How picky are Macs about external CD drives?

[EvieSigma]

I know old beige Macs are picky about internal SCSI CD drives, but what about external? I had an opportunity to buy a generic Toshiba external SCSI CD drive today but I didn't because I was worried it wouldn't work. Do the same rules about internal CD drives apply to external ones?

 

[tanaquil]

It depends on what you mean by "old beige." The main problem I have run into is making sure that the OS can handle non-Apple CD drives, which in the 7.1/7.5 window is dicey. I have had headaches with a Quadra 650, though I got it to work in the end. I'm a bit more cautious about buying non-Apple CD hardware for computers in the low 7 range now. I don't have enough experience with 8 and up to say, but I think CD support at that stage was much better.

 

[EvieSigma]

I'd be getting it for a 7.5.5 machine...

 

[NJRoadfan]

I've had good luck with getting drives to work with the "universal" CD Enabler 5.3.1 from System 7.6. All were SCSI drives MUCH newer then the System 7 era. The "CD Sunrise" extension is a good backup choice as well.

http://vintageapple.org/macdrivers/disk.shtml