Hello,
This is my first post on this community and the reason I joined is to try to look for a solution to my problem.
Background:
I have an iMac since 2008 and never had any problems at all. However, yesterday I formatted my iMac and installed Mac OS X Lion, again with no problems at all. However, when I was just loading a win XP CD to instal it via Parallels, suddenly the process crashed and when I canceled it I was unable to eject the CD. I tried everything (eject shortcut, moving to trash, eject software and the "$drutil eject tray" command), but nothing worked. Ultimatly, with a business card I able to somehow get it out. But then, later, I insert another CD to see if the drive was really messed up and again, I can't eject the CD.
Possible solutions:
I did a lot of research in the web and now I think I have 3 possible solutions:
1) send it to Apple and pay up to $200 to have it fixed
2) get a compatible superdrive in ebay for $80 and do it by myself
3) get an external superdrive
I'm still not sure on what to do, but scenario 1) I already put it aside, I don't want to pay that much for a routine maintenance procedure. I was inclined to go for step 2) but, although you can find well documented go-throughs in the web there's always some risks in opening up a iMac or buying a superdrive in ebay that in the end might not work.
Therefore, I'm inclined to step 3) for some reasons. One is obvious, an external superdrive costs as much as an internal one and I don't need to open the iMac. I already have a Macbook, since 2006, and if by some reason its superdrive fails on me too then I will have a external superdrive. Finally, I intend to buy a MBA in the future, so it's a piece of hardware I might need soon.
My questions
1) if I buy the external, I want to disable my iMacs superdrive. It works fine, it just doesn't eject disks. It doesn't make nousy sounds, but I don't want to have it working everytime I log in into my iMac. I read somewhere I can do it by moving the IODVDStorageFamily.kext bundle in /System/Library/Extensions into a folder like /System/Library/DisabledDVD. Does it work that way?
2) if i get the external and have the internal disabled, in case I wish to do a clean instal from my MacOS DVD, will I be able to it? I mean, does the system recognize the external DVD drive during a clean instal?
3) now, regarding external DVD drives, what do you recommend?
Sorry for the long post but I just wanted to make sure I gave all the information I could so that I can get the most clear advice possible.
Thanks in advance
This is my first post on this community and the reason I joined is to try to look for a solution to my problem.
Background:
I have an iMac since 2008 and never had any problems at all. However, yesterday I formatted my iMac and installed Mac OS X Lion, again with no problems at all. However, when I was just loading a win XP CD to instal it via Parallels, suddenly the process crashed and when I canceled it I was unable to eject the CD. I tried everything (eject shortcut, moving to trash, eject software and the "$drutil eject tray" command), but nothing worked. Ultimatly, with a business card I able to somehow get it out. But then, later, I insert another CD to see if the drive was really messed up and again, I can't eject the CD.
Possible solutions:
I did a lot of research in the web and now I think I have 3 possible solutions:
1) send it to Apple and pay up to $200 to have it fixed
2) get a compatible superdrive in ebay for $80 and do it by myself
3) get an external superdrive
I'm still not sure on what to do, but scenario 1) I already put it aside, I don't want to pay that much for a routine maintenance procedure. I was inclined to go for step 2) but, although you can find well documented go-throughs in the web there's always some risks in opening up a iMac or buying a superdrive in ebay that in the end might not work.
Therefore, I'm inclined to step 3) for some reasons. One is obvious, an external superdrive costs as much as an internal one and I don't need to open the iMac. I already have a Macbook, since 2006, and if by some reason its superdrive fails on me too then I will have a external superdrive. Finally, I intend to buy a MBA in the future, so it's a piece of hardware I might need soon.
My questions
1) if I buy the external, I want to disable my iMacs superdrive. It works fine, it just doesn't eject disks. It doesn't make nousy sounds, but I don't want to have it working everytime I log in into my iMac. I read somewhere I can do it by moving the IODVDStorageFamily.kext bundle in /System/Library/Extensions into a folder like /System/Library/DisabledDVD. Does it work that way?
2) if i get the external and have the internal disabled, in case I wish to do a clean instal from my MacOS DVD, will I be able to it? I mean, does the system recognize the external DVD drive during a clean instal?
3) now, regarding external DVD drives, what do you recommend?
Sorry for the long post but I just wanted to make sure I gave all the information I could so that I can get the most clear advice possible.
Thanks in advance