Q: My old Mac OS 10.5.8 does not admit an external USB apple superdrive that I have just bought. Help!

Apple's USB SuperDrive requires more power than is normally allowed for an USB device, and therefore isn't intended for Macs which shipped with an internal one. If you want, you can get it to work by editing one of the computer's plist files.

(129499)

You can certainly go out and buy a new Mac if you like, but this isn't the primary reason that that new Apple USB optical drive isn't working with your much older iMac model.

Apple's own USB SuperDrive may not work at all, even after the system that system hack as these drives were intended for newer Macs running much newer versions of OS X (10.6 and later).

If you live in the U.S. or have access to online website stores, like Amazon, you can still find drives that are still compatible with your older model iMac.

Return that Apple USB optical drive for a full refund.

If you need an optical drive that works with your year and model Mac, look at these.

Not all optical drives are Mac compatible.

Most Mac compatible drives you will only find to be purchased online.

Here are two on Amazon.com that are cheap and Mac compatible

http://www.amazon.com/LG-GP10NB20-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B004K2Z4MS/ref=sr_1 _3?ie=UTF8&qid=1398883289&sr=8-3&keywords=Mac+compatible+external+LG+optical+dr i ve

http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Portable-External-GP40NB40/dp/B009DS6OFU/re f=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1398883289&sr=8-7&keywords=Mac+compatible+external+LG+opti c al+drive

Here's another source for Mac compatible optical drives. These are better quality optical drives.

These are also tray loading drives.

Tray loading optical drives are more reliable, plus they are capable of playing those smaller mini sized discs.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/VLU2SD24XS/

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MR3F82SD24S/

Good Luck!

Be aware only Firewire optical drives can boot PowerPC Macs into Mac OS X.  There are some exceptions with USB, but they are hard to find.