Q My iMac is only six years old, but I cannot get Apple stores to consider replacing its failed optical drive. Staff tell me it is obsolete and no longer supported. How come?

A Apple has an open policy that it only supports its hardware for six years, thus you can no longer source official parts, nor will Apple’s stores or service providers attempt any repairs. This may seem harsh, but very few manufacturers can guarantee the supply of key replacement parts for longer than that, so trying to extend support would only lead to broken promises.

However there are plenty of non-official Mac repair and service engineers around the country who advertise in trade directories, online, and in local papers, who may for instance use unofficial replacement parts. You can also source these yourself from suppliers such as The Bookyard, Mac:Upgrades, and Mac Repairs UK, who should have suitable optical drives for your iMac in stock. You can sometimes obtain rarer items on eBay, although purchases made there are likely to carry a greater risk of disappointment.

Be careful: slot drives need a special microfoam shield kit to stop ejected disks dropping onto the floor. It is harder to replace an internal optical drive, but both cheaper and simpler to buy a new external one. However some older models cannot start up from a USB optical drive, and Apple’s free DVD Player application will not normally play back DVD disks from an external drive.

Updated from the original, which was first published in MacUser volume 28 issue 13, 2012.