Questions & Answers for Apple USB SuperDrive

According to the support article HT2801, no. It can be plugged into USB ports on selected Apple monitors though.

• Answered by John F from Vashon
• Sep 1, 2012
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (Will the USB SuperDrive work with when hooked up to a USB hub?)

No it is just a cd/DVD drive

• Answered by Victoria W from Marrickville
• Feb 14, 2017
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (can the usb superdrive be used as a backup for the computer?)

Avoid MacKeeper, this is a virus itself. It is hard to remove after you installed.

Yes, I propose to use anti-virus, better paid than free versions. I am using ESET and it is great, but there are other excellent ones on the market.

• Answered by Matyas E from Budapest
• Jun 28, 2016
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (is it useful for iMac the anti virus?)

No. The SuperDrive is USB 2.0. There is no difference in speed between 3.0 and 2.0 because a CD can be written at max 16x which is 2 megabytes a second or a DVD can be written at max 8x which is 11 megabytes a second. (I am assuming you are using the fastest possible CD/DVD) USB 2.0 runs at a peak speed of 60 megabytes a second which is more than enough to handle the write and read speed of a CD/DVD

• Answered by Dean S from Encino
• Jun 17, 2012
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (So is this new Superdrive USB 3.0 or 2.0 then? Would like to hope it was 3.0 to match the new specs of the Macbook Pro & Macbook Air?)

Yes.

• Answered by John S from Murfreesboro
• Jun 30, 2014
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (Can the Apple USB SuperDrive burn DVD-R discs?)

I burned some music from an original CD first by importing the music you want to your ITunes library from an original CD in the USB Super Drive, then I made a playlist of the music I wanted to burn, then I click on "burn", and then it prompts you to insert a blank CD. It then prompts when the CD has completed burning and to eject the newly burned CD from the USB Super Drive.

• Answered by Irene A from Corpus Christi
• Feb 16, 2014
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (Can I burn music on cds using the USB Super Drive?)

While the new MacBook has just the single USB-C port to work with, and won't work directly with standard USB devices, Apple made the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter that connects to the MacBook, and has an USB-C port (for charging), HDMI port and an USB 3 port. So with the USB 3 port, you can connect up the USB SuperDrive and any other USB device (since USB is backward compatible). Better work around than the hub option which doesn't always work.

• Answered by Kire M
• Mar 19, 2015
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (Will this drive work with the new MacBook with its single USB-C connector?)

I just added a usb superdrive to my 2009 iMac 24", and like the others it did not work, as for the reasons given.
it seems that they only work with some macs.
Well looking round the net i found information on things to try nothing worked.

I then found a bit on a sudo command you put in with terminal.

ok your new superdrive dvd/cd rom want work on you mac?

it seems apple made this drive but its not back ward comparable with all macs.
Im told it works with 4 macs, that shipped without internal dvd/cd rom and a mac mini or two..

Well I found this in terminal type

sudo nvram boot-args="mbasd=1" Hit return

I rebooted my iMac and as the iMac was starting up it took the DVD that I had been trying to put in but all it did was push it back out.
Now with this little line of code script my USB superdrive is now working just fine.
I don't know much about this script code apart from what I read on the net, all I know it worked for me with no trouble I have wrote a few DVDS and wrote to a few re-writable CD and DVD with out any thing bad

hope it helps some of you out.
Leggoman

• Answered by Alan W
• Dec 15, 2015
• Flag as inappropriate Answer (2009 iMac and USB superdrive?)