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Use this clever way to clean a Mac's SuperDrive
I rarely used the SuperDrive in my 2009 MacBook Pro. I can't remember the last time there was anything I needed to read or load from a CD. But in 2011, a friend's kid wanted to watch a DVD on my laptop during a trip. We inserted the disc, only to have the SuperDrive spit it right back out. Matter of fact, it ejected every subsequent DVD and CD we put in. I didn't really care that my SuperDrive seemed to be bust as I had no use for it, but over the next year, I would occasionally attempt to get it working by running various CD cleaner products on it and blowing inside the drive. Nothing worked, so I just assumed the drive was dead. Last month I gave the MacBook to a friend. I warned him the SuperDrive didn't work and if he wanted a working one, he'd need to pay to replace it. He asked me if I tried everything to clean the drive. I told him I had. But for some reason that night I decided to do a Google search on the best ways to clean your optical drive. I came across this thread on Apple's support communities and had my friend follow it to the letter -- minus one step. To my utter shock, my friend called me up the next day saying the SuperDrive was as good as new. Here are the steps he followed. I've also marked the step he did not follow: Get hold of a credit card. Cut a strip of fine, lint-free cotton cloth as wide as the credit card and twice its length. Wrap the cloth around the credit card lengthwise and hold it taught between your thumb and forefinger at one end. [My friend did NOT do this step] Dab some lens cleaning fluid on the bottom side of the cloth-wrapped card. (Camera lens fluid will do.) Insert the cloth-wrapped credit card on the left-most side of the slot drive by about 1.5 inches. (Make sure the Mac is powered off.) Pull the credit card out and insert again -- repeat four to five times -- add some more cleaning fluid if it evaporates. My friend found that following this procedure (minus step 4) completely fixed the SuperDrive in the MacBook Pro that had not worked in almost four years. As noted by the original poster, "Any readers that want to try the above on their own optical drives should do so at their own risk. We also highly recommend no one follows step 4 as putting any kind of liquid in a computer can have damaging, irreversible effects."
Use the MacBook Air SuperDrive with (almost) any Mac
The Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive is only officially supported on the MacBook Air or Mac Mini, but what if you have another Mac that you want to use it with? Turns out you can make it work by editing one text file and then rebooting your Mac. The MacBook Pro shown above is mine. The story behind that damage is fairly long and emotionally painful, involving airline travel, delays, and an unexpected layover in Vegas. The only good part of the story is that the SuperDrive did not work before it happened. When I purchased my MacBook Air, I bought the SuperDrive because there are still times when I need it. I knew that it was restricted to the MacBook Air (later expanded to the Mac Mini), and I assumed that there was a good reason. Maybe the USB port on the Air and Mac Mini sent more power than other USB ports. Maybe there was some other reason. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, I learned about Lukas Zeller and his instructions on How to make the MacBook Air SuperDrive work with any Mac. When I first read them, this involved getting editing a binary with a hex editor. Now, I'm a nerd, but I'm not a über-nerd. I'm also really extremely very much opposed to hacking system binaries, kexts, etc. because it could cause all sorts of problems and whenever there is a new version of Mac OS X, your change is either going to get blown away or may cause problems or it may work. That is only a one-in-three chance of success. Those aren't very good odds. So I didn't do it. Then Lukas also found an easier way which only requires editing one line in one text file. The file is /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist You need to add/edit two lines: the first is Kernel Flags and the second is mbasd=1. Here's how it looks for me: You can view mine at Github or view the raw plist. I couldn't believe that it could be that easy, but I edited that file, hooked up my "MacBook Air SuperDrive" to my MacBook Pro, rebooted, and voilà! It worked. I did the same thing with my Black MacBook, and it worked perfectly too. (For those who like specifics, my MacBook Pro is a MacBookPro2,2 running Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549), and the MacBook is a MacBook4,1 running Mac OS X 10.7.3 (11D50).) Now it's possible that there is some good reason that Apple has restricted the use of the Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive to just the MacBook Air and the Mac Mini. It's also possible that they're worried that people might be confused if they have more than one SuperDrive connected to their computers. Or it's possible that it works just fine and Apple will eventually lift the restriction once the SuperDrive is removed from the rest of the MacBook line.
Editorial: Apple's officially over the optical drive, for better or worse
I don't like it. Not one iota. But frankly, it doesn't much matter -- Apple's officially done with the optical drive, and there's no evidence more strikingly clear than the mid 2011 refresh of its Mac mini. Last year, that bantam box arrived with a $699 price tag, pep in its step and a personality that could charm even the most hardened desktop owner. This year, a $599 model showed up on my doorstep promising the same, but instead it delivered a noticeable drop in actual functionality. Pundits have argued that you could tether a USB SuperDrive to the new mini and save $20 in the process compared to last year's rig, but does relying on a cabled accessory go hand-in-hand with beauty and simplicity? No, and I've every reason to believe that Apple would agree. Despite the obvious -- that consumers would buy a mini to reduce the sheer burden of operating a convoluted desktop setup -- Apple's gone and yanked what has become a staple in both Macs and PCs alike. For years, ODDs have been standard fare, spinning CDs, DVDs, HD-DVDs (however briefly) and Blu-ray Discs, not to mention a few other formats that didn't do much to deserve a mention. Compared to most everything else in the technology universe, the tried-and-true optical drive has managed to hang around well beyond what it's creator likely had in mind, but it's pretty obvious that 2011 is to the ODD what 1998 was to the floppy drive. At least in the mind of one Steven P. Jobs.
On re-purposing the increasingly useless eject key
The eject key sits in the upper right corner of most modern Apple keyboards. On my big iMac with its SuperDrive, it occasionally gets pressed when I need to kick out a backup DVD, but the rest of the time it sits alone. It's even worse on a MacBook Air. With no SuperDrive to speak of, the eject key was replaced with a tiny power button and the eject function moved to the F12 key next door. What do you do with a key that has outlived its usefulness? Give it another reason to live! This all got started when one of the employees at Other World Computing, the folks who make all of those fast internal SSDs for MacBook Pros and other devices, had the optical drive on his 2011 MacBook Pro removed and replaced with an OWC Data Doubler + 750 GB hard disk drive. OWC's Erik was already enjoying a speedy 480 GB SSD as his startup drive in the MacBook Pro, but wanted the luxury of more storage. With his eject key now taking up space and not paying the rent, Erik looked around and found a free app called KeyRemap4MacBook. The app remaps most of the non-alphanumeric keys on the Macbook keyboard to a set of different functions. Not only can you assign duplicate keys (Option and Command keys, for example) to perform different functions, but KeyRemap4MacBook makes keys do different things depending on what app you're currently using (note that you can already do this to a point using Keyboard Shortcuts in System Preferences). Erik used the app to remap his eject key to be a forward delete key (Fn + Delete), and noted that if he does happen to have an external optical drive connected to the MBP, KeyRemap4MacBook thoughtfully provides a way to use the eject key as, well, an eject key. One thing that KeyRemap4MacBook doesn't do is use a standard delay when pressed, so there's a companion app called NoEjectDelay by the same developer that clears the eject key delay. The inquiring minds at TUAW want to know what function you'd remap your eject key to perform, or if you'd just turn the eject key into one-half of a pair of cufflinks. Leave us a note in the comments below.
In defence of the SuperDrive
Echoing our own Michael Grothaus last year, MG Siegler hopes Apple drops the DVD drive from future Macs: "Just like the floppy disk before it, the optical disc will fade into irrelevance. And now you see why Apple has never included a Blu-ray drive in any of their machines." Erica Sadun wrote a post last week asking if you agree that the disc is dead, and over 65 percent of respondents said they did. I agree the days of the optical drive are numbered, but I also think there's more life left in it than Siegler does. I only own a single Mac -- a mid-2009 15" MacBook Pro. It doesn't have an optical drive because I replaced it with an MCE Optibay housing an SSD, whilst keeping a 500 GB HDD in the normal hard drive bay. This means that whenever I want to use the optical drive, I have to get it out of my desk drawer and plug two USB cables in, so I know I've used it several times in recent weeks. Notably, I still rely on that optical drive for quite a few things.
Software Reinstall USB drive comes with new MacBook Air
During today's "Back to the Mac" event, Apple announced a brand new MacBook Air that comes in two screen sizes and features a bevy of upgrades. However, one similarity that the new Air has with its lineage is the lack of an optical drive. For the purpose of re-installing the software that comes with every Mac, this lack of an optical drive was previously overcome by wirelessly sharing an optical drive with another Mac. Today's updated MacBook Air now ships with a stylish USB drive for software re-installation duties. The MacBook Air can still use a remote optical drive, as well as take advantage of the external MacBook Air SuperDrive. Still, this free accessory will come in handy for those late night software emergencies when friendly computers and Apple Stores are nowhere in sight. [via Engadget]
Apple stores pulling SuperDrives, new MacBook Air imminent?
We received a heads-up from an Apple retail insider that Apple Stores are pulling all of the MacBook Air SuperDrives from shelves. These drives are exclusive to the MacBook Air and Mac mini Server, and the removal of the drives could be a sign that the long-awaited refresh of the MacBook Air is imminent. Recent rumors have it that an upcoming "MacBook" with an 11.6" display might be the replacement for the MacBook Air. We had a false alarm when the Apple Online Store was temporarily off-line this morning, and that could have been nothing -- we didn't see any changes -- or work was being done behind the scenes to prepare for an upcoming announcement. MacRumors AppleInsider also reports that supplies of the MacBook Air are getting very thin at Apple Stores. Be sure to stay tuned to TUAW for any fast-breaking news about a new laptop from Cupertino.
Sixteen new Apple patents, from CoverFlow to iDVD
The USPTO published a whole slew of new patent applications from Apple today, covering everything from iChat to some CoverFlow animation. Patently Apple has the whole writeup as usual. Probably the most interesting thing among them is a "virtual keyboard for media players" that uses a modified QWERTY keyboard, with more than one letter on each key. That doesn't seem like an idea that Apple will ever use, but maybe that was one of the prototypes that was originally being worked on for the iPhone. There are also some more technical patents for iChat video encoding and error adjustments on touchscreens, as well as overall patents for the MacBook Air SuperDrive and iDVD. It seems like the USPTO is just cleaning out Apple's old patents -- most of these were filed back in 2007. Now, maybe they can set the legal patent team up on newer accomplishments.
Apple releases updates for AirPort software, MacBook and MacBook Pro EFI
Apple today released several updates today including AirPort client software, and EFI firmware revisions for some MacBook and MacBook Pro models. First, the AirPort Client Update 2009-002 update fixes the following issues: An Inability to turn AirPort on or off in some cases after upgrading from Mac OS X Leopard. An occasional loss of network connection when using Wake on Demand. An Inability to create a computer-to-computer network, or share the Internet connection on some MacBook, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini computers. Next, the MacBook and MacBook Pro EFI updates allow the installation of SuperDrive Firmware Update 3.0, reducing the noise of the optical disc drive when waking from sleep and startup. The SuperDrive firmware installation is a 2nd step; you need to do the EFI update, then check again for software updates. This update is available for the Late 2008 aluminum MacBook model and the Early 2009 and Mid 2009 white MacBook models, and for Late 2008 15 inch MacBook Pro models and Early 2009 17 inch MacBook Pro models. (The KB article for the MacBook EFI update may need a little editing, as it refers to a suggestion from a mysterious 'Glenno.') These updates are available through Software Update, or they're available from Apple's support page.
Apple posts three new updates
After the big upgrade to Snow Leopard last weekend, Apple has posted three new updates, fixing various OS and firmware issues. The first is Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.2. This update "improves compatibility with the latest Apple memory kits on Mac mini computers." This update is only needed for Mac minis introduced in March 2009 or later. Next, there's an update to Mac OS X Leopard Server, Mac OS X Server 10.5.8 Update v.1.1, which includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for a few other issues. This update is available as a Combo or Standalone update. Finally, there's a firmware update for SuperDrives. This update "will eliminate the noise made by the optical disk drive during system startup and wake from sleep on your Mac." This update is only needed for iMacs and Mac minis introduced in March 2009 or later. As always, these updates are available through Software Update on your Mac, or you can download them from Apple's Support Downloads page.
Amex Digital gets a little too inspired with new portable Super Multi Drive
Okay, so we definitely appreciate a slim little external DVD burner that cooperates with more than one computer (natively), but no matter how hard we try to peer around the similarities, there's just no denying the likeness here. Amex Digital's Portable Super Multi Drive is, for all intents and purposes, a direct rip of Apple's MacBook Air SuperDrive. The unit gets all the power it needs from a spare USB port, arrives in black or white, burns dual-layer DVD media at 10x (single-layer at 20x) and sports a palatable $89 sticker. Can you imagine what this thing would cost with actual R&D overhead factored in?
MCE offers 6x Blu-ray burner for Mac Pro and Power Mac G5
MCE is at it again providing the wares that Apple simply won't. After offering up a 2x Blu-ray burner for the Mac Pro and Power Mac G5 last year, the company is keeping up with the industry by introducing a 6x variant for the very same machines. You'll also find compatibility with BD-RE (2x), DVD±R (16x), DVD±RW (6x - 8x), DVD±RW DL (4x), CD-R (40x) and CD-RW (24x). The drive itself is available as we speak for $499, while a bundle with Roxio Toast 9 Titanium goes for $599 and an external version runs $749.[Via The Mac Observer]
Mod: use your MacBook Air Superdrive on any machine
If you've got a MacBook Air SuperDrive and you've been hankering to use it with other computers (Mac or PC), tnkgrl over at tnkgrl Mobile has a solution. With a $9 part and some intestinal fortitude, you too can make your MBA Superdrive universally compatible. Using the drive with other computers has been a desire from its inception. After some experimentation, tnkgrl found that simply replacing the IDE to USB bridge within the drive did the trick. Of course, that means removing the daughter-board and relocating the 12 MHz crystal. For an experienced hardware hacker, no sweat. For the average Joe, well, it's quite obviously an at-your-own-risk situation. Check out the post at tnkgrl Mobile for the details.
MacBook Air SuperDrive super hack makes it work with any computer
As tnkgrl mentions at the outset of this hack, the MacBook Air SuperDrive is a nice little slice of hotness, retailing for a mere $99, and doing the whole external drive thing with Apple's sense of style. Unfortunately, it only works with the MacBook Air due to a proprietary IDE to USB bridge, as tnkgrl discovered. For a mere $9 she was able to find a replacement part, and after pushing some internals around she had her self a Mac mini and HP Mini-Note-friendly USB disc drive. We've all been laboring under the assumption that Apple needed more than the standard USB power draw, so it comes as a bit of a surprise that she was able to pull this off with a regular part, and we demand Apple start selling $108 SuperDrives-for-all immediately. Er, please?
Mac 101: Get that "stuck" disc out of your Mac
Welcome to another Mac 101 here at TUAW. Mac 101 is our recurring feature where we point out some tips and tricks for folks new to the Mac. Remember, if you're a Mac expert this post isn't for you.Have you ever tried to unmount a disc in Mac OS X, but it simply wouldn't come out of your Mac's drive? Here are three ways of removing discs from your Mac's drive. If your Mac is currently using the disc you won't be able to eject it, so make sure that isn't the case first. If the disc isn't in use and you still can't eject it, give these a try.Step 1: Drag the disc to the trash canFind the disc on the desktop and drag its icon to the Mac OS X trash can. As you start dragging it towards the trash, the icon will change to an eject button, release the mouse button when the disc's icon is directly over the eject button. Step 2: Try some command line goodnessIf you have tried to eject the disc by dragging its icon over the trash bin, then why not try a simple Terminal command to eject the disc. Open Terminal.app (found in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app; or use Command + Shift + U to in any Finder window to move to the Utilities folder). Once you have Terminal opened, type (or copy/paste) the following command: drutil eject Step 3: Restart your Mac while holding mouse button downIf you've tried the other steps to no avail, then why not reboot your Mac while holding down the mouse button. Upon loading the Apple boot screen, your disc should be ejected. Please note that if you have a disc that is actually physically stuck in the drive, this will not help. Stuck discs may need the assistance of an Apple Genius or certified Apple repair professional.
Confirmed: MacBook Air SuperDrive does NOT work with other machines
One obvious and debated question on a lot of potential buyers' minds: okay, I'm dropping nearly two large on this here machine, but will the external optical drive even work with one of my other laptops and/or desktops? The answer: no. Regular USB simply doesn't support the power draw an optical drive needs, which was evidenced as plugged the SuperDrive into a stock MacBook Pro and it came up bupkis. It wouldn't even let us insert a disk without forcing it down the drive's maw. Of course, it worked just fine on the Air. Seriously though, how many machines do you have that need an external optical drive, anyway?P.S. -For inquiring minds: yes, the USB port looks identical to your stock port. Apple is obviously just jamming some more amperage down the line.P.P.S. -No, this won't work with a powered hub.%Gallery-14557%
How to supersize your Mac Pro's SuperDrive
Oh, those tricky engineers over at Apple; how they love to slip little treats inside their boxes. Recently we found out that Cupertino had surreptitiously included 802.11n chips from Broadcom into its latest lineup of all-in-one iMacs, and now we've learned that many of the SuperDrives in the Mac Pro are even more super than their spec sheets or current functionality would have led us to believe. The good folks over at HardMac decided to find out the real deal behind Sony's DW-D150A DVD burner that ships with most Mac Pros (the others sport a Pioneer DVR-111D), and after disassembling the drive and doing a little research, discovered that this previously-unknown model is actually just a rebadged NEC ND-4570A. Normally such a revelation wouldn't be very interesting, except for the fact that NEC's version of the burner touts superior performance and more features than Apple endowed the Sony with, and a fairly simple firmware tweak is all it takes to make your SuperDrive even more powerful. We won't go into the specifics of the hack here, but after you've successfully followed the instructions laid out in the Read link, your drive will suddenly be able to burn DVD-RAMs and dual layer DVD-Rs, write CD-R discs at 48x (as is, these SuperDrives max out at 32x), and perhaps best of all, read DVDs from around the world (i.e. the new firmware is region-free). Next up for Team HardMac? Getting ahold of some LabelFlash-compatible discs and attempting a firmware update to the ND-4571 -- soon, your Mac Pro may be able to get its label on as well.[Via TUAW]
Hack your Mac Pro SuperDrive for fun and profit
It's not uncommon for computer manufacturers to swap and switch out various components for similar or near-identical parts during a production run, and Apple has been known to partake in this practice in the past. That being said, occasionally a manufacturer will use a part which has a slightly higher build quality or performance than its counterpart in other machines and simply throttle down the performance of the superior part through firmware.Although some of the new Mac Pro towers ship with the familiar Pioneer DVR-111D optical drive, the majority of the systems contain the apparently non-existent Sony DW-D150A. I say non-existent because the ubergeeks over at HardMac noticed that DW-D150A isn't a recognized Sony model number. After some more thorough research, it came to light that the drives billed as Sony DW-D150A are in actuality NEC 4570 mechanisms. You're probably asking yourself right about now why on earth I'm going on about something as innocuous as differing model numbers, and in most cases, you'd be right to question my sanity. However, in this rare instance, I have reached through the haze of confusion that normally clouds my mind, and at least for now I have a firm grip on the real world. The significance is this: The NEC 4570 kicks the pants off the Sony DW-D150A in almost all aspects of reading and writing, and has some extra features to boot.Sony: - DVD -/+R 16x - DVD+R DL 8x - DVD+RW 8x - DVD-RW 6x - CD-RW 32X - CD-R 32XNEC:- DVD -/+R 16x - DVD-R/ DL 8x - DVD+RW 8x - DVD-RW 6x - DVD-RAM 5x - CD-RW 32x - CD-R 48xNaturally, Apple has locked down the specifications of the NEC 4570 to keep things fair, but that doesn't mean we can't do a bit of hacking and regain all that sweet sweet performance. A few simple commands in the terminal, some pixie dust, and a little bit of luck, and you've got yourself one speedy optical drive. Disclaimer, Disclaimer, Disclaimer: Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway) this hack is totally unsupported by Apple, and there is no guarantee you won't brick your SuperDrive. Attempt at your own risk.
SuperDrive Firmware Update v2.0 for some PowerPC-based Macs
Apple has released a firmware update for SuperDrives in a variety of PowerPC-based Macs, including: PowerBook G4 (12 -inch 1.5GHz) PowerBook G4 (15-inch 1.33GHz, 1.5GHz, or 1.67GHz) PowerBook G4 (17-inch 1.67GHz) iMac G5 (17-inch 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz) iMac G5 (20-inch 1.8GHz) Mac mini G4 The update "fixes burning speeds when writing to certain recordable DVD media". Check out Apple's support document and download page for details and instructions on installing the update.
Apple introduces 17-inch MacBook Pro
At least the Apple Store wasn't down this time for too long: today, Apple introduced the 17" MacBook Pro with an Intel Core Duo processor. It's lost .1 lb, now weighing a mere 6.8 lb, and also features a built-in iSight, Front Row and MagSafe - just like its 15" little brother. The new 17" MacBook Pro comes with a 2.16 Intel Core Duo processor, a 667 MHz front-side bus, a 36% brighter display, 1 GB of DDR2 RAM, a 120 GB 5400-rpm SATA drive (standard), a 256 MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 card and - get this: an 8x double-layer SuperDrive, one FireWire 400, one FireWire 800, and three USB 2.0 ports. I guess they had some extra room to work with in the 17" to fit in those extra features that the 15" MacBook Pro lost. The 17" MacBook Pro sells for $2799 and will begin shipping next week.
