Mac Pro Dvd Drive

[leechlife]

HI

I just bought a mac pro refurb.
Mainly i don't wanna wait for the new ones and as I expect em also to be a bit more expensive I'd rather save with a current refurb. I put the saved money into ram and hd's.

So this refurb comes with 1 dvd drive and I like to add one more.
What do I have to be arware of? can I use any brand for dvd drive or do i have to stick to a particular brand and/or type/model.

I think the there are sata and IDE connectors for the dvd drive, is there any disadvantage to go for as sata drive in the macpro, as the build ins are IDE, (what is the reason for apple to NOT put sata ones in there??)

thanks for any help
cheers

 

[Tallest Skil]

You can rout a SATA drive to an open SATA port on the logic board. You might not be able to use an on-drive adapter due to space requirements.

Just buy an IDE SuperDrive from OWC.

 

[leechlife]

Thanks

Does the mac pro run with any drive or does it need to a philips??
I would kinda assume it wouldn't matter ( at least for reading discs).

 

[grue]

Thanks

Does the mac pro run with any drive or does it need to a philips??
I would kinda assume it wouldn't matter ( at least for reading discs).

If you're in Sydney, just hit up MSY and ask for a Pioneer DVR-116. Plug and play, full functionality.

 

[sickmacdoc]

Thanks

Does the mac pro run with any drive or does it need to a philips??
I would kinda assume it wouldn't matter ( at least for reading discs).

It should run with any full size IDE burner. Mine came with a Pioneer 112 that I immediately replaced with a pair of Pioneer 116s that run fine. Be sure to check the jumpers on any replacements too by the way. If I remember right (just look at your existing one to confirm) they need to be set to "cable select" rather than the common "Master/Slave" configuration.

Oh and BTW- the data transfer rate to/from optical drives is so low the IDE vs SATA debate is pretty much meaningless from what I have read so I just went with the simple choice using the provided extra IDE cable.

 

[leechlife]

Oh and how do i Open it

the mac pro has no button for opening the dvd drives, but only the key on the keyboard. How do i specifiy which one to open if there are 2 installed??

 

[sickmacdoc]

Eject button alone for the top drive, Option key+eject button for the lower one.

My MP also has a little "eject" symbol in the menu bar too for mouse selection of opening or closing them- which first showed only the original drive, but then changed to two lines when I added the second drive. Those are what I use since I am not using an Apple keyboard.

 

[grue]

It should run with any full size IDE burner. Mine came with a Pioneer 112 that I immediately replaced with a pair of Pioneer 116s that run fine. Be sure to check the jumpers on any replacements too by the way. If I remember right (just look at your existing one to confirm) they need to be set to "cable select" rather than the common "Master/Slave" configuration.

Oh and BTW- the data transfer rate to/from optical drives is so low the IDE vs SATA debate is pretty much meaningless from what I have read so I just went with the simple choice using the provided extra IDE cable.

There's definitely a significant performance hit if you use both drives simultaneously. I left my original SuperDrive as IDE (though I reflashed to region free with no RipLock), but added my second superdrive as SATA because of this, as I often will burn two discs at the same time or use MacTheRipper on two drives at the same time.

 

[rhett7660]

There's definitely a significant performance hit if you use both drives simultaneously. I left my original SuperDrive as IDE (though I reflashed to region free with no RipLock), but added my second superdrive as SATA because of this, as I often will burn two discs at the same time or use MacTheRipper on two drives at the same time.

Just to clarify, is this if you are burning from one disc to the other, or using both with two instances of MacTheRipper open ripping from drive A and drive B?

Thanks

 

[grue]

Just to clarify, is this if you are burning from one disc to the other, or using both with two instances of MacTheRipper open ripping from drive A and drive B?

Thanks

Both. It has something to do with the way IDE/PATA works… the bus can physically support that much bandwidth, but IDE has issues doing it from two drives at the same time.