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Replacement optical drive
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Kickaha
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2015-10-27, 17:52

Still need one of these from time to time for DVDs and CDs. If the Apple USB SuperDrive would frickin' work with my early 2009 Mac Mini, I'd get that, but it stupidly does not. (The mini's optical drive refuses to read most media now. Cleaned the lens a few times, it keeps it going a bit longer, but it's really just ready to die.)

So, any recommendations? An internal replacement is $44, but $65 bumps up to a Blu-Ray capable reader (external, USB powered). I haven't invested in any Blu-Ray media yet, so it's not really a need, but... *shrug*

Anyway, alternate ideas oh AN posse?
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2015-10-27, 19:58

If you aren't going to be reading BR then I would skip those readers completely. They are slower than native DVD readers/burners. Also, I've personally had issues with mine (internal BR) making i just not really worth it.

An internal one would typically read and write faster than USB so it would depend on how much you need it and use it. If only on occasion then I would go with an external on. If you use it all the time then I'd go internal.

On second thought, I'd use a FW external with that Mini. Then you can get a full size drive and not have to worry about labels on disks in a slot load. I'm using a LaCie right now with my slightly newer Mini.

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alcimedes
I shot the sherrif.
 
Join Date: May 2004
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2015-10-28, 12:41

I'm a big fan of external disc readers these days. Enough machines don't come with a way to read a disc now that it can be very useful to have something you can port from one machine to the next, and there are some other useful upgrades you can cram into a mini if you remove the optical drive.

I'd probably go USB just for the usability across all hardware, but if you found something both USB and firewire that would be solid.

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