Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac Pro classic and SuperDrives...what model to buy?

X

Xanix

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 10, 2011
94
46
Hello to all. I've a Mac Pro from 2010. My SuperDrive is starting to fail when burning; specially dual layer DVDs. My model is a GH41N.

Does anyone know, the difference between the GH41N and GH61N?

I'm finding on eBay, Europe, more GH61N on sale then the GH41N. They cost a little more. Is the GH61N better? Does it have some special feature?

Kind regards to all,
Ferreira

*One more thing. I'm thinking on upgrading the graphics card, to a GTX 980. Do I need to buy an already modified, with a Mac EFI? Is there some bios on the net, to use on a PC model? They're cheaper to buy. On eBay, already modified ones, are being sold for 1000 EUR!
 
You can use any sata dvd drive, doesn't need to be an apple one. I'm using an LG bluray burner in my mac pro.

You don't really need a flashed graphics card, non-flashed ones work, but you won't have a boot screen. The stickied at the top of the forum is a good read for info
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chung123, ActionableMango and phrehdd
MacDann said:
You can buy a PC card and flash it yourself with minimal effort. Or, you can buy an older Apple single channel card to have around if you need to get a boot screen, or leave it in one of the unused slots.
Click to expand...

I don't know what ATI cards you can flash but the only nVidia PC card that you can flash yourself is the GTX680.
 
Xanix said:
Hello to all. I've a Mac Pro from 2010. My SuperDrive is starting to fail when burning; specially dual layer DVDs. My model is a GH41N.

Does anyone know, the difference between the GH41N and GH61N?

I'm finding on eBay, Europe, more GH61N on sale then the GH41N. They cost a little more. Is the GH61N better? Does it have some special feature?

Kind regards to all,
Ferreira

*One more thing. I'm thinking on upgrading the graphics card, to a GTX 980. Do I need to buy an already modified, with a Mac EFI? Is there some bios on the net, to use on a PC model? They're cheaper to buy. On eBay, already modified ones, are being sold for 1000 EUR!
Click to expand...

I recently bought a Pioneer BDR-209BK from NewEgg ($69) and it's been working out great. I have it in a USB 3.0 external case ($40) for now. I also tried a LG BE14NU40 external BD burner from Best Buy ($110) and it offered near identical performance to the Pioneer. In either case, I would suggest a Blu-Ray drive upgrade over simply replacing the DVD/CD superdrive design. Also, if you have any other devices which might benefit from access to the new drive, there are some really nice smaller portable type drives, although they usually top out at around 6x speed instead of 12-16x.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ActionableMango
I don't think it's true that any SATA DVD drive will work in the Mac Pro. I tried replacing my stock Superdrive with the ASUS DRW-24B1ST and had a lot of problems with it. The eject button in the menu bar would "hang" when I tried to open the drive, and the About this Mac / System Report would become unresponsive as well. This occurred anytime after the system woke up from sleep. (If the system had just booted and hadn't slept yet, I could open and close the drive without trouble.)

Anyways, you do have better options than an OEM Superdrive (whichever revision). I'm using an LG 14x BD-RE drive and am very happy with it.

Screen Shot 2016-02-04 at 6.10.10 PM.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: CapnDavey and H2SO4
Just to chime in, you have a lot of choice regarding a new optical drive for your Mac Pro.

I've put a HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH16NS40 BluRay drive into my Mac Pro. It works 100% fine with the Mac Pro 5.1.
 
Last edited:
I went with an external drive since the replacement drive I bought I couldn't get to line up properly internally.
 
Hello to all. I ended buying a blu-ray reader/writer, from LG. Everything is working great on Mavericks and Windows 8.1.

Kind regards,
Xanix
 
  • Like
Reactions: scott.n
tomvos said:
Just to chime in, you have a lot of choice regarding a new optical drive for your Mac Pro.

I've put a HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH16NS40 BluRay drive into my Mac Pro. It works 100% fine with the Mac Pro 5.1.
Click to expand...
With Hitachi, LG or no logo? Retail or bulk version?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back