Mac USB Super Drive

[Quilica]

Will the newer Mac USB super drive work on my old Mac Pro 1,1? I dug around and found my Snow Leopard CD from I don't know how many years ago. (it was in a shoe box in the garage.) My Optiarc disk in the Mac Pro 1,1 does not read (work?) the Snow Leopard CD so I am wondering if the USB Super Drive will work to get Snow Leopard installed. I knew there would be glitches and I'm just trying to figure out how much more I want to contribute to this "resurrection" process. Otherwise, How do I burn the Snow Leopard to a flash drive so that I can try that? I suppose you could say that I am out to lunch when it comes to all this.

 

[harryb2448]

Snow Leopard is from 2006!

As the Mac Pro only has USB2 ports and they are much too slow to boot externally from. In your position I would install an SSD (Solid State Drive) in one of the three empty drive bays using an Icy Dock or similar. These enable a 2.5" SSD to be installed in the 3.5" hard drive bay. Here is one listed on eBay USA as they are now several years outy of stock new. It will give it a great boost and with Snow Leopard on it upgraded via Software Update to OS X.6.8 will be as good as you can get.

Lion OS X.7 will run, but in many opinions it is not as good as Snow Leopard.


ICY DOCK EZConvert 2.5" to 3.5" SATA / SAS SSD / Hard Drive Converter Enclosure | eBay

If you want to keep it running suggest a Pioneer DVD=RW drive also from eBay,. They are a snack to fit in a Mac Pro, just remove the front bevel from the drive so the door can close fully. Cables screws etc are all interchangable from the drive you remove.


Apple Mac Pro A1186 1,1 DVD-R/RW Optical Drive PN 678-1361 Pioneer P/N DVR-112PB | eBay

 

[MacInWin]

Does the cd drive read any other discs? That will tell you if it's the drive or disc.

 

[Quilica]

No, it doesn't read other disks either. I do think I want to upgrade the drives as indicated in yours and the other reply. If I replace that Optiarc I may as well replace both drives so as to optimize it. Any suggestions as to drives for this old machine? I'm not sure what the icy dock is or how it works. Is it a replacement HDD? or?

 

[pigoo3]

Will the newer Mac USB super drive work on my old Mac Pro 1,1?

If you're talking about the external USB optical drive (Superdrive) sold by Apple...no it won't work. These were designed to only work with Apple computers that did not come with a built in optical drive. Mostly 2012 & later MacBook Pro's, iMac's, Mac-Mini's.

- Nick

 

[pm-r]

I mentioned using an optical disc cleaner in your other post, along with some good shots from a can of electrical Duster blasted over the optical lens. Also double check the Finder preferences will show mounted Optical discs.

If nothing else replace the drive with a Sony or Pioneer or one of the older style drives, I think LC Optical drives also works well. They should be available for under $50.00 these days.

I can't recall if the preference file has to be modified or not to accept a certain brand/model. It's been a long time....


- Patrick
======

 

[chscag]

Actually, most any third party optical drive will work with Macs that do not have one built in. I have both a Samsung and LG that work fine with my 2017 iMac.

There is one caveat about using third party drives though... You may need a double USB cable with some drives when burning DVDs or extracting video files. Depends on your Mac whether it can provide enough current to the drive.

As far as I'm aware you do not have to change a preference file. Also, as Nick pointed out above the Apple Super Drive will only work with those Macs that do not have a built in optical drive. There is a work around for getting them to work but it involves changing things that some folks may not be comfortable doing. In any event, it's very likely that Catalina will not allow changes unless SIP is turned off.

 

[pm-r]

As far as I'm aware you do not have to change a preference file.

That was sometimes only required when replacing an internal third party (non-Apple) optical drive, and with early OS X versions.


- Patrick
======

 

[Quilica]

Snow Leopard is from 2006!

As the Mac Pro only has USB2 ports and they are much too slow to boot externally from. In your position I would install an SSD (Solid State Drive) in one of the three empty drive bays using an Icy Dock or similar. These enable a 2.5" SSD to be installed in the 3.5" hard drive bay. Here is one listed on eBay USA as they are now several years outy of stock new. It will give it a great boost and with Snow Leopard on it upgraded via Software Update to OS X.6.8 will be as good as you can get.

Lion OS X.7 will run, but in many opinions it is not as good as Snow Leopard.


ICY DOCK EZConvert 2.5" to 3.5" SATA / SAS SSD / Hard Drive Converter Enclosure | eBay

If you want to keep it running suggest a Pioneer DVD=RW drive also from eBay,. They are a snack to fit in a Mac Pro, just remove the front bevel from the drive so the door can close fully. Cables screws etc are all interchangable from the drive you remove.


Apple Mac Pro A1186 1,1 DVD-R/RW Optical Drive PN 678-1361 Pioneer P/N DVR-112PB | eBay

I ordered two of these as the secondary drive was always empty. I also went ahead and for the warranty for one year. I should have them on or before the 29th and will swap them out and let you know if all of my life's problems are solved. Thanks for all the help and extra effort to all who responded.

 

[Quilica]

Update. I now have two Pioneer optical drives (refurbs.) installed on the Mac Pro and Snow Leopard installed as of twenty minutes ago. I've never purchased refurbs for my Macs before but these worked great. Well, at least one did as I haven't used the bottom one yet. So, it is all accomplished and the Mac Pro is humming along like it is fresh out of the box. Thank you for all the help or I wouldn't have bothered taking the chance on this old machine.

 

[pm-r]

Pioneer optical drives were great drives, and I dare say, and better than most Super Drives that Apple used.

Maybe you could get both Pioneer drives installed and use them as a master and slave type setup.

I had two drives in my MDD Mac, one was a pioneer, the other Sony I believe, and both worked well.

Your Mac actually has a utility for ejecting/controlling either one when both are connected and will work from the menu if you need it.


- Patrick
======

 

[Quilica]

Very cool! I was not paying attention when I first booted up and kept getting a window asking if I wanted to download and install "Rosetta" for a particular old piece of Nikon software. I clicked the window closed the first couple of times and then it dawned on me, "Yeah, I certainly do want Rosetta!" I now have that installed which I will probably need to run the old Myst games. I am hoping that I didn't make a mistake as I didn't look to see where that software came from.

 

[pm-r]

BTW and JFYI: Those original Myst games were actually developed with the help of HyperCard, a developers application developed with the help of Apple and controlled and released by them. At least in it's first few years after its release. Marvellous software it was as well and it would be nice to get something like it back for more recent macOSs.


- Patrick
======

 

[Quilica]

I believe I have heard of Hypercard before. Not 100% but I remember reading something about the developers of Myst and that name from years ago...I think. I've yet to put a disc in since the install but I did get Myst lll Exile out today. What fun it was to try to find those old games. I have a trunk full! I was smart enough to keep them inside in a hall closet so they should be fine but we'll see.