This is in response to a previous archived thread that was never fully answered, found here:
A MacBook Pro CD drive can help you make the most of your MacBook’s capabilities. Through an external CD or DVD drive, you can create CD- or DVD-based copies of your documents and media files for sharing or for backup purposes. These external optical drives also let you install software and enjoy.
Advice given on previous thread that did not work for me:
You have to hold the ALT key in order to boot from the external drive.
~Lyssa
This advice is correct, except here are the full directions:
1. Press power and startup macbook OR click on apple icon in upper right corner and click restart.
2. As computer starts/restarts, hold down the option (ALT) key until you see a choice of options to boot from. There will not be an option for external cd/dvd, until the computer has finished reading that drive.
3. Wait as much as a 30 seconds to 5 minutes as macbook recognizes the bootable disk in the external cd/dvd drive. As long as the drive is making noise/reading disk, wait it out. The new selection will appear on its own.
4. Select dvd to boot from, then click the arrow below. It will begin to boot from that drive and install/reinstall your OSX.
5. Follow the prompts to install OSX
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Notes: I was using a macbook 4,1 and external dvd burner with separate power supply, and Mac OSX Install disc that came with my macbook (OSX 10.5.4)
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.4)
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Although most sellers on Amazon emphasize that their products support Mac system, there is not really any external CD DVD drive that can be well compatible with new Mac OS, most of them only support Mac OS 10.10.x and below.
So we compared all external DVD drives that claim to support Mac OS and listed a few reliable choices for Apple MacBook Pro and MacBook Air on Amazon as below:
1. SEA TECH 1 Archgon Aluminum External USB DVD+Rw, RW Super Drive for Apple-MacBook Air, Pro, iMac, Mini
Features:
- Interface Type: USB 2.0
- Work with OSX 10.4 and later (including the MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mini, and iMac)
- Support read and write CDs and DVDs
- One year replacement warranty
2. ROOFULL USB 3.0 & USB-C Slim External DVD Drive Burner for MacBook Pro/Air
Features:
- Interface Type: USB 3.0 and Type-C
- Work with all versions of Mac OS (including the Macbook, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, Mini, and iMac)
- Supported discs: DVD +/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD+R(DL), DVD-R(SL), DVD-RAM, DVD-R(DL), CD-R, CD-RW
- Support read and write CDs and DVDs
- You can get extra 1-year warranty service via http://www.roofull.com/support/#extra-warranty
3. Archgon Slim USB External CD/DVD+RW,-RW writer Drive for Window & Mac computers
Features:
- Interface Type: USB 2.0
- Work with Mac OSX (including the MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mini, and iMac)
- Support read and write CDs and DVDs
- One year replacement warranty
4. LG Electronics USB Super Multi Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer Drive – GP65NS60
Features:
- USB 2.0 (up to 480Mbits/s, USB 3.0 Compatible)
- Max 8x DVD R Write Speed
- Max 24x CD Write Speed
- Come with Cyberlink Software
- Support M Disc
- No additional installation required
(UPDATE: Aug 22, 2019)
READ MORE:
If you are looking for external DVD drive for windows 10 laptop or desktop, please check this post.
FAQs:
Q: What should I do before using an external optical drive?
A: Click on the link to view details >>
A: Click on the link to view details >>
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