External optical drive not found by iMac?

Just purchased an LG Mac Compatible Slim Portable DVD Writer to use with my 2011 iMac because I replaced the internal optical drive with an SSD drive. When I connect the drive via USB I get an initialization error. Any suggestions as to what might work to resolve this? I will contact LG this week but they are closed for the weekend so I thought I would ask here. Here's a pic of the error message:
Thanks.

Reset the SMC > Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Unplug the computer's power cord.
3. Wait fifteen seconds.
4. Attach the computer's power cord.
5. Wait five seconds, then press the power button to turn on the computer.
and NVRAM / PRAM > About NVRAM and PRAM
1. Shut down the computer.
2. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
3. Turn on the computer.
4. Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
5. Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
6. Release the keys.
Then if it doesn't work, return it for a replacement or different LG External DVD Drive.
Note that while they are bulkier, tray loading AC powered external drive tend to be faster and more reliable than slim USB powered units.

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External Optical Drive not working with iMac

I have a memorex external drive that I have been using to install Windows 7 with boot camp and have successfully used it on 2 mac-mini's. I am not trying to install Windows 7 boot camp on an iMac that has a broken internal optical drive but the external will not run.
I have tried:
- Startup Utility: Can see the external in there.
- External shows up on desktop with Windows 7
- External shows up in disk utility
- Windows shows up in startup menu with holding down Option.
I see iMac SSD Drive, Recovery HD Drive , Windows CD , EFI Boot cd as options.
If I select Windows it takes me to a black screen that says it doesnt see a boot CD clicking on EFI boot does nothing.
Anyone have any possible solutions into getting this to work?

Valen85 wrote:
I have a memorex external drive that I have been using to install Windows 7 with boot camp and have successfully used it on 2 mac-mini's.
Mac Minis without built-in Optical drives behave differently than iMacs with built-in drives for boot ability,
I am not trying to install Windows 7 boot camp on an iMac that has a broken internal optical drive but the external will not run.
I see iMac SSD Drive, Recovery HD Drive , Windows CD , EFI Boot cd as options.
If I select Windows it takes me to a black screen that says it doesnt see a boot CD clicking on EFI boot does nothing.
This is confusing. If you have the external Optical Drive (Memorex) connected via USB to the iMac and insert a Windows 7+ DVD in it, the Apple Bootmanager will see OSX, Recovery HD, Windows (if already installed on the iMac's internal drive) and possibly Windows and EFI boot from the DVD.
The Windows and EFI Boot will not work if you try to boot the iMac from the external. Test this from the internal Optical drive as well. If your iMac is a UEFI Mac (2013+) it will let you boot from the DVD directly (without Bootcamp).
Bootcamp Assistant will refuse to let you use the external Optical drive, if you try use it to install Windows. BCA only works with internal Optical drives as far as Windows installation is concerned, on Macs that have a built-in optical drive. The exceptions to this rule are 2012 Macs and some 2011 models.

External Optical drive not reading? Or is it my programs...

Hi,
I currently just got a macbook pro 2011, 15". Two internal drives (120 GB SSD for OS and Programs, 750 GB HDD for Data) & external USB Optical DVD/RW
The issue I'm having is when I insert a real DVD into the external optical drive (which is the orignal from the macbook pro not store bought) it doesmn't read the DVD. I have installed Quicktime, VLC player and everytime the external just gives me the VIDEO AND AUDIO TS folders.. any suggestions in what I need to do so I can play DVD's from my external?
Thanks a lot...

DVD Player requires a properly recognized DVD player to be present in the optical bay in order to play DVDs. You can use VLC, but you will have to do as you're doing. Another option is to edit the DVD playback framework, but I'm not going to post those instructions. You can use Google & do so at your own risk.

Apple external optical drive not working on macbookpro

I removed my optical drive from my 2011 2.3, macbookpro 13" and added a 2nd hard drive. I have an apple external optical drive(cd/dvd) which I hooked up
via usb and it would not work. I connected the apple external optical drive to my two other mac mini's and it works on both of them. Any reason why the external optical drive would not work on a macbookpro? If anyone has suggestions I would be most greatfull. Thank you in advance.

Click here and follow the instructions.
(77810)

USB external Super Drive not recognized by iMac

Bought a new USB external Super Drive a few days ago (from Apple shop).
Plugged into my iMac 21.5", late 2013, and the iMac does not seem to want to recognise it.
Checked Finder and necessary boxes ticked up to show on Desktop, also does not show through remote devices.
Any help would be appreciated. Not a techie and 90 miles from my Apple shop.Not even sure I have filled the dam request in correctly (sorry).
Oddjob70
<Subject Edited by Host>

Oddjob, the optical drive itself never shows up on the desktop,. What happens when you insert a disc? If a disc doesn't show up first check your connection. Try resetting the SMC Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) - Apple Support and PRAM How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support
There's also the possibility that the drive is bad.

External Optical Drive Not Recognized

I've been using a Pioneer DVR111 external firewire drive for the last few months. Until tonight it's performed flawlessly.
I ripped a couple of CDs into iTunes tonight, then when I tried to do another it wouldn't work. The CD wouldn't mount and the drive wasn't recognized by system profiler. I hear the drive spin up when the disc is inserted, but that's about it.
I then tried the disc in the internal drive. Also no response.
So I shut the computer down, unplugged everything and waited a few minutes. I think this is called resetting the PRAM or something like that.
I rebooted from the install disc and rann hardware test. Passed without problem.
I rebooted again and everything seemed fine. Both optical drives were recognized in Profiler.
However, when I inserted a disc in the external drive, it again wasn't recognized. And when I rechecked Profiler, the drive had disappeared. The internal drive, however, seems to have remained okay.
Does anyone have any idea what's going on here? Might this be caused by a faulty external drive, or something else? The external was working fine a couple of hours ago, and I'm a little bit spooked that my internal was acting oddly for a time.
Thanks in advance for the help.
ron
iMac Intel Duo Core Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Can you be more specific about "Arch Linux don't recognized it"?
Post the output of lsusb and dmesg.
Do you have an internal optical drive? If not, what's the output of 'cat /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info'?

T540p - DVD/CD optical drive not found

Hi, I am trying to access my optical drive. It opens, I can insert a CD, then it obviously does something but is gets quiet after a minute or so. There is no entry in the device manager list and I can't see it in the file explorer either.
Previously, it worked at some ocasions - but caused the system to crash. Now it is completely gone. Tried to do a hardware scan using LSC but this service does not seem to be available either (tried to reboot various times).
Could anybody help?
Regards

Hi SFR0815,
Welcome to Lenovo Community!
As per the query we understood that you are facing issue with the DVD not found in your Lenovo T540p laptop.
Check in BIOS if the device is detected or not,
If the DVD is not detected in BIOS, then its is a hardware issue as the ODD need to be replaced, please visit the nearest service centre for further details.
Click here to open a link where you can select the country and get the exact contact support number. I’m sure they will be a great help.
Hope this helps. Do post back if issue persists!
Best regards,
Ashwin.S
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External hard drives not recognized by imac

I am a new Mac user and have been having lots of trouble getting my external hard drives to mount. I have a simpletech and a seagate external hard drive both NFTS formatted neither of which is recognized by my iMac. They don't show up on disk utility or system profiier under USB ports. They both work on my PC laptop and a friends iMac (OS 10.6.4) just fine. I have a card reader and flash drive that work perfectly on my iMac. Apple support orginally thought it might be the logic board so they replaced it. The new one is having the exact same problem. Does anyone have any idea what could possibly be the problem?? This is driving me insane.

I'm having exactly the same problem with a new iMac purchased one week ago. I have two Maxtor drives and one WD, all firewire 400 drives, all of which mount briefly and then unmount and will not mount again. I am not new to Macs. The drives work fine on the older PowerPC Mac running 10.4.11. These drives contain my backups and aren't recognized by the new iMac. I cannot believe that 3 external drives are all going into failure mode at the same time since they were all purchased at different times and only used as backup drives, so they weren't on all of the time. Is there an incompatibility between 800 and 400?? I'm using a LaCie 800 to 400 firewire cable. Suggestions??

External Hard Drive Not Found in Finder

I have an Oxford 120gb external hard drive that I am using with my PPC iMac G5. It is connected via firewire. My computer is not showing the drive on my desktop like it normally does. I have tried using a different firewire cord, using a different firewire port, etc. After booting up the drive, System Profiler indicates that the drive is there. It gives me all the information about the drive. What could be causing this, and are there any possible solutions? It's freaking me out, because I haven't backed up our digital photos in probably 5 months or so! Any help is GREATLY appreciated!
PS - I've tried restarting the drive and the computer/connectng the cord in every combination I can think of, still to no avail!

The good news is that I think I'm narrowing down what my problem is. The bad news is that I've got a huge video project due next Sunday and I'm not able to transfer video from my Canon GL2 video camera to my computer!
I am now putting it together that neither firewire port is working. The reason I say this is because I've tried my external HD in both ports, using two different firewire cords. AND I have tried capturing video to my computer using two different video cameras, and on both firewire ports.
I've trashed the old quicktime receipts and installed the newest version. I'm on OSX 10.4.9. I've also done the "turn everything off, unplug everything, drink a guinness (or two), sit for 30 minutes, plug it back in, plug the power cord back in while simultaneously holding down the power button, then hitting the power button". Still nothing but the good old "maximum Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec!"
Here's what is odd. After trying the Guinness method once, it worked. So I was finally able to start capturing video. While capturing, I hit a break in the sequence, and this somehow kicked me back off the firewire port.
My external drive is showing up in Disk Utility, and will now usually show up in system profiler, but only in profiler if the camera is not also plugged in the firewire.
ALL that to say, even if this is something that can be fixed by Mac's repair program, I'm still screwed on my project. Any other ways I could at least get the video from my GL2 onto my computer? In crisis mode...
Also, are there any details available online on how to open up an iMac to reset the SMU? Or perhaps a PRAM reset? I've never "been inside", but am more than willing to try if I had a proper walkthrough on how to do it (what to look for, etc.). I know the link in the response above talks about how to do it from outside of the Mac, but I've also heard talk of opening the case and looking for the logic board...

External hard drive not working on iMac

I have a lacie external harddrive that i used on a pc. i am trying to use it on my new iMac but I can't access files or transfer files from the external hard drive to my iMac or vice versa. How can I fix this problem? Should I format it to work on my iMac and if so, will that wipe my external harddrive clean.

The above method may not work with contacts that were created by an older version of the Contacts application.
Triple-click the line below to select it:
~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook
Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C).
Starting from the Finder, locate the snapshot from which you want to restore. Press the key combination shift-command-G. Paste into the text box that opens (command-V) and press return. Select the AddressBook folder in the snapshot, then right-click and select
Restore "AddressBook" to...
from the contextual menu. Choose the Desktop as the location.
Exit Time Machine and open Contacts. From the menu bar, select
File ▹ Import...
Import the file "AddressBook-v22.abcddb" from the folder you created on the Desktop. After importing, you can delete the folder.

Optical Drives Not Found/Not Working

Hello everyone,
I'm having trouble getting my optical drives working. They are both the same make and model, and they both have power (open and close) but they aren't recognized by the system. I installed Arch a couple of weeks ago, after the init scripts/systemd change, so nothing was broken there (I'm not sure if that would even have anything to do with it.
I've done some research to see if I could find any drivers/firmware, but all of things I've found are only for Windows. The optical drives do work in Windows. I have added myself to the 'optical' group, and dmesg | grep CD gives:
[ 0.630535] ata5.00: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS04, max UDMA/33
[ 0.630560] ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
I also recall reading here that perhaps they aren't being picked up by the kernel, but I am very unclear on how to check to see what the kernel is picking up. I'm also not sure if they have ever worked under Arch and then stopped, or whether they never worked at all. I just found out earlier today when I went to burn a CD and xfburn gave a message saying that there were no burners found.
The /dev directory has no cdrom* or sr* listings at all. lshw also shows nothing about the optical drives. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

I unplugged one of the drives, but it still did not show up in /dev. I checked the systemd log and it shows the folllowing:
[dochollidae@ArchLinux ~]$ sudo journalctl | grep DVD
Dec 02 03:40:58 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 02 08:10:08 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.00: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS04, max UDMA/33
Dec 02 08:10:08 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 03 04:32:35 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.00: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS04, max UDMA/33
Dec 03 04:32:35 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 03 13:25:44 ArchLinux kernel: ata3.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 03 13:59:04 ArchLinux kernel: ata1.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 03 14:11:33 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 04 02:31:28 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
Dec 04 11:52:41 ArchLinux kernel: ata5.01: ATAPI: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW SH-S162L, TS08, max UDMA/33
The one labeled "TS04" isn't there anymore, but the one that is doesn't show up in devices.
I looked into writing udev rules, and I came across this thread and created a file /etc/udev/rules.d/82-cdrom.rules:
SUBSYSTEM=="block", KERNEL=="sr0", SYMLINK+="cdrom cdrw dvd dvdrw", ENV{GENERATED}=1
# permissions for IDE CD devices
SUBSYSTEMS=="ide", KERNEL=="hd[a-z]", ATTR{removable}=="1", ATTRS{media}=="cdrom*", GROUP="optical"
# permissions for SCSI CD devices
SUBSYSTEMS=="scsi", KERNEL=="s[rg][0-9]*", ATTRS{type}=="5", GROUP="optical"
That didn't do the trick, but being that I have never dealt with writing udev rules before, I'm not sure if I'm going about it the right way.

External hard drive not found on macbook pro

I have a lacie 2tb external hard drive.. It started disconnecting itself randomly. I purchased a new cable for it. The problem stopped for a short time.. then it started up, and now the hard drive won't appear on my macbook pro. Ive tried disk utility initially it was there.. but now its no where to be found. the people at lacie seem to think the drive has failed.. Any ideas?

Hard drives can fail at any time... but, as I said, it could be that the SATA controller in the enclosure has gone belly-up. You should be able to take the drive to a standard computer repair shop and see if they can remove the drive from the enclosure, put it in a dock and see if the drive is mountable. It's a 50/50 chance but it shouldn't cost much and should be the first step before taking the unit into a more expensive data recovery facility.
Good luck,
Clinton
BTW: My LaCie drives have 3 year and 5 year warranties, respectively - you may want to see if yours qualifies.

External hard drive not found in mavericks. help

Hi
I have a macbook air (mid 2012) running the latest version of OS X Mavericks. I had to repair my flash storage in an Apple Retail Store to get MAvericks installed. Ever since I've had Mavericks, my two 1TB usb 3 external hard drives (one is samsung, one is toshiba) are not showing up in Finder or on the Desktop.
They showed up and worked fine in Mountain Lion but they haven't worked ever since the upgrade. I've verifyed and tried to mount the disks in disk utility but it says they can't be mounted. Anybody else had this problem and how to fix it?
I can't really repair or rease them because they are full and I don't have a backup for them.

In finder preferences you can hide or show the mounted disks on the desktop, is that what you need?
What error shows when you try to mount them?

[solved]Optical Drive not Found

I have a 8x SATA DVD±RW DVD Burner Drive For Dell Inspiron 1545, and am using Udiskie, which works fine for thumbdrives. owever, my aformentioned optical drive will not mount. Furthurmore, /dev/srX or /dev/cdrw do not exist so I cannot find the location of the drive. Running cd-drive returns:
Hcd-drive version 0.90 x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
Copyright (c) 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012 R. Bernstein
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.
There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
No loaded CD-ROM device accessible.
Drivers available...
GNU/Linux ioctl and MMC driver
cdrdao (TOC) disk image driver
bin/cuesheet disk image driver
Nero NRG disk image driver
and lsscsi only shows my harddrive on /dev/sda. The user is in the Optical group and the drive has previously worked on an Ubuntu install. Thank you for your time.
Last edited by dokurnon (2013-08-09 03:29:10)

I'm not sure why, but several reboots later, the drive showed up. Perhaps the problem was that is was an audio cd, which the wiki covers

External hard drive not found anymore after wrong disconnection?

First time there was no problem and used external hd. After disconnecting the wrong way the mac can't recognise the exteranl HD anymore.
On my other pc it works fine. What happend and how to restore?
Dirk

have you shut down or restarted your computer since last you pulled out the hard drive?
are you connecting it via firewire or usb
go into disk utility when you have your HD plugged in and you will see it there, right click it and hit mount. it should come up.
if you are using firewire, or usb, you might want to not just pull them out without first ejecting it. I've heard, specifically with firewire, that this could fry your whole logic board.

External optical drive not found by iMac?

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