Very very noisy super-drive - is this normal?

I'd consider the superdrive normally to be the noisiest piece of the Mini.

But from your description, it does sound like yours is noisier than I would expect -- and likely is defective.

I fully second that observation.

My new mini is equipped with this Optiarc drive.
Funny thing : try to put it vertically (the whole Mini of course) and the noise should dissapear and the drive work perfectly (and quietly) !
Put it back horizontally (the Mini "regular" position) and the noise should be back.

Someone at Apple : my guess is that it looks like your provider Optiarc calibrate the drive to be used vertically, probably because intended to be used in the iMac at first, but a recalibration should be done for those installed in the Macs Mini ! Firmware upgrade urgently requested :o)

I hope you (@ Apple) won't let us down on that one ...

I am experiencing the same. In horizontal state the drive doesn't work (xcode won't install) and is extremely noisy.

Vertical state if fine, but this kind of solution *****...

I notice the fan more than the drive when it's in use. I think the 8x max speed when burning DVD's is to keep heat down since 20x drive are the norm in desktops.

lame. mine is optiarc as well and is extremely loud while burning dvds.

Took my mac mini back for display issues and loud superdrive and they gave me a new one. Both drives were Optiarc and the second one is much more quiet. Also, the first drive had read issues and it was going to take 45 hours to install iLife until I put the drive in a horizontal position. New drive does not have read issues as of yet.

Yes, I got the problem too with bluetooth connection issues (Apple wireless keyboard and mouse).
Especially without brand of Pioneer DVD writer come with the box. My first one of mac mini is quite normal during the operation but after I return and receive another one (due to the above hardware problem issues), the driver operation would 180 hard turn to a noisy drive. I found the disc driver was changed to (OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5670S) instead of Pioneer disc drive.

Apple's should say something for us.

I just bought a Mac Mini 2009 model today (5/30/09), and found that it too had a very noisy DVD drive while installing OS X onto a replacement hard drive I installed. I found this thread and checked my hardware profile -- sure enough, I have an OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5670S drive installed on my Mini. And like others here posted, putting the Mini on its side (mostly) remedied the issue. I'd still get the occasional rev-up from the drive, but much less.

On a less great note, the drive / OS installer failed to properly stop and reboot the machine after the installation was completed. So there's definitely some kind of issue with the drive. Has anyone had success getting Apple (preferably at a local Apple Store) to replace only the DVD drive? I have put a 7200 RPM 320 GB drive into my Mini, and I don't want them to just give me a new Mini unless they will also pull the drive and upgraded RAM from the old one and pop it into the new as part of the deal.

Well I just got my mini a couple of weeks ago and it came with a PIONEER drive and no problems here with it at all for what it's worth.

I have this problem too. The DVD drive was grinding and would not read a disc. I turned it on it's side and it works fine.

Only it says I have the Pioneer Drive ...

PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K06:

Firmware Revision: Q614
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2000 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

Wonder if they didn't calibrate some of these right too. Going to try taking it back to the store where I bought it.

If anyone has any other thoughts, please post. This is ridiculous.

Wow how many different dvd burners do the mini's use?
I guess I should've put the exact model that came with my mini:
PIONEER DVD-RW DVRTS08 Firmware Revision: Q81B
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2000 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

Yeah I would take it back while it's under warranty since the only thing you can really do is look for an updated firmware for the burner and update it via Windows but then again you shouldn't have to do that in the first place.

GRRR!!!. I have this drive, but I asked Apple to send me replacement install DVDs, as I thought they were printed off-centre!!. Not amused.

I have seen comments elsewhere that the Optiarc is noisier, and recently I got a batch of seven new Mac mini's and 5 of them had Optiarc drives. I can therefore confirm from my own experience they are noisier than the Pioneer the other two had.

As the only way to tell which model is in your Mac mini is to either plug it in and use it, or to take the Mac mini apart, at a minimum you would have to open the box first.