Optical drives are on the verge of obsolescence since there are new and better ways to store and read/write data. Discussed below are some of the major uses of optical drives. Read/Write Data. Optical drives use laser beam technology that allows the computer to display the content of the optical disk. These disks can be CDs, DVDs, or Blu-Ray discs. External DVD Drive USB 3.0 CD/DVD+/-RW Drive/DVD Player for Laptop PC Mac Black 9.4 View Product. USB 3.0 External Optical Drive DVD/CD RW Burner for Windows and Mac New 8.3 7.8.
Design software for mac. Compared to many How-To articles, this one is pretty simple, but it saved me from buying another USB DVD drive just for one little task.
The problem: I have both Macs and Windows PCs, and needed to install Microsoft Office from DVD media on an ultrabook laptop that had no internal optical drive.
1 Steps total
Step 1: Download BootCamp from the Apple Support Site
The MacBook Air SuperDrive has unique firmware which prevents it from being properly recognized as a plug and play optical USB drive by Windows. Fortunately, Apple provides the drivers for running Windows on a Mac, as part of its BootCamp software.
If you download the latest release of BootCamp from Apple's support site, you will have a zip file wherein the path bootcampdriversApple contains the file 'AppleODDInstaller64.exe'.
Simply execute this file to install the Apple Optical Disk Driver for 64 bit Windows, and presto! You can then use the MacBook Air SuperDrive with your Windows PC.
15 Comments
Optical drives are on the verge of obsolescence since there are new and better ways to store and read/write data. Discussed below are some of the major uses of optical drives. Read/Write Data. Optical drives use laser beam technology that allows the computer to display the content of the optical disk. These disks can be CDs, DVDs, or Blu-Ray discs. External DVD Drive USB 3.0 CD/DVD+/-RW Drive/DVD Player for Laptop PC Mac Black 9.4 View Product. USB 3.0 External Optical Drive DVD/CD RW Burner for Windows and Mac New 8.3 7.8.
Design software for mac. Compared to many How-To articles, this one is pretty simple, but it saved me from buying another USB DVD drive just for one little task.
The problem: I have both Macs and Windows PCs, and needed to install Microsoft Office from DVD media on an ultrabook laptop that had no internal optical drive.
1 Steps total
Step 1: Download BootCamp from the Apple Support Site
The MacBook Air SuperDrive has unique firmware which prevents it from being properly recognized as a plug and play optical USB drive by Windows. Fortunately, Apple provides the drivers for running Windows on a Mac, as part of its BootCamp software.
If you download the latest release of BootCamp from Apple's support site, you will have a zip file wherein the path bootcampdriversApple contains the file 'AppleODDInstaller64.exe'.
Simply execute this file to install the Apple Optical Disk Driver for 64 bit Windows, and presto! You can then use the MacBook Air SuperDrive with your Windows PC.
15 Comments
Optical Drive For Mac And Pc Format
- TabascoFelloWizard Aug 14, 2015 at 03:03pm
Finally, something I can use. Thanks this is helpful on many levels.
- CayenneJeremyGove Aug 14, 2015 at 05:50pm
Long live BootCamp! Great post! Thanks for putting this up.
- CayenneInevitableCheese Aug 14, 2015 at 05:53pm
Makes you wonder why in the world they wouldn't just make it available.
- Mace
- SerranoNHCSAdmin Aug 14, 2015 at 06:20pm
Awesome! Been to busy to figure out how to use it on another computer! Thanks for the write up!
- Thai PepperBlair Groves Aug 14, 2015 at 06:23pm
Thank you for your comments everyone! I'm glad this was helpful to you!
- ChipotleColdDeck Aug 14, 2015 at 08:19pm
That's a useful bit of info right there. Thanks for posting!
- Datillhatsynot Aug 14, 2015 at 09:10pm
Very nice and I didn't know it wouldn't work. My wife has a Mac with one of these drives and I have an Ultrabook so this will come in handy.
- ChipotleJames1765 Aug 14, 2015 at 10:55pm
I should be shocked that Apple would break a long standing standard like this without any apparent advantage, but this is Apple we're talking about.
- Thai PepperBlair Groves Aug 14, 2015 at 11:23pm
For every one item that Apple has put up a dead end, they've both innovated and perfected dozens of things that have influences our world in general. They've succeeded in creating a very nice ecosystem for people who are prepared to pay the price of admission, and there is much more to come, as long as Apple remains attentive.
- CayenneBryan9095 Aug 15, 2015 at 12:05am
This is a much easier method. Connect the SuperDrive and a USB flash drive to a Mac. Copy the contents of the Office DVD to the flash drive. Then plug the flash drive into the ultrabook. Run the setup. The benefit of this method is not having to do anything special to get the SuperDrive to work with the ultrabook and the installation of Office will be faster.
- Thai PepperSteve_Belmont Aug 15, 2015 at 02:58am
Good Thinking! great job, and you get to save a few
- Macebbigford Aug 15, 2015 at 04:45am
Nice write up on repurposing. I'm guessing nobody would actually buy an Apple optical drive for Windows intentionally. At least it isn't a total loss if you're stuck with it and don't want to pay $30 for a new external.
- DatilAshleyLewisMS Aug 16, 2015 at 02:30pm
Thanks for the guide. I gotta say, I've used a generic Samsung external DVD drive on an iMAC before and it works a treat.
- DatilRusty Platter Aug 17, 2015 at 10:19am
For the reverse situation, I've used a Dell USB DVD drive without issues on a Mac.
