Force Mac mini 2,1 to use external DVD drive instead of internal?

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

Hello!
I'm at it again with my mid-2007 Mac mini.
Unfortunately, it seems like the DVD drive is on the way out: With a disc inserted, it sounds like a blender and I fully expected the disc to come out in ribbons. Thankfully, the disc is still okay but more often than not, rather than recognizing it, the drive just spits the disc back out.

I could get a used drive on eBay for relatively little money but I was wondering if it was possible to force the Mac to use the external drive instead. Any ideas?

This is primarily so I can install Windows XP in BootCamp and turn this mini into a nostalgia machine - but the Windows installer doesn't even want to start with the disc not in the internal drive :[

 

[f54da]

It's been some time, but I think this is the default behavior? Worst case you just go and send and iokit terminate message to the internal drive though, that'll remove it from the hierarchy and prevent it from being used.

If the only purpose is to install XP, can you also try the remote disc thing? I'm not sure if it's still available but back when the macbook air was announced apple had a software that allowed you to share the internal drive of one laptop with another over the network.

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

I managed to install from the external drive now using rEFIt. There's some weirdness to it with it only recognizing the external drive every other time I start the mini but I did manage to go through the first part of the setup process.

Now I'm stuck at the Windows XP setup shenanigans like "missing or corrupt file: hal.dll".
That in itself hold some nostalgic value since I hardly ever installed Windows XP without any errors, sooo 😬

It's been some time, but I think this is the default behavior? Worst case you just go and send and iokit terminate message to the internal drive though, that'll remove it from the hierarchy and prevent it from being used.

If the only purpose is to install XP, can you also try the remote disc thing? I'm not sure if it's still available but back when the macbook air was announced apple had a software that allowed you to share the internal drive of one laptop with another over the network.

iokit terminate - I wasn't aware of that. I shall look it up!

I did think of the remote disc option as well earlier. Might as well give that a go as well.
Thanks 🙂

 

[mectojic]

Firewire external CD drives seem to always work, whereas USB-based ones don't seem to support booting, but can do most other things.