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Mod: use your MacBook Air Superdrive on any machine

by Brett Terpstra Jun 24th 2008 at 12:00PM

If you've got a MacBook Air SuperDrive and you've been hankering to use it with other computers (Mac or PC), tnkgrl over at tnkgrl Mobile has a solution. With a $9 part and some intestinal fortitude, you too can make your MBA Superdrive universally compatible.

Using the drive with other computers has been a desire from its inception. After some experimentation, tnkgrl found that simply replacing the IDE to USB bridge within the drive did the trick. Of course, that means removing the daughter-board and relocating the 12 MHz crystal. For an experienced hardware hacker, no sweat. For the average Joe, well, it's quite obviously an at-your-own-risk situation.

Check out the post at tnkgrl Mobile for the details.



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Peripherals Hacks MacBook Air

If you've got a MacBook Air SuperDrive and you've been hankering to use it with other computers (Mac or PC), tnkgrl over at tnkgrl Mobile...
 

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JJ

This could be the perfect companion for the Apple TV no?
If one were to run OSX on the ATV, this would work wouldn't it? However, I may be out to lunch here as my ATV hackery knowledge is almost nill.

June 24 2008 at 9:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ben

I just spent ten minutes wondering when the hell Apple put disk drives in the MBAs, then I realized you meant the external accessory.

/facepalm.

June 24 2008 at 6:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Michael Long

Not a good idea, as the Apple drive has significantly higher power requirements than that provided by a typical USB port. Especially in the DVD-burning mode.

If you look at similar third party drives, you'll notice that nearly every one REQUIRES an external power supply, or REQUIRES a Y-connector designed to sip power from two USB ports.

June 24 2008 at 2:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Michael Long's comment
Mr Lizard

There were some theories floating that the drive draws more than the 500ma provided by a typical USB port, but the linked article seems to dispute that.

Apparently, the only thing restricting the drive from being used with any other Mac/PC is the Apple-provided firmware on the USB/IDE controller.

Swapping that out with a general one did the trick. The fact that it works with a general usb port on any computer seems to put rest the theory that a higher powered port is required.

I guess Apple didn't want to get into a situation where they became a peripheral manufacturer, hence limiting the drive to work with the MacBook Air only.

June 24 2008 at 5:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
HD

Would this connect to the Apple TV and play DVDs? I would assume not, but it sure would make for a nice, compact system.

Give me a surround receiver with the same footprint and I'd could lose all of those big old clunky components!

June 24 2008 at 1:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ryan Trevisol

I love articles like this. They invariably end with "For experienced hackers, this is no problem," or "So if you've got 10 hours and a spare ide-to-usb bridge, click on through".

Honestly, how many people are really going to do this? Why would anyone, when a Lacie USB superdrive with lightscribe is the same price as the MBA one?

June 24 2008 at 12:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Ryan Trevisol's comment
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