R.I.P. Optiarc A7170-A. You sucked.

[sOwL]

I'm very sad (or don't care at all tbh) to announce the death of my OEM Optiarc SuperDrive that came with my Mac Pro 1,1. But that damn thing never worked fine, so I thought I'd share my story for the rest.

Actually, I lied. It did work fine the first few months I had it. But I didn't really use it anyway, mostly OS installations. After a year or so it started having problems when burning. Discs would not verify after burning and even if they did they usually stopped functioning within days. I tested many brands too. After some point of not using it at all for burning, I once found I couldn't burn DVDs anymore. It would see the blank, try to use it to burn, then give an error. Sometimes it made the blank useless too. Same thing started happening with CDs. Today, it started to not even mount an original CD/DVD. I even tried an old Tiger DVD. It either throws it out or just keeps trying for ever. I also noticed it started to scratch the discs sometimes :O I pulled it out, cleaned it thoroughly and then tried a bunch of other firmwares, finally staying with just an updated OEM firmware, 1.NC.

So long story short this dude died and never really made me proud while he was alive so yeah.. I guess I'll get that Blu-Ray drive sooner than i thought.

 

[Cindori]

Disc media is dead in general. Don't think I've inserted a disc in my computer for the last 3 years, except for os install discs.

 

[sOwL]

Oh no! You have caught the Apple's!! Haha. Apart from joking, I agree. Still, sometimes I want to be able to play a dvd or so, or burn a cdr for my car.

 

[JesterJJZ]

Disc media is dead in general.

To you maybe...

Hard to say that when you walk into a best buy and 90% of the floor space is CDs DVDs and Blu-ray...Discs have more life in them than u give them credit.

 

[tjb1]

Another one of these god damn optical drive threads? The mods should ban every person that starts one of these.

 

[MacStu09]

Disc media is dead in general. Don't think I've inserted a disc in my computer for the last 3 years, except for os install discs.

Disc media is dead for you. Not dead in general. I've probably inserted 100 discs into my computer in the past two months. In my line of work, disc media is far from dead (and several other lines of work). For the most basic consumer, yes, it might be dead.

But standard hard drives, SSD's, etc. just don't cut it for several types of data that is sensitive and needs to be stored long-term. My company makes disc backups of almost everything important that we do. Flash drives, hard drives, etc. have failed far too often on us. Even had 2 SSD failures already.

As for the OP's statements, yes, they are crap. I've never seen an Apple product come standard with a decent optical drive; well maybe my first G4. That thing's drive actually went through some abuse and lasted.

 

[ClassObject]

Disc media is dead for you. Not dead in general. I've probably inserted 100 discs into my computer in the past two months. In my line of work, disc media is far from dead (and several other lines of work). For the most basic consumer, yes, it might be dead.

But standard hard drives, SSD's, etc. just don't cut it for several types of data that is sensitive and needs to be stored long-term. My company makes disc backups of almost everything important that we do. Flash drives, hard drives, etc. have failed far too often on us. Even had 2 SSD failures already.

As for the OP's statements, yes, they are crap. I've never seen an Apple product come standard with a decent optical drive; well maybe my first G4. That thing's drive actually went through some abuse and lasted.

Optical mead IS dead - in general. You may use it daily but that is anecdotal. The world that is not still using zip drives have moved on. Far more software is sold online via download than physical media. Best buy is like the old record store when it comes to DVD/CD. The end is near. Also, I personally would question my line of work if physical media were that important, it won't last long.

 

[TheStrudel]

This is the last generation of optical media. There will be no replacement for blu-ray.

I would say everybody who does not have access to broadband still uses it.

People who work in media still use it.

But this is the last iteration. By the time anybody would feel like blu-ray was inadequate, flash memory will be cheap enough to simply use SD cards.

They pretty much already do use SD cards as the media for handheld video game units.

I'm okay with all that. But I'll be using blu-ray for a while, too.

It's funny to see, because some publishers have to satisfy retail partners and try to get digital distribution out for their customers as well, which has resulted in the current bizarro situation where the digital versions cost as much (or more!) than retail versions.

This, too, shall change.

One day, we'll look back on all the discs we produced and shake our heads.

I say the same thing of the massive volumes of paper produced at my office. One day, we'll look back in amazement at the mass of paper we wasted.

Only in the last couple years have tablets become a credible replacement for paper as "digital paper".

Gibson said that the future was here, "just not evenly distributed".

Even distribution cannot come fast enough.

 

[scottsjack]

Optical mead IS dead - in general. You may use it daily but that is anecdotal. The world that is not still using zip drives have moved on. Far more software is sold online via download than physical media. Best buy is like the old record store when it comes to DVD/CD. The end is near. Also, I personally would question my line of work if physical media were that important, it won't last long.

OMG the "Optical media is dead, cuz it's the new Post PC paradigm" crowd is out in force. If you don't use optical media then get a machine without one. On a Mac Pro the optical drive takes up a valuable SATA port.

For the rest of us optical is good and will be for some time. Sure I could buy and download Photoshop online. Frankly I'd rather have an Adobe hardcopy and a nice box. TurboTax? I'll take the hardcopy please.

And then there is Blu-ray. In spite of the fact that Apple now offers 1080p downloads that for many people will be just as good as Blu-ray if you really want the best it comes on a Blu-ray disc. Even for playing on Mac OSX there is nothing currently better than a mkv file from a blu-ray disc. Why would someone who owns a Mac, and especially a Mac Pro, not want the best?

 

[JesterJJZ]

Not to mention it's nice to have a shelf of DVDs/BDs to browse through when I want to watch a movie. I like to keep my entertainment as far away from my computer as I can.

 

[ssgbryan]

Optical mead IS dead - in general. You may use it daily but that is anecdotal. The world that is not still using zip drives have moved on. Far more software is sold online via download than physical media. Best buy is like the old record store when it comes to DVD/CD. The end is near. Also, I personally would question my line of work if physical media were that important, it won't last long.

Optical media is dead - This is also anecdotal. Sure, lots of people buy software via download - and most also burn it to disc after losing it a time or three.

I suppose if you prefer "substitute goods" in economic terms, then optical media is dead - to you. If you are like most of the US, the "cloud" simply isn't an option due to the general all round crappiness of your local ISP.

 

[theSeb]

Disc media is dead in general. Don't think I've inserted a disc in my computer for the last 3 years, except for os install discs.

Disc media may be dead, to you, yet still manages to sell more than digital media and will continue to do so for quite some time. Its death is grossly over-exaggerated.

 

[Boomhowler]

To you maybe...

Hard to say that when you walk into a best buy and 90% of the floor space is CDs DVDs and Blu-ray...Discs have more life in them than u give them credit.

Cindori is from Scandinavia, we don't have best buy here .

Most of the people I know below 40 hardly use plastic discs anymore. With good streaming services and good networks it's very "old school" and annoying with discs.

 

[sOwL]

Another one of these god damn optical drive threads? The mods should ban every person that starts one of these.

What about people that post their smart**s-ness without contributing anything to the thread? I had a failure of Apple's OEM drive so I thought I'd share this for whoever might be interested. If it doesn't interest you, don't click it. As simple as that.

The mods should ban every d**che too, but it ain't a perfect world.

 

[tjb1]

What about people that post their smart**s-ness without contributing anything to the thread? I had a failure of Apple's OEM drive so I thought I'd share this for whoever might be interested. If it doesn't interest you, don't click it. As simple as that.

The mods should ban every d**che too, but it ain't a perfect world.

Cool story bro, but this thread is just turning into another ODD bitch thread.

 

[rpaloalto]

I hate Optiarc ''Opticrap'', Those drives suck. I would have replaced it the moment it arrived. Buy yourself a nice Pioneer or LG for $25.

 

[alphaod]

I had one of those Blu-ray XL burners. Useless—slow burning everything and it was expensive as hell. Recently my Mac stopped recognizing it. New drive is much faster despite it's inability to burn the triple and quad layer discs.

That said I use Blu-ray for archival. Even though HDDs are cheap, storing optical media is easier.

 

[ClassObject]

OMG the "Optical media is dead, cuz it's the new Post PC paradigm" crowd is out in force. If you don't use optical media then get a machine without one. On a Mac Pro the optical drive takes up a valuable SATA port.

For the rest of us optical is good and will be for some time. Sure I could buy and download Photoshop online. Frankly I'd rather have an Adobe hardcopy and a nice box. TurboTax? I'll take the hardcopy please.

And then there is Blu-ray. In spite of the fact that Apple now offers 1080p downloads that for many people will be just as good as Blu-ray if you really want the best it comes on a Blu-ray disc. Even for playing on Mac OSX there is nothing currently better than a mkv file from a blu-ray disc. Why would someone who owns a Mac, and especially a Mac Pro, not want the best?

Enjoy your Ford Pinto, B&W tv, and CRT.

 

[AppleDroid]

When iTunes & Amazon sell CD quality/Better than CD digital albums or video rentals and netflix can equal Bluray quality then I will share the sentiment that "optical media is dead".

 

[JesterJJZ]

Enjoy your Ford Pinto, B&W tv, and CRT.

If downloaded content was at the same lever of quality as it is on physical discs, I wouldn't have such a problem with it. It's just that our society has given up on quality for the sake of convenience and that makes me pretty sad...

And for the record, nothing beats a good CRT. Too bad they are huge and weigh a ton.

 

[ClassObject]

If downloaded content was at the same lever of quality as it is on physical discs, I wouldn't have such a problem with it. It's just that our society has given up on quality for the sake of convenience and that makes me pretty sad...

And for the record, nothing beats a good CRT. Too bad they are huge and weigh a ton.

Nothing beats - vinyl, tube amps, analog tv, music cds, bias ply tires, carburetors, bell bottoms, Ronald Reagan, and government cheese.

 

[gpzjock]

Just because it is old doesn't mean it is $#¡†.

I love my carburettors, fuel injection is rubbish on motorcycles. Go ask a Triumph Speed Triple owner.
I love older solid state amplifiers, they give a fantastic warmth to digital sound. NAD 3020 ftw.
I love Rogers LS2a speakers with KEF polypropylene cones, they give a beautiful sound picture.
I love Grados SR60 headphones, they sound fantastic despite looking like they escaped from a 30's RKO Sci Fi serial.
I love my Optiarc Super Drive because it has allowed me to import 275 GB of my music collection onto iTunes at 256kb/s and x16 speed.
Without that "redundant" media my iPod would be very empty.
Stop clouding the issue and give it up for the past, it is still here and it still works.

 

[Graeme43]

I have the same drive and it sounds like exactly what happened to mine. I did put a Pioneer DVR 109 in the 2nd slot when I got my 1,1 and its still fine

 

[ActionableMango]

When iTunes & Amazon sell CD quality/Better than CD digital albums or video rentals and netflix can equal Bluray quality then I will share the sentiment that "optical media is dead".

We aren't there yet, but it's possible.

It took 10 years to go from DVD to BD. Streaming has gone from a postage-stamp-sized Youtube video to 1080P/5.1 in far less time.

Yes, the most common streaming services do not look or sound as good as BD yet, but their rate of improvement is moving quickly.

I've seen Doctor Who on Xbox Live at 1080P/5.1 and it looked and sounded phenomenal. I'd be hard pressed to identify the differences in quality without seeing the episode again in both streaming and BD back-to-back.

Also, there is also a heck of a lot of existing media that will never be BD quality, either because the source material itself is not high enough quality or because there is no business case to remaster in HD. If you wait for those titles on BD you will never see them.

 

[grrrz]

I love my carburettors, fuel injection is rubbish on motorcycles. Go ask a Triumph Speed Triple owner.
I love older solid state amplifiers, they give a fantastic warmth to digital sound. NAD 3020 ftw.
I love Rogers LS2a speakers with KEF polypropylene cones, they give a beautiful sound picture.
I love Grados SR60 headphones, they sound fantastic despite looking like they escaped from a 30's RKO Sci Fi serial.
I love my Optiarc Super Drive because it has allowed me to import 275 GB of my music collection onto iTunes at 256kb/s and x16 speed.
Without that "redundant" media my iPod would be very empty.
Stop clouding the issue and give it up for the past, it is still here and it still works.

Some people will proably soon get a nostalgic, kind of fetish feel for the CD,
but as opposed to LP which is a completely different technology, with its big cover, analog sound that couldn't be replicated without being careful,
I feel nothing for the CD (the audio CD), it feels like it's a generic bit of plastic containing data you can replicate to infinity, magic is not in the object anymore but in the data it contains. The cd is certainly still very useful to pass out your music (or anything else) in the physical world in large quantity, to people you meet, like a business card or something. Until you can get very cheap disposable usb storage.
Also only a very few online music free offer at least CD quality like they should. I'll be willing to buy music online when stores will offer a wide variety of format; like lossless, high definition, uncompressed (I want atleast 24/48; 24/96 if availaible and 16/44.1, available in wav, flac, and mp3 in various bitrates), without drm of course, and with a permanent link to download each of these formats whenever I want once I made my purchase.
And only require a browser, no crap software to deal with it "à la" Itunes.
Untill then there's still gonna be a external optical drive lying around.