Macbook not reading internal or external drives?

I have a weird DVD issue with my Macbook Po 2.16
Firstly the DVD started to spit any disc you put in it as they sometimes do, so rather than fork out to replace the drive in an aging computer I opted for an external burner.
and here is the weird but, the external USB burner acts exactly the same - you put a disc in and it just spins - both drives are recognized by disc utility and the external works fine on my office machine just not my macbook.
This leads me to think it may be software / drivers related, anyone got any ideas?

Thanks
Already tried that, I probably should have said that it is happening with any disc that is put in - original DVD, data or RW.
My original thought was it was a duff drive but I get exactly the same prob on the external dvd drive, as this works fine when plugged into another mac I am assuming it may be software or driver related?
Tried repairing disc permissions, anyone got any advice?

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Hello, Martin.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
Here are the best steps to go through when experiencing issues with your SuperDrive.
Apple Computers: Troubleshooting the slot-loading SuperDrive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801
Cheers,
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How to Make my Macbook Pro's internal HDD external, when I get a SSD?
Get an externel enclosure at the same time.
You can order from OWC
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/
Put the SSD in the externel enclosure and use something like Carbon Copy Cloner, to clone the internal drive and all it content to the SSD. Then swap them out.
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Leopard. Did a full restore from Time Machine. Now I can't access my other internal and external drives. I get the following error: The folder "Capture Video" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see its contents.

Leopard. Did a full restore from Time Machine. Now I can't access my other internal and external drives. I get the following error: The folder “Capture Video” can’t be opened because you don’t have permission to see its contents. I have repaired permissions pn the main harddrive. When I try too click on a disk I get the previously stated error. I can't even open up information to see what permission/access there is. It simply will not let me see the content. It shows the content of my main hard drive when I have clicked the other harddrive's name.

Solved:
sudo chflags 0 /Volumes/"FCP Time Machine BU"
sudo chown 0:80 /Volumes/"FCP Time Machine BU"
sudo chmod 775 /Volumes/"FCP Time Machine BU"
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Time Machine tries to back up although not attached to an external drive...

I keep getting this error message when my Macbook Pro is not attached to an external drive:
Starting standard backup
Error -35 while resolving alias to backup target
Backup failed with error: 19
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I've even reinstalled the system software...
What can I do to stop getting that regular annoying message?
Message was edited by: cohsrains

cohsrains wrote:
I don't use any 3rd party apps for time machine. As for 3rd party apps in general, I have a variety of them, from VLC to caffeine.
No, sorry, I meant 3rd-party apps specifically to alter Time Machine's behavior. Other, unrelated ones, shouldn't be involved.
Try this, with the TM drive ejected and disconnected:
From a Finder window's menubar, select +Go > Go to Folder+ and type /Volumes at the prompt.
That will show an alias for every connected volume. If it also shows your Time Machine volume, or anything else that isn't connected, see what it is.
Sometimes, in some sort of obscure circumstances, if OSX loses contact with a drive in just the wrong way, a process may not realize it, and instead of writing to a volume via that alias, it will instead create a folder and write to that. Your symptoms don't sound like that, but it's worth a look.

How do I Move Events from an Internal to External drive?

Hello,
I am trying to move events on my internal drive to my new external drive. Everything is set up and I see the external drive, but after reading other posts and replies it seems I can't just move the files from the internal to external drive by dragging and dropping using finder.
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Can anyone give some guidance on how I do this so i don't have to reload all my videos on the external drive.
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Also, when they are moved over, will i see the external drive when I open iMovie, or do I ahve to do something to see it in my Events Library.
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Read OS X: Cannot install on a volume used by Time Machine for backups
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Internal versus External drive for Backup?
Suggestions/comments as to the pros and cons of each approach.
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As a side thought I am noticing topics on issues with mounting drives. Does having the drive internal make this a non-issue?
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If you use internal and the machine is stolen your backup is lost too.
If it's for backing up for Business use, your insurers may insist on offsite storage, secure offsite storage that is of a backup or they wouldn't pay up.
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Could we write and read from a external drive using a IPad?

√could we write and read from a external drive using a IPad?

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C50-AST2NX2 will not read internal hard drive in external box

Purchased HGST (Hitachi) Deskstar 3.5 in. 3 TB internal drive and put it in a StarTech external drive box (that claims to work for up to 4 TB drives). When I fired it up, computer loaded up the driver just fine, but Windows Explorer does not show the drive. Swapped the internal drive into another StarTech box (which had a Hitachi 500 GB internal drive in it, and worked fine), same problem; swapped USB cables, same problem. Plugged the StarTech box into my old Toshiba L455 Satellite computer, didn't work there either (the 500 GB internal drive worked fine there, also). Thinking the new drive was bad, ordered another; just hooked it up, and - Same Problem! Saw another thread about another drive not being recognized, and that the problem was that the drive was a USB 3.0. Tried in this computer's USB 3.0; still doesn't work. I couldn't determine if the new 3TB was a 3.0 or 2.0 USB. So what do I do now? The other thread mentioned a Y-cable, so could get power from 2 USB ports; which ones-the two 2.0 ports? This is frustrating, and sure could use some help and/or advice. Thanks.
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Answer has been found. The internal drive SATA cable was replaced and the system is now working correctly.

Mid-2009 MacBook Pro sees internal SATA hard drive, but will not boot from or format

I inherited a Mid-2009 MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.53 GHz model) with a very strange issue.
It first presented itself as not being able to boot from the internal SATA hard drive that came with the computer. Nothing I tried could get it to boot, so I assumed the file system was corrupted beyond repair and booted from a CD to try to format the drive. Disk Utility on the CD would not format the drive, giving me strange error messages like "Unable to write to the last block of the device".
At this point I figured the drive itself must be toast, so I pulled it out and put another known-good SATA hard drive in, booted from CD, and attempted to format. Again, same error messages and an unsuccesful format.
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So I installed OS X on the drive in the external enclosure and put it in the MBP, and it attempts to boot, but never goes anywhere.
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MacBook Pro CAN see internal SATA hard drives.
MacBook Pro WILL NOT boot from any internal SATA hard drive and cannot format or install OS X to any internal SATA hard drive.
MacBook Pro WILL boot from any CD or external device and seems to work properly otherwise.
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I've done quite a bit of troubleshooting to get to this point, but right now I'm just looking for any feedback at all. Specifically I'd love to know a way I can easily test to see whether it's the logic board or the cable.

UPDATE: An interesting development!
I just tried a third known-good SATA hard drive, one which I believe supports SATA I only (but I'm not sure), and unlike the other drives that the Mac sees but cannot properly interact with, the Mac can't even see this one when I put it inside.
Frustrating as this may be, I believe I'm actually getting closer to a solution since my symptoms now appear to be closely aligned with people having SATA ribbon cable issues.
Onward!

I'd love some help trying to figure out why my 2008 MacBook no longer recognizes my external drive and now is not downloading photos from my iphone....?

After many years of having no problems at all on my Macbook, I recently figured I should finally upgrade my OS. I did that about three weeks ago, updating to Snow Leopard (10.6.8). I used Time Machine at least once after the OS upgrade but now Time Machine no longer recognizes the external drive I have used for all these years to back up. The MacBook does not "see" it. (Disk Utility does however.) The computer then also stopped recognizing another La Cie back-up that I have and now... my iPhone cannot download photos? Yikes.
I have, of course, shut down numerous times, used different cables (that worked for some) and the two USB drives. I even used a firewire. Nothing worked. I also tried to "Repair disk" on Disk Utility. It didn't work either, giving me an error (that I didn't save, sorry).
I read many other discussions on the file format of the external drive and of course I'd be happy to reformat the external drives--however, it is obviously a tad nerve-wracking to reformat drives before having an accessible back-up. Suggestions? I do not remember what file format they have but am pretty sure it's not the Mac file system someone mentioned. The drives are a 2009 WD "My Passport Elite" and La Cie 2007 d2 Quadra,
In terms of other hardware available, we do have another MacBook Air but it has started rejecting both drives as well (without the Snow Leopard upgrade). We have an old Dell but it wouldn't have the disk space to help out much.
Any thoughts on the process involved would be welcome. Any ideas on the iPhone rejection would be helpful as well! It is a 30gig iPhone 4 that has 20 or so gigs free (not clear as iTunes says that there are abour 18 Gigs on the phone but 24 free gigs? I may be bad at math but that's 40 gigs...).
I am checking out iCloud but apparently there are only 55 gigs available?
Will be glad to hear any thoughts. Thanks!

Good afternoon Lyssa,
Phew. First of all, thanks in advance...these blogs are always comforting help!
So, to answer your questions: For the age of the hard drive.Well, I added memory a couple of years ago (RAM and hard drive). Being a mom leads me to eat up a fair amount of gigs with photos of my kids and, in fact, I think I entirely replaced the original drive, so it is a couple years younger than 2008 since I did that in March 2010. If there is some way to verify that (whether or not I replaced the entire drive), I'm all ears. I have 311 Gigs free, so it is not a space issue. I verified the startup disk on Disk Utilityand nothing showed up.
Question 1- What formats...
The La Cie is format Windows NT Filesystem 3G ....At the time that I bought it I was still using a PC as well as a Mac and was told by afriend to use this format...
The WD is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I again tried to repair the WD last night and this is the error message: "Error: DiskUtility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files."
Also, Time Machine tried again to back-up and gave me this error: "Files can't becopied onto the backup disk because it appears to be 'read only'. You may needto repair or reformat the disk using Disk Utility. If the disk can't berepaired, you must use a different disk for backups. Open Time Machinepreferences to select a different backup disk."
Question 2. Other cables...
I used two other cables with the WD and that didn't change anything.
Question 3... Fire Wire from the La Cie
Yes, I used the Firewire cable from the La Cie and it is indeed present, though still not visible in Finder. Since it is not Mac OSExtended I know that I can't use Time Machine with it.
So, in summary...
I can plug in the La Cie and it is functional on the MacBook, visible on Disk Utility but not visible in Finder. The WD drive is not visible and not functional. So we can think it is indeed the WD that is not working.... Also, the iphone photos did, in the end, get downloaded, so it is not something more general.
Causes...
I forgot to mention that there is a "lost+found" file on the WD which apparently points to a UNIX /OS issue?
Some kind of "insurance"?....
I'm curious about how people avoid this kind of issue. You just regularly replace back-up drives and hard drives before problems come up? Time Machine is great and saves many of us from disasters, however, knowing that your Time Machine back-ups are vulnerable makes the whole system insecure. No way to have alarms ring before the drive goes out?
As for ways ahead...
It seems that I ought to be able to copy off of the WD to the MacBook then erase it and reformat it and start over again. However, I haven’t been able to see its contents except on random occasions. If you have any ideas on how to copy the Time Machineback-ups from the WD, again, I'm all ears!
Good afternoon Lyssa,
Phew. First of all, thanks in advance...
So, to answer your questions:
For the age of the hard drive. Well, I added memory a coupleof years ago (RAM and hard drive). Being a mom leads me to eat up a fair amountof gigs with photos of my kids ….and, in fact, I think I entirely replaced theoriginal drive, so it is a couple years younger than 2008 since I did that inMarch 2010. If there is some way to verify that, I'm all ears. I have 311 Gigfree, so it is not a space issue. I verified the startup disk on Disk Utilityand nothing showed up.
Question 1- What formats...
The La Cie is format Windows NT Filesystem 3G ....At thetime that I bought it I was still using a PC as well as a Mac and was told by afriend to use this format...
The WD is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I again tried torepair the WD last night and this is the error message: "Error: DiskUtility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible,reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files."
Also, Time Machine tried again to back-up and gave me thiserror: "Files can't be copied onto the backup disk because it appearsto be 'read only'. You may need to repair or reformat the disk using DiskUtility. If the disk can't be repaired, you must use a different disk forbackups. Open Time Machine preferences to select a different backup disk."
Question 2. Other cables...
I used two other cables with the WD and that didn't changeanything.
Question 3... Fire Wire from the La Cie
Yes, I used the Firewire cable from the La Cie and it isindeed accessible, though still not visible in Finder. Since it is not Mac OSExtended I know that I can't use Time Machine with it.
FYI...
So, in summary... I can plug in the La Cie and it is “functional” on theMacBook but not visible in Finder. The WD drive is not visible and notfunctional. So we can think it is indeed the WD that is not working.... ALSO,the iphone photos did, in the end get downloaded.
As for ways ahead…
It seems that I ought to be able to copy off of the WD tothe MacBook then erase it and reformat it and start over again. However, Ihaven’t been able to “see” its contents except on random occasions…
Any further thoughts are welcome!

Macbook pro does not see internal DVD/CD drive

Our macbook pro 4,1 running OSX 10.8.5 (12F45) no longer seems to recognize the internal DVD/CD drive.
Both the ATA and Disc Burning listings for the MBP say there are no devices of that type listed.
This started when my wife attempted to play an audio CD-R which I had burned on my macpro 1,1 running Snow Leopard and using Itunes 11.4. The icon for the CD did not show up and the disk didn't play. It also would not eject. (She had just successfully played another audio CD-R which I had burned on my macpro). After some research, we found that the 'stuck CD' is a common problem and the solution that worked for us was cold starting with the trackpad button depressed while shaking the **** out of the computer (and giving it a few 'love taps') .... several tries without the physical encouragement failed before adding shaking ... then it ejected the CD.
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Thanks Joe - but I have discovered how to free the stuck CD from the drive.
The problem now is that OSX 10.8.5 does not recognize the presence of the optical drive at all. It does not show up in Disk Utility's list of drives/volumes and does not show up in the ATA or Disc Burning categories in the system profiler. For example, I can insert the system disc, which the drive accepts, but the install/utilitiy app does not fire up .... not initially, nor after I cold start while holding 'C'. The system doesn't see it.
Applecare was willing to try to assist me for free, but the agent, after helping me run the Disc Utility from the cold start Recovery System, claimed it was a faulty optical drive. Though this is quite possible, I'm still skeptical and have a local mac guru coming to look at it (for a fee) on Monday, 2/9/15.
In some of my research regarding the stuck CD, there was mention that a CD programmed on a different drive (in a different mac) initiated the sticky CD problem, and implied that something about the CD corrupted something in the guts of the guts of the OS. But if true, Disk Utility, which likely communicates to the optical drive thru the OS, may not be able to see the drive. It'd be nice if there was some diagnostic software that runs on an intel mac that completely runs independently of the OS but with full privileges to directly query the hardware I/O channel(s) that directly talk to the optical drive. If you know of such an animal, that would be helpful and might save me from buying a new optical drive when it's really a system corruption problem.
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Final cut pro X not reading events in external hard drive

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Brian, I notice that I have to have whatever drives connected before openeing FCPX; so sometimes when you plug in a USB3 drive or a Thunderbolt drive on the fly, even if though it mounts, it won't be recognized until you re-launch FCPX.
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Macbook not reading internal or external drives?

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