External Optical Drives/DVD and CD Read/Writer

Hello,
My MacBook Pro from late 2007 had a DVD reading/writing problem, Apple Support told me its going to be around US$200.00 for repair.
I was thinking if an external dvd-rom will be better since after paying for repair it will just die anyway, apple ****** rom will die anyway.
So my question is if any external dvd-rom will work, even for bootcamp installation.
Any idea?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Just to make sure you don't have a permissions problem causing the read/write problem, open Disk Utility and repair permissions if you haven't already.
I think the main thing to check with an external unit is that it is compatible with any OS you want to run and that there is a way to install it if your internal optical drive is not working. You may need to download the drivers from the manufacturer's web site, so be sure they are available.
Good luck!

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External optical drive for macbook3.1

Hello Users...
I am using macbook3.1 - 2007 later version, I got the problemwith its optical drive (DVD reader only). Now it's too expensive to replace theoptical drive. So I would like to buy an external optical drive. And myquestions are-
1)Can I use an external Blu-ray drive for thesame MacBook? Does it support the current OS/hardware?
2)If it’ssupport, what is the best external optical (DVD/ Blu-ray) drive for themacbook3.1?
Your suggestions are very helpful for me..

Correct.

External optical drive Asus SBC-06D2X-U not reading dvd's

My optical drive no longer worked on my iMac, so I purchased an external optical drive : ASUS SBC-06D2X-U, which as per the box, guy at the store and online reviews, can read blu-rays....
When I insert a dvd or Blu-ray, they appear on the desktop's upper corner. However, nothing happens. It doesn't start to play. When I click on the dvd icon, this what I see.. see attached pictures. I've tried looking on the ASUS website for info, but no luck.
Any ideas on what could cause this issue ?
Thanks,
Julie

Blu Ray DVD is an oxymoron Oops. Yeah, I wasn't thinking. How embarrassing. Anyhow, to further describe the problem:
The drive shows up in FCP as an option to which I can burn. If I put in a regular, single layer DVD, it worked (2nd try, first try I got an error saying it had failed to burn because it had failed to calibrate the laser for the media, or something like that. I just ran it again, same disc and was successful). If I put in a dual layer DVD, it errors out and does nothing (sorry, I forget the exact error message reported) and I have to disconnect and reconnect the drive in order to get the "eject" button on the front of the drive to work. If I put in a blank Blu Ray disc, the drive spins up, tries to see what the disc is (I guess) and then just ejects the disc again. If I put in a regular DVD movie, it plays no problem. I have not tried to view a Blu Ray yet. Oh! And the time I successfully burned a DVD, now that I think about it, I first mistakenly just copied the .img file to a DVD, then I actually used the Drive Utility and burned the .img to a DVD that plays. I created the.img file from FCP when I couldn't get the burning to work the first time, but that was dual layer, which as I said earlier, seems to cause issues - I will try again to burn directly from FCP to a single layer DVD, since I know I can at least do that much. Then I will see if ASUS can be any help, since the fact that the drive won't even look at a blank Blu Ray disc and just spits it out doesn't seem like a problem with the Mac/ASUS relationship as much...?

External optical drive won't play movie DVD

The SuperDrive on my very late 2009 MacBook (OS 10.5.8, Leopard) died, and I got a well-rated CD/DVD player/writer, Samsung SE-218BB) instead. It is meant to be compatible with my Mac. It works with things like Disk Warrior, but recently, I tried to play a video disk and got the message "Utilization error. A valid DVD player could not be found (-70012)." I've read a lot of other messages about this same error and have done what was recommended (throwing out the appropriate plist file from DVD player, for example). The messages were for other Mac models and/or versions of OS X, so maybe there is some advice that is specific to my Mac that would pertain? By the way, the DVD does show up in the Finder in a generic kind of way (that is, I think it is the kind/manufacturer of the disk,but it certainly isn't the name of what is on it), and when I click on that, it opens a bunch of separate files that don't seem to have much to do with watching the movie.
I also tried one of the tips given in the DVD Player manual (dragging the file to the DVD Player icon. All that did was make the DVD disappear. I had to restart,, with the mouse "button" (really not a button) on the Mac pressed, which released the DVD from the external drive.
I don't think the problem's with the hardware, since I can play Disk Warrior in it (that opens automatically after I insert the DVD. So what's with the movies? I've checked Software Update, and my software (DVD Player 7.7) is up to date for my Mac and OS version. I don't even know whether I should be using DVD Player for movies. (I haven't tried a music DVD, but I suspect that should open in some other app.) I don't remember playing movies on my computer when the internal SuperDrive was still working, so I can't make that comparison.
I hope you can help me. I'd be very sorry if I had to give up on playing the DVDs I now have. My VHS/DVD player-recorder used to be just fine, but my cable company set it back up wrong when they installed a new cable box, and now they want $50 even to look at it, so for now (until I find some company, say, the manufacturer of the player, that can tell me how to set it back up) the only way I can play and burn movies is with my computer.
Thanks,
jenny

I have discovered, no thanks to Samsung techs, what the problem is, and it might be revealing for others, as well. It seems that DVD Player, which is the app Apple provides in OS x for (naturally) playing videos, doesn't work with external drives if the computer has an internal drive – even when, as in my case, the internal drive is dead.
I have learned, however, of the existence of a couple of alternative, free applications that run video and audio disks with external optical drives, and one of them, at least (VLC), seems to be widely acclaimed. Does anyone know whether bypassing DVD Player could be a bad idea? There were some gripes from one or two reviewers about awkwardness with playing audio DVDs with iTunes, but I'm not sure what they meant when they said that you have to click on individual items in a selection. Would that mean, for example, having to click on each movement of a Mozart trio? That I couldn't play an entire album's contents of another kind of music without clicking on each song?
Getting the internal optical drive replaced would be prohibitive, even if the parts could be obtained, so I guess I'm stuck trying to deal with the external drive I have and finding the best replacement for DVD Player that I can find. The interesting thing is that the drive works beautifully with a MacBook Air I tried it with, so I guess that is because the Air doesn't have an internal drive?
Wouldn't you think that Samsung techs would know all this? The one I spoke to told me to make sure that my system preference for CDs and DVDs was set to open automatically with DVD Player and sent me all kinds of FAQs, plus a way to get an RMA number for a return. Not a word about difficulties with Macs having an existing internal drive. And all after spending a very long time talking with me about what was going on, what the error message was, and so on. I guess the message hasn't gotten to them.
I hope this information will be helpful to someone.

Mac mini and External Optical drives

hi all,
just wondering if i'll be able to use external optical drives with my mac mini which doesn't have a DVD writer, it detects and mounts in OSX, but can't playback a dvd or burn, do i have to use any third party software like roxio?
any help would be much appreciated.

You omit specifics but this might help, especially if you already have an external hd on firewire and plan to add an ext optical drive to the firewire chain. Burn Disk created one perfect DVD (consisting of backup files) but then became flaky, dying during burns. Patchburn (www.patchburn.de) did not help this problem but it did change system profile of the new optical drive from: 'unsupported' to 'vendor authorized' which may have helped generally. With Panther it will be required!
I did lots of searching on Web, Groups & Apple Discussions but could not find anything on "Error: 0x80020020: BE, sense error, etc".
I discovered the solution to this problem: I put the DVD external drive between the Mac Mini & the external harddrive (instead of at the end) and now BurnDisk works 100%. "Sense Errors" were common back when I was using SCSI drives and usually pointed to cable length issues. This was the simplest alteration I could make to my PPC G4 Mac Mini setup. I am using the 3 ft shielded cables that came with both of my external enclosures so it is reasurring that these did not have to be modified.
Now Burn Disc creates solid DVDs of backup folders, no more coasters or long pauses in the burning process, followed by the inevitable error code.
Using Pioneer DVR-112D drive in a generic ext enclosure. The drive is current production so I have not modified the firmware. Using Memorex DVD-R from WalMart.
--

Ripping DVDs using external optical drive with MacBook

Quick and possibly ridiculously silly question here. I have a collection of about 475 Region-2 DVDs (i.e., playable in the UK, not in the US) I purchased many years ago that are just taking up space. What I would like to do is rip them and store the files on an external drive.
The problem is that the optical drive on my MacBook is broken (no, I’m not happy about it -- see the dozens of pages of complaints in these Forum on the issue) and I don’t want to spend $1000 right now buying a new one.
This means I need to purchase an external optical drive. Unfortunately, I’m pretty confused about whether these things (by LaCie or Samsung, for instance) can actually rip anything, let alone Region 2 DVDs. I know they can write DVDs, but ripping—that I’m not sure about. Logically, they should be able to but I'm wondering whether their ripping capability has been disabled.
So, does anyone happen to know whether an external Superdrive can rip Region-2 DVDs? And if so, can you recommend any good ones for the Mac?
*Incidentally, I should add that these files are for my personal use, won’t be shared/uploaded, and will serve only as backups to my purchased DVDs. Basically, all I really want to do is clear out my cramped apartment and stick all the DVD boxes in a storage unit once and for all.*
Thanks for your help

I have a collection of about 475 Region-2 DVDs (i.e., playable in the UK, not in the US)
You must have one of those old-fashioned DVD players that looks for region codes.
Most better DVD players are now region free and will play NTSC or PAL DVDs.

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.

Internal and External Optical drives troubles

Right, I have a Mid 2007 model Mac Mini (Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0016CBAFC309) with 1Gb of RAM, a 120Gb hard drive, and an PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K06 as the Apple shipping internal drive, and that originally shipped with Mac OS X 10.5.x, but now running Mac OS X 10.6.2.
Yesterday — after the installation of the recent 2010 001 security update — when I tried to burn a copy of the Ubuntu Studio disc image fora friend of mine, that the Mini point blank refused to cooperate.
And gave the following message when I’ve tried to burn various files to DVD with both the usual contextual menu “Burn to Disc” option, or with Disc Utility, OR with the open source software burner, Burn.
“The disc can’t be burned because because communication between the computer and the disc drive failed (error code 0x80020022).”
This occurs whether I use either the interior or external optical drive, whether I have the exterior hard drives I use for storage plugged in or not, and both before or after a permissions repair.
How do I get around this?
I’d like to keep burning my home movies to DVD: it did work fine, up until that update!
What is going on?

I don’t know if any one from Apple is reading this, but I thought I’s put this up, on my blog …
http://niknaksoldpeculiarblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/problem-with-optical-drives_0 1.html

WHAT is the use of a retina display when you can't watch DVD movies? what's the purpose of a super thin retina macbook pro when you need to buy an external optical drive? doesn't it defeat the purpose already?

i don't care if my macbook is a little thicker as long as i don't need to burden myself of an external optical drive just for a simple and common task of watching/listening to discs.

the hippie wrote:
i don't care if my macbook is a little thicker as long as i don't need to burden myself of an external optical drive just for a simple and common task of watching/listening to discs.
I'm confused, why did you choose to buy the retina model if you don't like it? This is exactly why Apple still manufacture/sell the 'old' style MBP which is thicker and has an optical drive built-in!

I have a standard MacBook from 2007. My optical drive broke on this a while ago. I was wondering which external optical drives are compatible and work with this MacBook? Thanks.

I have a standard MacBook from 2007. The optical drive broke a while ago. I was just wondering what external optical drives, if any, are compatible and work with this model?

You can get a fairly cheap external CD/DVD burner/player at Newegg.com http://www.newegg.com/External-CD-DVD-Blu-Ray-Drives/SubCategory/ID-420?Order=PR ICE

I have an imac 2009 the disk drive is damaged and I have lost the passwords I need to reset passwords I tried booting with a macosx disk from an external hard drive but did not read the drive how else can I reset password ?

I have an imac 2009 the disk drive is damaged and I have lost the passwords I need to reset passwords I tried booting with a macosx disk from an external hard drive but did not read the drive how else can I reset password ?
I have a 2012 mac book pro can I use that to connect with firewire and load osx that way? and how woudl I do that?
Thanks so much!

To what password are you referring? Do you mean your user account's admin password? Or do you mean the master password for File Vault or do you mean a Firmware Password?
For an admin password:
Forgot Your Account Password
For Snow Leopard and earlier
     Mac OS X 10.6- If you forget your administrator password
For Lion/Mountain Lion
    Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     When the menubar appears select Terminal from the Utilities menu.
     Enter resetpassword at the prompt and press RETURN. Follow
     instructions in the dialog window that will appear.
     Or see Reset a Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Password and
     OS X Lion- Apple ID can be used to reset your user account password.
If you cannot do the above then try this:
1. Boot to Safe Mode by restarting and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-S keys until a black screen with white type appears.
2. At the prompt, type the following commands pressing return after each command line:
     /sbin/fsck -yf
     If you do not receive a "Filesystem OK" message then repeat this command until
     you do. If after seven tries you still do not receive a "Filesystem OK" message,
     then the system is corrupted and needs to be reinstalled.
     mount -uw /
     cd /private/var/db/netinfo
     mv local.nidb local.old
     rm ../.AppleSetupDone
     shutdown -r now
The second-to-last command above will cause OS X to think that the operating system is newly installed, and when the new owner starts up the computer it will send him/her to the startup wizard where he/she can start a new user without reinstalling.
This last method does not actually change a password. It simply removes the user accounts and lets you create an initial admin account as if the computer were new out of the box.
How to reset the OS X password without a startup CD:
Reboot into Single-user Mode. Enter the following and press RETURN after each command line
   1. Type fsck -fy
   2. Type mount -uw /
   3. Type passwd <username>
I have never tried this method myself.

Before starting AHT, be sure to disconnect all external devices except the keyboard, mouse, display, and Ethernet adapter. Also disconnect any external optical drives. What does this include?

Before starting AHT, be sure to disconnect all external devices except the keyboard, mouse, display, and Ethernet adapter. Also disconnect any external optical drives. What is included in these external devices?

I have tried repeatedly to use the Apple Hardware test on my iMac desktop 10.7.3 early 2009 4 GB with no luck. What am I doing wrong? I have everything I can think of unplugged. Do I need to disconnect BlueTooth in Preferences?
Thanks

MBP Late 2010, How can I install Win7 Boot Camp using External Optical Driv

Hello:
I have a new MBP purchased in February. It's not the 2011 model. I replaced the Optical drive with an SSD drive and put the optical drive in an external enclosure. The Optical drive works great, reads, writes, etc. My Windows 7, Pro 64bit DVD works also, tested on a PC.
I use the Boot Camp assistant to create a partition. It them reboots and never starts up from the optical drive. I get an Apple logo alternating with a stop sign.
I have got back to OS X by starting with the Option key and choosing my OS X volume.
I tried booting to the DVD by using the option key, that did not work. I then choose the EFI option which allowed me to hit any key and appeared to boot from the external optical drive. Windows setup screen came up and I hit enter to start the file loading process. It eventually stopped when the progress bar was all the way across the screen. Then nothing.
Questions {Please give definitive answers, not guesses, thanks :)}
1) Is it possible to setup a boot camp Windows installation without an internal optical drive? Yes/No.
2) If yes, how?
3) I see the rEFIt utility has helped some but I read mixed reports. Will this help me boot and run Windows setup from an external optical drive? I don't want to install it if it's not known to be a certain fix.
4) Is my only options to reinstall the optical drive?
I chatted to OWC the vendor that sells the bracket. They had no idea how to install a Windows BC partition without an internal drive.
I am seriously discouraged by what seems to be Apple wanting to control everything. I had a Mac Pro and Air book in my future but now, it's on hold.
Thanks in advance,
Kevin

I tried what you are doing with a 2007 MBP, and could not get any Windows CD s to boot from an external optical drive, firewire or USB.
I think this is fundamental to Windows which won't boot from an external USB drive either even on a Windows machine (although I believe there may be complex ways of achieving this). I don't think this is Apple trying to control the world.
I ended up taking the MCE Optibay out and putting the original optical drive back in.
Just possible that something has changed between a 2007 MBP and 2010 MBP, but I doubt it.
If you want the second internal HD, you have two options:-
1. Put the Apple optical back in, install Windows, then take out the optical and refit the SSD. The external optical will still be able to install windows apps and data etc, just not boot any windows install CDs or utilities (like Paragon rescue disks). You will not be able to do a Windows repair install without refitting the optical.
2. Parallels, which has come a long way in the last two years. I am 99% certain that Parallels will install from an external optical.
Message was edited by: Mike Boreham
Message was edited by: Mike Boreham
Message was edited by: Mike Boreham

What do i do when external optical drive doesn't show up in finder? how can i import software, music, etc. when the drive isn't recognized/mounted/whatever?

the internal optical drive on my early 2006 20"imac has mechanical problems ejecting discs. i've gone thru all the recommended steps to eject discs, and have luckily been able to eject the last 3 discs but only after spending 30-60 minutes going thru all of the steps over and over, and today just trying "eject disc" in itunes since i had itunes open. i don't want to put another disc in - the drive clearly has problems with the mechanical eject mechanism, and from what i've read that's not unique to my computer.
i bought an external optical drive: lite on, clamshell design to avoid problems with the eject mechanism; i contacted the mfr who said it's mac compatible.
the drive plays dvds, which is all i've tried so far, but doesn't show up in finder. so i don't know how to use it to load software, or music, or anything besides watch dvds.
is there something i can do to get the drive recognized/mounted/whatever? i would prefer to not spend the $220 which was quoted to me by an authorized mac repair company, even tho i think that's probably a reasonable cost given the delicacy of the operation as shown on ifixit.com.
thanks!

I have an external LaCie burner and it will not show up on my Mac unless I insert a CD or DVD - in that case, the media will show up (I have these settings in the Pref Pane):
If you want to burn files or music to blank media, you can use Finder or Disk Utility for files, but should use an iTunes playlist/iTunes for music and a movie burn app for videos/movies (such as iDVD, Roxio Toast, Burn, etc).
If you simply want to drag files over as a backup, an external hard drive is a much better solution than a burner.

Can I connect an external Optical drive to Omni 10

I am thinking to buy an Omni 10 tab. I want to confirm thad does it support external Optical Drives via USB OTG.
I have found from other threads on HP Support that it supports External HDD bt I am not sure about External ODD.
I asume that External ODD Requires more power than External HDD.
This question was solved.
View Solution.

@ Ritaban: The micro-USB port on an Omni 10 is capable of supplying only a limited amount of power to operate attached devices (500 mA maximum). Most USB devices which contain motors (hard drives, scanners, optical drives) require substantially more sustained power than an Omni tablet can deliver. (for example, HP-branded portable DVD drives require 2 Amps — that's 4x what an Omni can deliver.)
However, there is a straightforward solution to attaching a wide variety of high-power USB peripherals to an Omni tablet, if they are connected via a Powered USB Hub. Although the Omni micro-USB port limits data transfers to USB 2.0 speeds, I recommend employing a USB 3.0 hub, because they typically are bundled with higher-output power supplies than their USB 2.0 counterparts.
Most low-power USB devices — keyboard, mouse, flash stick, card reader — can usually be connected directly to an Omni tablet, via a micro-usb adapter cable, and won't require any supplemental operating power. However, if you intend to operate an Omni tablet for sustained periods with any USB devices attached, time between charges will be substantially reduced, so attach the supplied charger as well, whenever possible ...
I hope to see you back here at some point, to tell us about how-much you're enjoying your new Omni 10 tablet! Your questions are welcome as well...
Enjoy!

External Optical Drives/DVD and CD Read/Writer

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