Convert internal Optical drive from 2009 MacBook Pro to external drive

That's a great point. I haven't used this computer in quite some time and, during its active life, I didn't use the optical drive much. Even so, it's a really old optical drive and it only has so much life left in it.

It is! I have an adapter for mini-display to HDMI. Here's why I'm not overly interested in going that route: in my household we already have an M1 MacBook Air along with a MacBook Pro from 2011 (or maybe 2012) and a MacBook Air from 2011. Soon enough we will also have an M4 MacBook Air. The 2009 MacBook Pro has barely been used since the M1 MacBook Air came through the door. That's a long way of saying that, as much as I love that 2009 MacBook Pro, there really isn't much of a use case for it anymore (which makes me sad!).

Ultimately, my goal is to have an external optical drive for our M1 MacBook. That's why my thought was to remove the optical drive from the 2009 MacBook Pro and convert it into an external drive.

They sure do! My goal, tho, is convenience. Right now any time I need to use a DVD or CD I need to boot up a 2009 or 2012 MacBook Pro. What I’d like is to have an external optical drive that can be used with any computer.

Thanks, Grant! This is a fantastic resource/suggestion. I'm not sure it will get me to where I want to be, but I may still give it a shot!