Optical drive scratching media

My optical drive scratches anything put into it....I'm about to have it replaced under Applecare, but one of my CDs won't even play now....Anyone else had this problem and should I be making a claim?

eww - if you were smarter you'd have considered the possibility that I use CDs in more than one player...and don't check my CDs every time I use them. Only after several months did I check one CD to find the abrasions and put it down to using in an old CD player. It was only when I looked at a CD Rom did I realise the problem was caused by the MBP...by then a lot of CDs had been affected.
Check the facts before you make sweeping statements or don't post.

Similar Messages

Optical drive scratching new dvd's

I bought my macbook (black) back in June while on vacation and was able to watch a dvd on it in the airport on the way home. When I got home and watched another dvd I noticed it was scratched after watching it. I wasn't sure if it was already scratched or not, so I put in a new dvd and the macbook scratched it to the point it wasn't able to be read anymore. I took it in and they replaced the drive. Since then I have had another two disks get scratched, both of them new. I took it back in and had the drive replaced yet again. I just started watching another new movie and I heard a funny noise so I ejected the dvd. Again it was scratching the disk. I don't understand why this is happening. Any suggestions? (Yes I know I am a slow learner, but I keep hoping that a product this expensive won't eat dvd's.)
I don't know how many times apple is willing to replace an optical drive. Like I said, this is the third drive I am on. I have had my computer in the shop more than I have been able to use it!
black macbook Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2 GHz intel core duo, 512 MB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Windows XP

I have heard that moving the laptop will make the scratching worse. I could accept that as the cause if I was actually moving the computer when it scratches the disks, but that has not been the case when mine have been scratched. I don't understand why it scratches in the first place. Cars have cd and dvd players in them all the time and they don't seem to have those problems.

No boot up because optical drive has media in it

I recently purchased Snow Leopard to upgrade my early Intel MacBook Pro. When I put the disk in the disk didn't mount so I attempted to get it to eject. I wasn't able to get it to eject so I followed some of the trouble shooting. I'm thinking my optical drive isn't working properly because I haven't used it in a while but now when I try to boot the computer it hangs when it try's to read the optical drive. I tried forcing it to eject using the mouse button as well as trying to force a hard drive boot by holding the "d" key. At this point is there anything I can do short of opening it up and pulling out the disk myself?

Holding down the 'd' key at startup is the shortcut to start Apple Hardware Test. To select a boot volume at startup, hold down option.
However, if holding down the mouse button at startup won't cause the disk to eject, there may be a hardware issue with the optical drive. One thing to try before writing it off entirely, though, is to boot into single-user mode by holding down command-s at startup, then enter the following command:
drutil eject
To restart in single-user mode, use the following command:
reboot

Optical Drive Scratching my DVD on the right side

My DVD drive on my MacBook Pro 13.3 Mid 2010 model is catching on the right hand side as I insert a disk. This is putting a slight scratch on the right hand side of the disc that is inserted.
How can I fix this?
Chad Agler

good news is a new Superdrive (internal) made by Panasonic only costs $40
You could watch an Ifixit.com video on replacing the Superdrive, ...its very easy, however I used to fix laptops, so my 'easy' maybe someone elses "hard".
In any respect, at worst, you could buy the Superdrive new on ebay or OWC and have a computer repair place install it for , who knows, somewhere around $40, $50
FIx it yourself depends on a LOT on what your skills are in such things. Of which I know nothing about that specifically.
In laptop parts replacement on a scale of 1 to 10, its about a 2 or a 3 (easy).
check you dont have something metal hanging in the loading bay of the superdrive, that felt lining you see. DONT stick anything inside, but just see if you see some foreign debris there scratching same.
otherwise the loader or internal tray of the superdrive is scratching your DVDs / disks.

Best optical media (cd/dvd) for optical drive, iMac 21.5

I had my optical drive replaced 2 weeks ago. I had bought 3 different cd/dvd media OEMs. The imac will recognize some but others fails. Apple refuses to publish or share a list of media that will always work with their optical drive. One tech guy told me to buy only +r/+rw format. Ha, thats hard to find and much more expensive. So what is best cd/dvd -r/-rw disks to buy???? Frustrated imac owner..I cannot keep buying and returning disks! Thanks

Well, these iMac drives are finicky and, they are superslim laptop style drives installed vertically where any media could easily shift by 1/100th of an inch, so it's a gamble. I usually use my external burner - it is solid, works well, and can read anything. I've learned that the drive in my iMac likes Verbatim or Imation disks, so you might want to try one of those - they use different drives (change the mfr occasionally), so yours may be different.

New iMac ~ optical drive really heats dvd media - normal?

Brand new iMac and DVDs come out of the drive very hot. Is this "normal" for an iMac? If this is normal, as in not indicating a potential hardware issue, then wouldn't this kind of heat at minimum degrade my media, if not immediately, then over time?
I am not finding many complaints about this via Google, so am wondering whether it is specific to my machine as opposed to the model itself. I am very concerned as years ago I bought an iMac which got downright smokey. Fortunately, Apple Store let me switch it out to another model as I had owned it less than two months. I thought Apple had resolved internal heat issues in the iMac. Don't want to go to a "too-hot" internal temp issue again; can't count on being saved by a machine switch later. If heating of dvd media is not known to be problematic of current Intel iMacs, am thinking I should try to get an exchange before short return period expires.
If this isn't correct forum for my question, please let me know and I'll repost. Thanks.

FWIW, to close out my query, the question has not been explicitly answered, but close enough. I returned the iMac to local Apple Store, well within the 14-day return period. I didn't want an exchange; I wanted a flat return and refund. After taking the iMac off to check for problems on the optical drive (which would determine whether I would have to pay the 10% open-box fee), the salesclerk soon returned to say I would not have to pay the fee. They also refunded the cost of the add-on ram I had them install at purchase (which he noted they don't usually do). A good-will gesture, I suppose. Works for me! Relieved to be getting a full refund, I didn't ask what they did or did not find wrong. While I haven't had success with either of my iMac buys, I can say the local Apple Store always does right by me.

Optical drive becomes unresponsive when burning media to a disc

When I try to burn an iTunes playlist to a blank disc, the optical drive becomes unresponsive and heats up. Instead of burning media to the disc, the progress bar in the iTunes window becomes stuck on "Burning disc.....Initializing". The optical drive only settles down when the disc is "force ejected". Anyone else having similar trouble? Any help and tips are greatly appreciated.

Your best option is an appointment at an Apple store genius bar. Demonstrate the problem to the technician and they should be able to determine if there is a serious problem or not.
Ciao.

Powerbook g4 (FW800) Optical drive ejects all media

I think this question has been there many times, but could not found a decent answer.
Problem is that my optical drive (superdrive) does not mount any media, when I put disc (any disc) in it reads it for a while and spits it out... What to do?
Is my optical drive an ex drive, broken, dead? Or is there some setting corrupt or what`
thanks

I have had to replace 2 Super Drives and no it was not at all related to any software upgrades. I am quite frankly ticked that I have such an expensive laptop, and have had to replace 2 drives in 18 months. First one was under warranty second of course not. I replaced it with a non OEM, rather with a PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K05. I would rather try my luck with something new, as opposed to the the same drive that has broken twice.
First time was the same as yours, second was an electrical issue which was causing the drive to continually eject. I checked with the repair person, to determine if I was causing the problems. I have no bends in the drive and there were no outward appearances of damage. I travel everyday with my laptop, it is a work/personal laptop. I use a rolling laptop bag, and recently travelled internationally with it and thought perhaps the jostling and vibration. But the first drive went out prior to me using it as a work laptop, did not travel much with it then. But with new job, I am everywhere rolling the laptop in a roll bag (so much easier to travel with)!
Michelle

Can someone help me with my optical Drive Issues

Hello Everyone.
I know there are a million discussions going on in this forum about optical drives. I have been reading them and trying to figure out what is going wrong with mine and am hoping someone can help.
My spec:
MacBookPro
10.5.8
2.33 Intel Core 2 Duo
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GWA4080MA:
Firmware Revision: AE39
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 0 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds
My Mac has never been very good at burning DVDs (no matter the brand of DVD) I often try to burn discs and get errors. Also, many times I will put a movie DVD into my drive only to have it not load and get ejected.
I've tried burning all kinds of DVD. DVD-R, DVD+R, Verbatim, Maxell, Memorex and I get about the same results everytime. Also... when I eject a DVD after the MAC has tried to burn my Mac often times puts a scratch on the DVD.
What can I do? From reading the post is doesn't sound like there is much I can do. I have apple care but... I think I've had my laptop more than 3 years... is my apple care any good anymore? How do I find out.
Is there any kind of firmware update for the optical drive?
Thanks
-Drew

For the burn errors you might want to try resetting your PRAM and SMC controller (this fixed an issue I once had), but the scratching of the disk suggests a physical problem with the drive itself.
I don't know how confident you are, but I replaced a DVD drive in a powerbook and it was relatively straightforward. A compatible drive should be fairly cheap, even second hand. If not get a quote from an apple certified engineer and see if that's more than buying an external drive. I have a full size DVD drive in a firewire enclosure which burns DVDs at 22x and rarely use the shipping drive for anything but watching DVDs.

I have photoshop cs3, and often get "no disc error in drive -x-" error (optical drive)...

Frequently when I startup my PS CS3 within the startup sequence for the software it pops up the error "No Disc in Drive E:" - which refers to an optical drive on my computer which I very rarely even use. I click "Continue" and it pops up again - sometimes 3 times - after which PS loads perfectly fine.
[Yes, I know it's old software - I work for a not-for-profit, so please indulge my use of old software...]
I double checked my scratch disc settings and they don't refer to the E: drive of course it's not even available as an option, but I figured I'd check anyway.
Any other places / settings I can check to remedy this? Any one else come across this?
As to some background for my usage of PS - I work as a graphics designer and media director in a not-for-profit and work several hours each day with it - so typically it is 'open' in my windows XP system for several days at a time until I see memory / performance hits begin to surface and completely close it to restart later in day. I have 2.33Ghz Dual Core with 2G of Ram. My 'threshold' for considering closing the app is when the Virtual Memory (or Working Set Memory) gets up to 850-900meg.

were you able to get help on this? I need help on error 5002 as well. thank you

Optical drive keeps ejecting disc-mac book pro any help?

Disc keeps ejecting out, any solutions? mac book pro

The drive accepts discs but they do not mount or are automatically ejected
Check the disc's surface for scratches and dirt, since these things can prevent the disc from appearing on the desktop.
The MacBook Air SuperDrive is designed to be used with MacBook Air and Mac mini computers that do not have a built-in optical drive. For best results, connect the MacBook Air SuperDrive directly to the computer's USB port instead a USB hub.
Reset the System Management Controller (SMC).
Ensure your drive can read the specific type of disc being used. The System Profiler or System Information may provide additional information regarding what media your computer supports.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or earlier: Open Apple System Profiler by choosing "About this Mac" from the Apple () menu. Then, click More Info.
OS X 10.7 Lion or later: Open System Information by choosing "About this Mac" from the Apple () menu. Then, click System Report.
If the disc continues to not be recognized, contact Apple, an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or make an appointment with an Apple Retail Store for additional troubleshooting, evaluation, or service.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801

Optical drive doesn't disks from a particular brand

I am trying to burn some video files to 10 DVD's, but my optical drive doesn't recognize 4 of the DVD's I use (which are all of the same brand and freshly bought) - and had a very difficult time with the other 6. DVD's of other brands he reads and burns fine as well as my rewritable CD which I've used a million and one times and is scratched all over.
The 10 DVD's work fine in the Windows PC and Laptop I have, just not in my MacBook...
Is there any way I can get the drive to be able to burn the other DVD's?
Below the stats of the optical drive with one of the 6 burned DVD's in it:
MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E:
Firmware Revision: ZF1E
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media:
Type: DVD-RW
ID: INFOMEDIA
Blank: No
Erasable: Yes
Overwritable: Yes
Appendable: No
Write Speeds: 1x, 2x

Other than trying to burn at a lower speed I suspect that there is little you can do. You could try a third-party disc burning application like Toast but that would be a lot more expensive that just trying several different types of media.
If you have an Apple Store nearby then you could probably take your disc to the store and try them in another MacBook at the store (it looks like you are using RW media, so you could rewrite them after these tests).
Of course, if after trying a few different brands you still find that you are having problems then you may just have a hardware problem with your MacBook's Superdrive. I suppose that you could also have a software conflict. Have you tried creating a new user account to see if the disc can be burned there (as a test)?

Optical drive ejecting disks

my optical drive keeps ejecting blank disks and DVDs. I've tried different makes and formats but the drive keeps ejecting them. Any ideas on what can I do to rectify

The drive accepts discs but they do not mount or are automatically ejected
Check the disc's surface for scratches and dirt, since these things can prevent the disc from appearing on the desktop.
The MacBook Air SuperDrive is designed to be used with MacBook Air and Mac mini computers that do not have a built-in optical drive. For best results, connect the MacBook Air SuperDrive directly to the computer's USB port instead a USB hub.
Reset the System Management Controller (SMC).
Ensure your drive can read the specific type of disc being used. The System Profiler or System Information may provide additional information regarding what media your computer supports.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or earlier: Open Apple System Profiler by choosing "About this Mac" from the Apple () menu. Then, click More Info.
OS X 10.7 Lion or later: Open System Information by choosing "About this Mac" from the Apple () menu. Then, click System Report.
If the disc continues to not be recognized, contact Apple, an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or make an appointment with an Apple Retail Store for additional troubleshooting, evaluation, or service.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801?viewlocale=en_US

Multiple graphics cards and optical drives

Hi folks,
I am getting a Mac Pro 2012, it has two graphics cards and two optical drives.
My first questions are regarding the graphics cards.
1. If i only use one of the cards, will the other card simply power down or will Mac OS utilize it's GPU to enhance the OS?
2. Is it better to use both my displays on one card or put one display on each? What are the pro's and cons?
My question regarding the optical drives is; when i hit eject on my keyboard, will both trays open or will OS X give me an option to choose a tray to open?
An additional question is; if i use Disk Utility to turn two of the hard drives into a RAID, will it be slow? The Mac doesn't have an actual RAID card so will i see slower performance if i mirror two drives or set it up as a striped RAID opposed to using them as two individual drives?
I have not used a desktop Mac since i had a G4 hence the "new to mac pro" questions.
Appreciate your feedback
Jay

Two gpu only help or matter if one is doing something that uses CUDA and you have Nvidia.
Normally no benefit.
Software RAID0 may make sense for scratch or large media libraries.
Instead of using a mirror, skip that and clone your drives makes more sense.
The Apple Pro RAID card is slower and more trouble and not worth it.

DVD/CD optical drive is recognized only occasionally and temporarily

Hi, I recently bought an ASUS Essentio desktop model CG8350 running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. My DVD/CD optical drive is not consistently being recognized. I've made few changes to the computer and have even tried reinstalling Windows (system recovery, factory settings), but no luck. The curious thing is that after booting up I can occasionally temporarily see the D:\ optical drive listed under My Computer or under Device Manager, but after a few seconds or about a minute after restarting or trying to read a disk, this disappears and the optical drive is no longer shown. I would take it back to Best Buy I bought it for repair, but unfortunately that was in the U.S. and I've since moved to Canada. It's frustrating that Best Buy Canada won't honor service warranties for items bought from Best Buy U.S. If there's something I can try in order to avoid shipping it off to ASUS or back to Best Buy U.S. (at my expense, and potential loss of PC for a few weeks), I would much prefer that. These are the things I have tried so far: 1) opening it up and checking/re-plugging the power cable to the optical drive and the data cable between the optical drive and motherboard. All cables seemed fine. The drive ejects and spins a little bit when a disk is inserted, but neither a blank CD/DVD nor a commercial CD are recognised after insertion. 2) looking at the registry to try the "delete UpperFilters" and "delete LowerFilters" trick that I've seen posted several times. Since the computer had Windows 7 from the start (was not upgraded), these entries were not visible under the suggested registry subkey. 3) under boot options, I've selected "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement" and have booted up. The optical drive showed up under My Computer and/or Device Manager for a few seconds or a minute, but then vanished. 4) disabled integrity checks: I've pasted "bcdedit /set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS" into the Run window. After restarting, the optical drive is again occasionally visible, but only for a short period after which it disappears. 5) following a tip on one website, I tried shutting off and unplugging the data cable between optical drive & motherboard, restarting the computer so Windows could "see" there was actually no optical drive connected, then shutting off and connecting the data cable again and restarting. no luck. 6) I've run the Microsoft Support Fixit executable under "Your CD or DVD drive can't read or write media". The first time I ran this, it ran for about 5-10 minutes, but didn't diagnose a problem. The second time I tried to run it (after the Windows 7 re-install), is said my CD/DVD drive was not detected, so didn't run. 7) I've tried built-in Windows diagnostics and ASUS diagnostics, but they didn't help much. 8) I've updated ny BIOS to the most recent version. I've now run out of ideas and can't find any other suggestions on previous troubleshooting searches. The observation of the drive occasionally being seen for a few seconds/minute after start-up before disappearing seems like it might be a good clue, but I'm not sure how to interpret this. I did get it to play an audio CD a couple hours ago, but after trying to use my drive for something else after that, it's right back into the situation of not being consistently recognized, except sometimes immediately after booting up and then only for a short period. Any help or suggestions you have will be very very welcome -- thank you.

Honestly since it was recalled due to the sandy bridge recall anyways, it is going to have to go to asus eventually so I would just have them fix both in one shot. The Canada and U.S. support number is the same and I'm sure they could fix both issues at once to save you time: 1-866-625-9873
Crystal
Superuser
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Optical drive scratching media

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