Buy an Optical DVD Drive for Mac mini. In order to play DVD on Mac mini without optical drive, you. External DVD Drive, Amicool USB 3.0 Type-C CD DVD +/-RW Optical Drive USB C Burner Slim CD/DVD ROM Rewriter Writer Reader Portable for PC Laptop Desktop MacBook Mac Windows 7/8.1/10 Linux OS Apple 4.4 out of 5 stars 7,379. On the server Mac Mini (which has an external DVD drive connected): a. Open Sharing window in System Preferences. Enable DVD or CD Sharing. Insert a viable DVD into the external DVD drive. On the client MacBook (which I want to have access to the DVD drive on the server Mac Mini): a. Open the Finder app.
Sharing discs
If your Mac doesn't have a built-in optical drive and you need to use a CD or DVD, you can connect an external drive like the Apple USB SuperDrive. You can also share discs from the optical drive of another Mac, or from a Windows computer that has DVD or CD Sharing Setup installed. DVD or CD sharing allows you to access documents stored on these discs, and allows you to install some software.
DVD or CD sharing isn't designed for some kinds of optical media. Connect a compatible optical drive directly to your Mac if you need to use one of these discs:
- Audio CDs
- Blu-ray or DVD movies
- Copy protected discs (such as some game discs)
- Recordable CDs or DVDs that you want to burn or erase
- Microsoft Windows installation discs
If you have a Microsoft Windows install disc that you want to use with Boot Camp, you can create a disc image of this disc and copy it to a USB flash drive for installation instead.
Mac Os Rom
Setting up a Mac to share discs
To share discs from a Mac that has a built-in or external optical drive, use these steps:
- On the Mac that has an optical drive, choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
- Click the Sharing icon in the System Preferences window.
- Make sure you've entered a name that you can easily recognize in the Computer Name field.
- Enable the checkbox for DVD or CD Sharing.
- You can also restrict who has access to your optical drive by selecting 'Ask me before allowing others to use my DVD drive.'
External Dvd Rom For Mac
Setting up a Windows PC to share discs
To share discs from a Windows PC that has a built-in or external optical drive, use these steps:
- Download and install DVD or CD Sharing Update 1.0 for Windows.
- From Control Panel, open 'Hardware and Sound'
- Click 'DVD or CD Sharing Options.'
- Select the checkbox for DVD or CD Sharing.
- You can also restrict who has access to your optical drive by selecting 'Ask me before allowing others to use my DVD drive.'
If you're sharing discs from a Windows computer and your PC has firewall software enabled, be sure to allow access to the following programs from your firewall:
- ODSAgent
- RemoteInstallMacOSX
Use a shared DVD or CD
After you've enabled DVD or CD Sharing, you can use that computer's optical drive at any time. Insert a disc in the optical drive of the computer that's being shared. The disc should then be available on any Mac that's connected to the same network.
- On the Mac that doesn't have an optical drive, open a Finder window.
- Select Remote Disc in the Devices section of the sidebar. You should see the computer that has DVD or CD Sharing enabled.
- Double-click the computer's icon, then click Connect to see the contents of the CD or DVD available from that computer.
If you can't use a shared disc
If your Mac already has a built-in optical drive, or an external optical drive connected, you won't see the Remote Disc feature appear in the Finder or other apps.
If you're using a compatible disc and you don't see it from Remote Disc, make sure the sharing computer is turned on, is connected to the same network as your Mac, and has a compatible CD or DVD in its optical drive. If you've enabled the option to ask for permission before using the drive, click Accept on the computer that is sharing its optical drive.
Hi:
I don't use my DVD drive too much, and this afternoon when trying to insert a disk to do a burn, it won't go in. To the best of my knowledge there's no disk inside. Regardless, I tried the typical solutions suggested in this forum, (1) pressing the eject keyboard button while starting the machine, (2) starting the machine with the mouse button pressed in, (3) clearing the PRAM. None of these solutions worked in my case. Disk utilities indicate that the drive is awaitng for a CD to be inserted. What else should I investigate? Thanks.
PS:
I tried also the following terminal commands:
Williams-Mac-mini:~ williampabon$ drutil tray eject
Williams-Mac-mini:~ williampabon$ drutil list
Vendor Product Rev Bus SupportLevel
1 HL-DT-ST DVDRW GA32N KC08 ATAPI Apple Shipping
Williams-Mac-mini:~ williampabon$ drutil tray eject 1
Williams-Mac-mini:~ williampabon$
None of those helped.
Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)
Cd-rom For Mac Mini
Posted on