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Remote Disk

by Scott McNulty Jan 15th 2008 at 2:39PM



The MacBook Air doesn't have an optical drive, but it does have a new software feature called Remote Disk. This comes with every MacBook Air and works with both Macs and PCs. Simply install the Remote Disk software on the Mac or PC that has an optical drive and that drive will now be available to the MacBook Air. Slide a disk into the optical drive and Remote Disk shows up in the MacBook Air's Finder. Install software to your heart's content, but sadly you won't be burning CDs using Remote Disk.

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Macworld MacBook Air

The MacBook Air doesn't have an optical drive, but it does have a new software feature called Remote Disk. This comes with every MacBook...
 

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Alex Saidani

This feature seems pretty cool, but i don't have a macbook air i have a macbook and obviously it has a disk drive. But i was just wondering if you can install the software on a normal mac so i can use it to access disk drives of other computers while still being able to use my disk drive.
Any Ideas Anyone? Can You Do It?

February 13 2008 at 2:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sarasuefrench

I'm studying a foreign language and need to spend time listening to the CDs that come with my textbook. Do you know whether I'd be able to do this using the MacBook Air's Remote Disk? Thanks.

February 07 2008 at 3:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Thierry

So how comes the new Mac Pro (standard config) still comes without wireless networking? I guess Remote Disk or not, in that case the MacBook Air just won't be able to use the Mac Pro's disk drive then?

January 16 2008 at 4:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Thierry's comment
PJ Warren

Well, you can still use the Mac Pro's drive, as long as it is on the network that you are connecting to with the Macbook Air. ..It doesn't have to be wireless, it can be plugged in to the router.

January 17 2008 at 12:30 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
PJ Warren

Why would you want to burn remotely? Just burn it on the remote computer. Why involve the Macbook Air? Just transfer the files remotely then burn or use a USB flash drive to move them to the other computer when you go to insert the CD.

January 15 2008 at 6:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to PJ Warren's comment
Randall

Seriously? Why do you want to take something that normally only takes 1 step and make it multiple steps? What if I want to burn a movie that I made with iDVD? So I need to move all my video files, my iDVD project, any pictures over and then I have to have another mac as well.

Or I could just click burn and it sends the data to the other computers burner.

January 16 2008 at 12:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
PJ Warren

Well, it is already multiple steps, you have to put blank a DVD in the other computers drive, then go back to the laptop and click burn, then go back to the other one and get the disc out of it. You could just connect wirelessly with the laptop from the desktop and then drag the files over and burn them. This is not an issue.

January 16 2008 at 2:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Brian

Is "you won't be burning CDs using Remote Disk" actually based on feedback from Apple employees on the show floor?

I suspect Remote Disc is based on iSCSI, which is how they get it to work on both Windows and Mac, and would allow burning, although they might have that capability blocked.

January 15 2008 at 4:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
alexis

so i'd have to remotely burn a cd?

January 15 2008 at 4:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Steven Schmitt

I wish they would have come out with a laptop at a lower price point. From a business point of view all these new "air" products work beautifully together to better position Apple in the whole home "digtal hub" thing... The problem as I see it is that the MacBook Air, due to it's niche market focus, is not going to create the number of users (nor the right segment of users) to really make the Apple TV and the Time capsule take off like they should.) Imagine if they had made a scaled down laptop (no drives, and limited speed, kind of a middle ground laptop between the ibook and ipod touch. That is something that people could get into cheaply and get them vested in the Apple home network idea... As cool as the MacBook Air looks, I think Apple really missed an opportunity here.

January 15 2008 at 3:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jason

uh, you might want to spell it correctly: Remote Disc

January 15 2008 at 3:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Jason's comment
Vijay Arunkumar

I think the word Disc is spelled Disk in UK (probably rest of the world too, although philips' CD is spelled "Compact Disc").

January 15 2008 at 3:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rae

Magnetic = "Disk"
Optical = "Disc"

January 15 2008 at 3:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MasterLeep

How would you restore a corrupted system with Remote Disk?

January 15 2008 at 2:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Michael Schmitt

So... how does one do a clean install of the OS on one of these things?

January 15 2008 at 2:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
4 replies to Michael Schmitt's comment
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