Q: No DVD drive in new iMac ???
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Apr 20, 2013 7:27 AMby R C-R,El Deanio wrote:
If my next Mac doesn't have an internal optical drive then I will need an an external with dual bays if possible. One with a single bay will be okay but I like to do Disc to Disc copying so a dual bay drive will minimise the use of any USB (or other) ports on the rear of the Mac.
Assuming you can find a dual bay case that supports two optical drives over one external port, it probably won't offer any real advantage over a pair of optical drives that include their own power supplies, or maybe even a pair of buss powered ones.
That's mostly because the speed of duplication is limited by how fast the burner drive can write the disc, & even for the fastest ones on the market that is not even close to requiring a data rate that would saturate a USB 2.0 buss (which is why you rarely see a burner with any other interface). Plus, high speed burners heat the disc (& everything around it) quite a bit, so they require substantial cooling for reliable operation.
So for instance, if you used two stacked optical drives, each with their own power supply & fan, you probably would have a more reliable duplicating system unless you invested in an expensive dual bay solution with a high performance cooling system. If using up a second USB port is a concern, you could easily use a cheap, "no-name" USB hub to avoid that.
In fact, even most buss powered USB burners will work fine with a high quality USB hub that includes its own power supply, so investing on one of those might be a good alternative since that would give you more ports for other things too. (Because it is hard to tell from specs alone how well powered hubs work with buss-powered peripherals, I suggest buying one with a good return policy.)
Not to sound like a broken record but basically, the less stuff you cram into one case the more likely it is to be problem free & the greater flexibility you get in what you can do with it.
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Apr 20, 2013 7:46 AMby Csound1,R C-R wrote:
El Deanio wrote:
If my next Mac doesn't have an internal optical drive then I will need an an external with dual bays if possible. One with a single bay will be okay but I like to do Disc to Disc copying so a dual bay drive will minimise the use of any USB (or other) ports on the rear of the Mac.
Assuming you can find a dual bay case that supports two optical drives over one external port, it probably won't offer any real advantage over a pair of optical drives that include their own power supplies, or maybe even a pair of buss powered ones.
This company (Copystar) make 1+1 to 1+7 drive duplicators, I have used the 1+3 (pictured below). It seems well made (it's 2 years old now) No Blu Ray but that may have changed. This model was about $200.
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Apr 20, 2013 8:59 AMby El Deanio,R C-R wrote:
El Deanio wrote:
If my next Mac doesn't have an internal optical drive then I will need an an external with dual bays if possible. One with a single bay will be okay but I like to do Disc to Disc copying so a dual bay drive will minimise the use of any USB (or other) ports on the rear of the Mac.
...In fact, even most buss powered USB burners will work fine with a high quality USB hub that includes its own power supply, so investing on one of those might be a good alternative since that would give you more ports for other things too. (Because it is hard to tell from specs alone how well powered hubs work with buss-powered peripherals, I suggest buying one with a good return policy.)
Not to sound like a broken record but basically, the less stuff you cram into one case the more likely it is to be problem free & the greater flexibility you get in what you can do with it.
Thanks for the info.
Most maybe, but sadly not all in my experience. I recently bought an LG 'Super Multi Blue' (well, that's what it says on the case) BD Rewriter. I plugged it in to my Belkin (powered) USB Hub (flawless performance for yonks) only to find the LG kept coming up with errors when attempting a burn. Read was okay though. I didn't immediately jump to the conclusion that the LG was faulty however as I wanted to try the LG in a USB port in my iMac (just a hunch).
Much to my relief the LG worked perfectly after plugging it into my Mac's sole remaining USB port. I was lucky that I still had one USB port unused though. I have had my iMac since November 2007 so I had forgotten this was the case.
In my case at least, all Apple needs to do in any future iMac design to make me have to use iCloud whether I want to or not, is to reduce the number of (or remove entirely) the USB ports on the rear of the machine.
CSound1's device looks like the sort of thing I would need (only smaller ). When and if I do need to get an new iMac, this would be something that I would also need to consider.
C'est la vie!
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Apr 20, 2013 9:02 AMby Csound1,El Deanio wrote:
R C-R wrote:
CSound1's device looks like the sort of thing I would need (only smaller ). When and if I do need to get an new iMac, this would be something that I would also need to consider.
There are smaller and larger versions, starting at 1+1 (2 drives) going up to 1+7 (8 drives), they vary in size according to the number of drives.
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Apr 20, 2013 11:58 AMby El Deanio,That's a point. Although in my case desktop space is also an issue.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11373233/MacDiscussions/P4200205v2.pdf
You may need to zoom out a bit.
Message was edited by: El Deanio
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Apr 22, 2013 4:29 PMby R C-R,El Deanio wrote:
Most maybe, but sadly not all in my experience. I recently bought an LG 'Super Multi Blue' (well, that's what it says on the case) BD Rewriter.
Which LG model did you get? Was it an LG branded one or something else? Note that at least one of the bus-powered LG branded models requires simultaneous connection to two USB ports to get enough power for high speed burning.
That's a limitation of USB 1 & 2 devices -- to be compliant a port must limit its power demand to no more than 1/2 amp (2.5 watts) to prevent a protected hub from shutting down that port. Several bus powered USB 2 devices besides the LG one get around this limitation by providing for simultaneous connections to two ports, doubling the available power. (See this for a more complete explanation.)
Also worth noting: high speed burning generally requires more power (as does burning an M-disk) so even burners that provide for two-port bus power don't usually support the fastest burn speeds. Some provide for using an external supply & only support their fastest burning speeds when so powered.
Unfortunately, often sales brochures & sometimes even user manuals are not too clear about this.
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Apr 22, 2013 8:40 PMby baltwo,There are better ones at http://www.amazon.com/IEEE-1394-FireWire-Female-Adapter/dp/B007DNHQPE. Check the other products on that page.
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Apr 22, 2013 8:43 PMby MichelPM,Well I'll be...
Cheap enough, you can try this, however I think that because this is a USB 2.0 connection, the USB 3.0 port you choose to use will reduce its speed to USB 2.0 speeds.
Even if the adapter does connect at USB 3.0 speeds,
If you are using this adapter with the idea of attaining USB 3.0 speeds, you need to know that the interface speed is going to be limited to that of tge max FW400 transfer speeds no matter how this connects up.
Tthe same thing happens with my connection advice.
The slower end of the cable or adapter determines the data transfer rate over the cable.
Good Luck!
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Apr 23, 2013 12:13 AMby R C-R,baltwo wrote:
There are better ones at http://www.amazon.com/IEEE-1394-FireWire-Female-Adapter/dp/B007DNHQPE. Check the other products on that page.
Look at the reviews of this product. Most of them say it doesn't work.
It is hard to see how it could since USB & Firewire are so different -- they don't use the same signal protocols or voltages.
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Apr 23, 2013 5:45 AMby MichelPM,I agree,
That's why I was surprised to see a FW to USB adapter out there on the market.
I thought maybe someone solved the incompatibility issue.
I am not convinced this type of adapter will work, either.
FW and USB are two completely different types data transfer protocols and voltages.
