Plextor USA

All Plextor drives are compatible with Macintosh hardware and will function in Apple Macintosh computers as CD-ROM (read only) devices if no recording software is installed. In some cases with older systems, the drive may require an extension not native to the Mac operating system.

The Mac system must be compatible with the type of drive interface on the particular drive. For example, SCSI CD-R/RW drives are supported in earlier Macintosh computers with a built in SCSI interface, but newer PowerMac G3/G4/G5 computers require a SCSI interface adapter card. ATAPI drives were not supported in early Macintosh computers, but an ATAPI bus is now standard on PowerMac computers and will support up to 4 ATAPI peripherals, including the hard drive(s). SCSI peripherals in these PowerMac systems require an interface adapter. Plextor external drives will support FireWire (IEEE 1394)and/or USB interfaces.

Most Apple Macintosh computers with built-in USB ports, such as the iMac, will support USB 1.1 speeds (12Mbps), and do require an interface card (if that expansion option is available for the particular computer model) and OSX (or higher) to achieve the higher bandwidth of USB 2.0 (480Mbps). Most newer PowerMac computers have USB 2.0 ports. OSX or later must be installed for optimum CD/DVD write/read performance.

Plextor CD-R/RW drive compatibility with Apple Operating systems

All Plextor drives are compatible with Apple operating system versions with the following exceptions:

1.  Plextor USB CD-R/RW, CD-R/RW/DVD-ROM Combo drives, and DVD+/-R/RW drives require a minimum operating system version of 9.1 to function. Please refer to the minimum system requirements for your software. Updates to your OS can be found at www.apple.com

2. Plextor USB CD-R/RW, CD-R/RW/DVD-ROM Combo drives, and DVD+/-R/RW drives require a minimum operating system version of 10.0 (OSX) to achieve maximum write/re-write/read speeds. OSX is the first Macintosh release to support USB 2.0.

3. The operating system drivers or recording application may not support new models of USB drives. If your drive is not detected in the System Profiler, please contact Technical support at 1-800-886-3935 or support@plextoramericas.com  for troubleshooting assistance.

Note: Maximum performance with USB 1.1 is limited to 4x write, 4x re-write, and 6x read. To achieve the rated speeds of any USB model drive, the Apple Computer must be at OSX (or higher) and have a USB 2.0 built-in port or a third-party adapter.

A properly configured and operating drive will mount and play an inserted data or audio CD/DVD using the embedded system drivers and applications. To function as a recorder, a third party recording application will have to be installed in your operating system.