Macbook Air SuperDrive now works with Mac Mini

[darrellishere]

Hi guys might not be news but the MBA superdrive now works with other products! Whether this was a result of the 10.5.7 update I'm not sure. But I dam glad it works with the mini and 24" led without any hacks.
Would be interesting to see if this is wide spread support ? MMM

(Now I can put a second ssd in the SATA slot UMMY!)

 

[Veinticinco]

Hi guys might not be news but the MBA superdrive now works with other products! Whether this was a result of the 10.5.7 update I'm not sure. But I dam glad it works with the mini and 24" led without any hacks.
Would be interesting to see if this is wide spread support ? MMM

(Now I can put a second ssd in the SATA slot UMMY!)

Good news I suppose given I have a spare superdrive currently no more use than a paperweight, thanks to the departure of my MBA due to QC issues with the display, and almost certainty I'll not be getting the current one until they bloody fix it (oh and solder a 4GB RAM stick in there as well).

But, hold on, doesn't the Mini have a superdrive built into it anyway? So what's the point?

 

[iParis]

Good news I suppose given I have a spare superdrive currently no more use than a paperweight, thanks to the departure of my MBA due to QC issues with the display, and almost certainty I'll not be getting the current one until they bloody fix it (oh and solder a 4GB RAM stick in there as well).

But, hold on, doesn't the Mini have a superdrive built into it anyway? So what's the point?

The previous low end Mac Mini only had a combo drive. And this is good for if your computer is under your desk or something, easier access. For example with something other than the Mac Mini, people often hook their Mac laptop up to external displays and put the laptop in a compartment in the desk or under it, again this is an example of easier accessibility.

 

[Veinticinco]

The previous low end Mac Mini only had a combo drive. And this is good for if your computer is under your desk or something, easier access. For example with something other than the Mac Mini, people often hook their Mac laptop up to external displays and put the laptop in a compartment in the desk or under it, again this is an example of easier accessibility.

Thanks, didn't know that about the combo drive in the low-end as the Mini is not a product that's ever interested me.

I still see practical issues, as the SD does need a decent amount of USB-bus-powered juice so needs plugging into the port of a either the Mini or the ACD/other display. Which I don't think will be easy given the lead on the SD is both fixed and ridiculously short.

 

[Mactagonist]

IIRC the Macbook Air SuperDrive has always worked when attached to the 24" LED Cinema display.

If you want to really test this you need to connect it to a built in USB port on the mini.

 

[xpovos]

FYI it doesn't work plugged into a 13" uMB, or at least not while on battery power. Just tried this out of curiosity and got nothing.

 

[darrellishere]

I have it plugged directly into the 2009 Mini usb port and it works like a charm!

I've removed my mini's internal dvd burner in-order to use that spare Serial ATA 3.0GB connection with another hard drive in its place, to increase the internal storage! Just wondering whether to get another SSD or 500GB HDD? mmm

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/Mac-mini-A1283-Terabyte-Drive/660/1

 

[aleksandra.]

If only it worked with powered USB hub... that would be great news.

 

[Scottsdale]

If only it worked with powered USB hub... that would be great news.

It has worked for me with both powered and even unpowered USB hubs. Try a different port if doesn't work with yours.

 

[Vikz]

The macbook air superdrive will work with any apple computer with a usb high power port, so in this case only the air and mac mini are the ones in apple's line who have those kind of ports

 

[iParis]

Does your Mac mini really have a 1TB HD?

The macbook air superdrive will work with any apple computer with a usb high power port, so in this case only the air and mac mini are the ones in apple's line who have those kind of ports

What? So you're saying the MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac Pro don't have high powered USB ports?

 

[designgeek]

I have it plugged directly into the 2009 Mini usb port and it works like a charm!

I've removed my mini's internal dvd burner in-order to use that spare Serial ATA 3.0GB connection with another hard drive in its place, to increase the internal storage! Just wondering whether to get another SSD or 500GB HDD? mmm

You may be crazy. Just saying. That sound cool though, is it possible to use two at the same time?

 

[Phil A.]

IIRC the Macbook Air SuperDrive has always worked when attached to the 24" LED Cinema display.

If you want to really test this you need to connect it to a built in USB port on the mini.

It doesn't work on my 24" LED when my MBP is plugged in...

 

[three]

I should dig out my SuperDrive and see if it works on my mini.

 

[Scottsdale]

It doesn't work on my 24" LED when my MBP is plugged in...

Try a different port... Weird how sometimes it will work in one port of a powered hub and not another.

 

[wetrix]

Doesn't work on my 1.83GHz C2D (previous gen) mini.

 

[aleksandra.]

Try a different port... Weird how sometimes it will work in one port of a powered hub and not another.

Or in none.

 

[Yvan256]

Doesn't work on my 1.83GHz C2D (previous gen) mini.

Thanks for testing it.

 

[Fuchal]

Doesn't work on my 1.83GHz C2D (previous gen) mini.

Darn, thats what I would want it for

 

[gctwnl]

Murky

Hi guys might not be news but the MBA superdrive now works with other products! Whether this was a result of the 10.5.7 update I'm not sure. But I dam glad it works with the mini and 24" led without any hacks.
Would be interesting to see if this is wide spread support ? MMM

As tnkgrl found out, it has nothing to do with power, but the MBA Superdrive has a special USB-to-IDE bridge which probably sends some special protocol to the MBA (and now the mini). Probably, the USB hardware on the MBA (mini) side also has extended hardware support for that protocol. My guess is that it is needed to be able to boot from the USB2.0 device. And the device itself refuses to work unless this hardware on the other side is available.

You can hack the drive to work on any USB system, but my guess is that you then lose the possibility to boot from it. Or is the MBA (and new mini) able to boot from any USB 2.0 device? If not, then a future OS X upgrade may probably not be able to enable this on older hardware.

What might also follow from this is USB 2.0 Target Disk Mode. Maybe a flashrom upgrade for MBA and new mini will enable this if it is not already possible. Has anybody tried?

 

[Vikz]

The macbook air superdrive will work with any apple computer with a usb high power port, so in this case only the air and mac mini are the ones in apple's line who have those kind of ports

like i said, it will only work with these 2 models since they have high powered USB ports

and to be specific only early 2009 mini will take the MBA super drive, that and the MBA of course

 

[Scottsdale]

Or in none.

Maybe it depends which model number the MBA SuperDrive is... the newer one is MB397G/A... the older one is something like A1270.

 

[gctwnl]

like i said, it will only work with these 2 models since they have high powered USB ports

and to be specific only early 2009 mini will take the MBA super drive, that and the MBA of course

As far as I have seen research on the issue, it is not so much the high power of the USB bus. The MBA superdrive has a special non-standard Apple USB-ATA bridge. The MBA and the new mini have hardware on the USB bus that can talk to this bridge via USB.

My suspicion is that this is needed to be able to boot from the USB 2.0 device.

Possibly, the new mini can boot from an MBA superdrive. Possibly it can do so hardware-wise but it needs a firmware patch/upgrade to actually do so.

 

[aleksandra.]

Maybe it depends which model number the MBA SuperDrive is... the newer one is MB397G/A... the older one is something like A1270.

I didn't know there were two models. I have an older one, apparently. Also I can see it in System Profiler (it takes normal current and seems to be fine), but not in Finder. It also doesn't make this weird sound when being first connected to the hub (which it does when connected to the MBA itself).

 

[foltzie]

Maybe it depends which model number the MBA SuperDrive is... the newer one is MB397G/A... the older one is something like A1270.

I dont know if there is a newer model, but I have MB397G/A and I bought it along with the original MBA Rev-A shortly after launch.