Using old Mac Mini as optical disc drive for a new one

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Using old Mac Mini as optical disc drive for a new one

Thought I'd repost this under my own name:

An update for all those who want to use an old Mac Mini's optical disc drive in a new Mac Mini, which has no disc drive. It WILL NOT work with a firewire connection. The old mini does work as an OPTICAL DRIVE ONLY if you connect it to the new one via USB cable (male to male). It will work both as an OPTICAL DRIVE and an EXTERNAL HD if you connect it to the new mini on an Ethernet network (this through my DSL modem which has three Ethernet ports) or by WiFi. If you keep an OSX system on the old mini you can also use any old apps on that computer via screen sharing on the new one. Hope this helps all who had my problem.

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9), 16 GB Ram, 2.6 Intel quad core i7

Posted on Nov 16, 2013 2:49 PM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,669 points

Nov 16, 2013 2:57 PM in response to Holger Jensen

I do not understand what you are saying? You can place an old Mac with disk drives

(see How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode) and boot that computer in Target mode and then connect it to another computer via FireWire and use the old computers optical drive and HD.

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Answer 2

Nov 16, 2013 3:04 PM in response to lllaass

What I am saying is you do not have to start the old Mac Mini in target disc mode. Start up normally, connect to the new one via USB (to use the optical disc drive only) or by Ethernet or WiFi network to use the old computer and its optical disc drive via screen sharing. Firewire connection DOES NOT let you use the optical disc drive or any of your old apps on the old computer.

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