Mac Super-drives

Hie hie, I just noticed something. Thought it was weird that everybody put stars in Matsh i t a until I read my own post.

Are we being cencored? :p
 
koffiejunkie said:
OK, I'm confused. I just got my superdrive in the mail (for my Mini). It's a model
uj-846-c but there's no mention of Mat****a - it's labelled as a Panasonic (which doesn't inspire the world's greatest confidence either).

So is Mat****a and Panasonic the same thing?

Incidently, my HP notebook has Mat****a uj-840-d. Aside from the PCU, it's the best part of the notebook - has never given me issues, has never made a coaster, and happily reads poor quality medium DVD and/or DVDs that are damaged to the point where even my trusty old LG wouldn't read them.

Second question - where do you guys download firmware updates for these drives.

Third questeion - mabye we should compile a list of drive makes and models that either ship with the Macs or that are available as replacements. I know there's a highly regarded Pioneer DVDRW-DL available for the Mac Mini, but I cannot find the link now.
Click to expand...
YES, Matsush1ta and Panasonic are the same.

I searched high and low for firmware last year, but couldn't find any. Many other have said the same - no flashing of this model. This also means you can only change the DVD region 5 times before it locks to the last one. This is usually the reason folks want to reflash the firmware on drives. Apple are very anal about this sort of thing.

The odd thing is that Apple have known about this issue for quite some time, yet the new iMacs ALL came with this dodgy drive. (Apple are reknowned for their extremely slow reaction to reported problems.)

Now they are releasing some Macs with a different drive - a Korean one - can't recall the brand. Some report it as being noisey but I cannot confirm that.

Users have said these Matsush1ta drives perform well with specific media. Apple branded CDs & DVDs (never seen them in SA) and Tayo Yuden (forgive the spelling). Otherwise they NEVER burn at the advertised max speed.

Dual layer support is or was another contentious issue.

I've heard good things about Pioneer, NEC, LG and Sony (Sony also not always flashable).
 
Skeptik said:
I've heard good things about Pioneer, NEC, LG and Sony (Sony also not always flashable).
Click to expand...

I refuse to buy Sony purely because they actively back copy protection. Philips, on the other end of the spectrum (at least, last time I checked) actively opposed any form of hardware copy protection.
 
There are precious few firmware upgrades for the mac drives since the UJ-815/816s. You can find what is and isn't available here:

http://www.powerbook-fr.com/dossiers/dvd_region_free_en_article30.html

As for internal replacements, OWC offers Dual Layer superdrive upgrades for iMacs, minis, and Powerbooks. (most are based on the Pioneer line which are excellent 109,111,112D)

I personally think it's crazy to go the internal route unless you've got a Mac Pro (or other mac tower) since current drives far out perform the mac compatible internals (18x and 20x DVD+/-R, DVD-RAM, wider media compatibility, LightScribe, etc.) and have much more robust peer support in the way of firmware, crossflashing info etc.

The Pioneer 112D works flawlessly with the mac but is unfortunately unavailable here in SA. (I'm having one shipped over by a friend along with a ME-340U2F Firewire/USB enclosure)

I've spent well over 100 hours comparing every single available internal/external option here in SA and can recommend the following options (along with the best price I could find):

Internals (which will need an external enclosure):
LITEON SHM-165H6S (16x w/ LightScribe) R334
LITEON SHM-165P6S (same as above w/o LightScribe)
ASUS DRW-1814BLT (18x w/ LightScribe) R409
ASUS DRW-1608P3S (rebadged Pioneer 111)
LG GSA-H42L (18x w/ LightScribe)


Enclosure for any of the above:
Vi-Power VPM-62289 (Firewire/USB2) R436
Mapower KC51C1 (Firewire/USB2) R 420

Externals:
LITEON SHM-165P6SX (sometimes labeled as SHM-165P6SX02 in SA)
LG GSA-5163D
LG GSA-E40L (external w/ Lightscribe R687)

Before I decided to the get the 112D shipped over, I had firmly settled on the LITEON 165H6S / Vi-Power 62289 combo for the following reasons:

- Best media compatibility/reviews of the lot. (The LG's above are solid but known to be a bit more fussy with cheaper media)
- Firewire/USB dual support which none of the plug and play externals above offer.

USB2.0 really is more than sufficient for Optical Drives as opposed to Hard Drives... BUT many mac users report only one or the other being recognized right out of the box so having both means greater compatibility with other computers AND a greater likelihood of it being recognized by your own.

Tempting drives which I ruled out based on general or mac specific reports:
LITEON 18A1H
LG 2164D/2166D
LG 4166
Many many others embarassingly too numerous to count.

If you do decide to go the external route the following sites are crucial:

Nifty app that will allow your mac to recognize 99% of the drives out there.
http://www.patchburn.de/

Searchable database of user reports on external drive compatibility:
http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso

Forum containing more than you EVER wanted/needed to know about Optical Drives, Media, Burn/Scan Quality, firmware, crossflashing and more:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/

Hope this was helpful! :)
 
MauiTime said:
I personally think it's crazy to go the internal route unless you've got a Mac Pro (or other mac tower) since current drives far out perform the mac compatible internals (18x and 20x DVD+/-R, DVD-RAM, wider media compatibility, LightScribe, etc.) and have much more robust peer support in the way of firmware, crossflashing info etc.
Click to expand...
I've never had a drive fail (touch wood) but I'd sooner swap it out than substitute it for an external. Getting an external would diminish the portability aspect of a laptop.
 
Oh, I should also mention that of the drives NOT available here yet... the LITEON 20A1H (20x Lightscribe) was the top contender but there were hit and miss reports of compatibility with various macs.

So I settled on the Pioneer 112D which is simply a champion drive that macs seem to love. (and an "editor's choice" awarded drive at cdfreaks)

Were I someplace where a quick local return/exchange was available I probably would have taken the risk and gotten the 20A1H.
 
MauiTime, thanks for the excellent information.

The reason why I went for an internal is in part to preserve the slick look of my desktop at the moment (big screen, mini, keyboard and mouse and nothing else) - I don't really want more clutter.

Also, I have too many cables already. An external drive would mean I have to have another power adapter lying around.

Plus I have other plans for the combo drive in my Mini.
 
bwana said:
I've never had a drive fail (touch wood) but I'd sooner swap it out than substitute it for an external. Getting an external would diminish the portability aspect of a laptop.
Click to expand...

I'd feel exactly the same way. The strong views above are based on my dealing with a desktop system where the only issue is elegance vs. functionality. :)

Of course the other advantage to an external is the ability to buy the latest/greatest available drive and know that it will come along with you when you upgrade to a newer system. (I'm drooling over the new 3.0 Ghz quad core Mac Pros!)
 
koffiejunkie said:
Quad core? Have you no ambition? They'll be available with 8 cores soon... :p
Click to expand...

LOL

Oh, I have ambition but I also have a budget!

Between the HD Cinema Display, the 1TB of drive space, and the 8 Gigs of ram I need to get with that quad the only way I can afford the 8 core is if it comes with 3 Bedrooms and 2 baths. :p
 
Agreed, I would much rather go for 4 cores and 8GB of RAM than for 8 cores and 4GB RAM. In fact, for my usage I'm having a hard time justifying more than two cores...
 
Ok, like a kid at xmas I got home, ripped the box open, popped open the Mini, shoved the new drive in.

Two problems:

1. OSX (1.4.9) doesn't see the drive at all. This is a UJ-846-C Do I have to do something special? I tried Patchburn, but it won't do anything because it doesn't see the drive either.

2. The DVD that I put in won't come out again. The eject button simply don't work. Is there a way to get it out?

Thanks
 
Is this the same model drive that was in it before?
 
Last edited:
Have you double checked all the cables?
 
No cables, it's all hard connectors - there's a backplate that both the hard disc and the optical drive plug into (this is a Mac Mini PPC).

Funny thing is, the drive spins up when I switch the Mini on. If I hit C it sounds like it's trying to read off the disc. The disc I popped in is unfortunately a blank DVD+R so it can't boot off it. Either ways, it sounds like the firmware sees the drive. Is there a way to verify this?

Thanks
 
For what it's worth, there's nothing useful in the logs - either /var/log/syslog or dmesg. Is there some other cli way to see what hardware is in the system?
 
For the sake of ruling everything out have you tried resetting the PMU?
 
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