Convert internal Optical drive from 2009 MacBook Pro to external drive

Question

Level 1

4 points

Convert internal Optical drive from 2009 MacBook Pro to external drive

The screen died on my 2009 MacBook Pro. Because of that, I've decided to recycle it. Before I do that, though, I want to remove the internal optical drive and convert it to an external drive. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to do this for $25-30? I see that OWC sells an enclosure, but it's unclear if it's compatible with this drive (I'm going to contact them to find out).

I recognize that a new external DVD drive is only ~$25. My goal is to reduce consumption by reusing what I already have. Ultimately, tho, I may need to simply buy an external drive...

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated--thanks!

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Mar 22, 2025 12:17 PM

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Answer 1

g_wolfman

Level 4

2,914 points

Mar 22, 2025 2:17 PM in response to thenas

Given that the optical drive from a 2009 computer is 16 years old, may itself be on the verge of wearing out or failing, and will never be able to read modern formats like BlueRay (and may struggle with writing DL DVD at any kind of decent speed, even if it can read them)...

I'd just recycle the entire computer and buy a new external drive. The $25 - $35 for an enclosure exceeds the depreciated economic value of the drive, which is $0.

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Answer 2

Jan Hedlund

Level 7

24,001 points

Mar 22, 2025 3:12 PM in response to thenas

Alternatively, have you checked whether it would be possible to continue using the computer with an external monitor? For example, if you later need FireWire.

https://everymac.com/systems/by_year/macs-released-in-2009.html

Mac Manuals and Downloads - Apple Support

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Answer 3

Mar 23, 2025 6:47 PM in response to thenas

don't forget about this:

https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/04/14/how-to-use-another-computers-dvd-drive-across-a-network-with-macos-remote-sharing

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Answer 4

thenas Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 22, 2025 2:26 PM in response to g_wolfman

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.

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Answer 5

thenas Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 23, 2025 1:16 PM in response to Jan Hedlund

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.

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Answer 6

thenas Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 23, 2025 5:47 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

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.