How to Use Two Optical Drives on a Mac Pro

The Mac Pro, Apple's premium-end desktop and server-side computer, has two internal slots for optical drives. This means you can have multiple drives in use at the same time. This is useful if you want to burn two discs at once or are using two discs worth of data simultaneously on your Mac Pro.

Reading Two Discs at the Same Time

• 1

  Insert a CD or DVD into your first optical drive. When Mac OS X recognizes the disc, choose what you want to do with it. Select "Open in Finder" if it is a data disc, for example. Select "Open in iTunes" if it is an audio CD.

• 2

  Insert the second CD or DVD into your second optical drive. Likewise choose what you want to do with the disc. If both are data discs, you could have both disc's contents open at the same time.

• 3

  Click each different optical drive icon on the desktop to switch between the two if you need to open each one.

Burning Two Discs at the Same Time

• 1

  Insert a blank CD or DVD into your first optical drive. Select how you wish to burn the disc --- choose whether to use Finder or iTunes or another application.

• 2

  Insert a blank CD or DVD into your second optical drive. Specify your preferred method of burning.

• 3

  Move all the data you wish to burn to the discs' project windows. Click "Burn" in each to burn the discs at the same time.