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Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Notebook Hardware
MacBook optical drive not working, how to upgrade?
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<blockquote data-quote="acchang" data-source="post: 1512760" data-attributes="member: 300985"><p>So I have a pretty old MacBook, a 2 GHz Intel Core Duo with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. About a year ago, I managed to upgrade the HD myself to a 500GB, but I may have met my match here.</p><p></p><p>I'm running OS 10.5.8. A few weeks ago, Firefox started giving me a hard time, saying I needed to upgrade my browser -- but to do that I'd need to update my OS.</p><p></p><p>After doing some research, I learned that I could only upgrade to Snow Leopard. I went to the Apple Store and bought the Snow Leopard DVD.</p><p></p><p>The problem is, when I inserted the DVD, my optical drive spat it out. I did some more research. I repaired permissions multiple times. I zapped my PRAM. I did the "stick a cleaning cloth wrapped around a credit card" trick. Nothing worked. I even stuck in an old CD to test if it was the drive or the DVD. No dice.</p><p></p><p>So I am left with one option, it seems, and that is to buy an external optical drive. I suppose it could be worse. These things are pretty cheap nowadays. Will this do?</p><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003M0NT1M/?tag=macforums0e4-20" target="_blank">Amazon.com: AmazonBasics USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive (Black): Computers & Accessories</a></p><p></p><p>My only qualm is, I hate buying new things, and if I can avoid it, I certainly will.</p><p></p><p>I have a PC whose optical drive works.</p><p>I also have a brand new 2TB external drive.</p><p>And I have access to a black MacBook whose screen died, but other parts presumably work ok.</p><p></p><p>Can I use these to get around buying a new drive?</p><p></p><p>Can I use the PC's optical drive to boot my MacBook or create a book disk on the external drive?</p><p></p><p>I could cannibalize the other MacBook for a new drive, but I think that would risk harming my MacBook. I'm not 100% sure if the other MacBook's optical drive even works.</p><p></p><p>What do you think? Is there a better way to solve this issue than "buy something"?</p><p></p><p>Thanks!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="acchang, post: 1512760, member: 300985"] So I have a pretty old MacBook, a 2 GHz Intel Core Duo with 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM. About a year ago, I managed to upgrade the HD myself to a 500GB, but I may have met my match here. I'm running OS 10.5.8. A few weeks ago, Firefox started giving me a hard time, saying I needed to upgrade my browser -- but to do that I'd need to update my OS. After doing some research, I learned that I could only upgrade to Snow Leopard. I went to the Apple Store and bought the Snow Leopard DVD. The problem is, when I inserted the DVD, my optical drive spat it out. I did some more research. I repaired permissions multiple times. I zapped my PRAM. I did the "stick a cleaning cloth wrapped around a credit card" trick. Nothing worked. I even stuck in an old CD to test if it was the drive or the DVD. No dice. So I am left with one option, it seems, and that is to buy an external optical drive. I suppose it could be worse. These things are pretty cheap nowadays. Will this do? [URL='http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003M0NT1M/?tag=macforums0e4-20']Amazon.com: AmazonBasics USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive (Black): Computers & Accessories[/url] My only qualm is, I hate buying new things, and if I can avoid it, I certainly will. I have a PC whose optical drive works. I also have a brand new 2TB external drive. And I have access to a black MacBook whose screen died, but other parts presumably work ok. Can I use these to get around buying a new drive? Can I use the PC's optical drive to boot my MacBook or create a book disk on the external drive? I could cannibalize the other MacBook for a new drive, but I think that would risk harming my MacBook. I'm not 100% sure if the other MacBook's optical drive even works. What do you think? Is there a better way to solve this issue than "buy something"? Thanks! [/QUOTE]
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Apple Computing Products:
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MacBook optical drive not working, how to upgrade?
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