun]

most of them don't need drivers unless they are not apple supported optical drives in which case you can just use patch burn

so if I go out and buy a benq or a LG it's more likely then not that they wont be apple supported to I use patch burn?

 

[Mord]

yes you need patch burn for drives that apple dident use themselves but i'm not sure if this will apply to external burners because many companys make firewire burners with all types of manufacturers drives in them

i would still go for a pioneer or a sony drive

 

[Muzukun]

It'd be for a powerbook through a firewire port, I'd just go off and buy a regular IDE drive yet toss it into a firewire enclosure, would patchburn work under those cases? (or at least 90% of the time)

 

[7on]

make sure to get Roxio's Toast too. That thing can burn anything if need be. And there is a hack/easter egg that allows external recording with iDVD.