Super drive failed

I am trying to burn my photos to a DVD from my mac book 10.8.5 When it starts to burn the disk is ejected and the message "burn failed Super drive failed didn't respond properly" Does anyone know what could be wrong or what I can do to fix this?
I am trying to take some photos off the computer and store them maybe there is a better way to do this.....

First you might try a different brand of disc, sometimes macs can be picky about DVDs.
You also might try resetting the PRAM
Resetting NVRAM / PRAM
Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.
Finally if your SuperDrive has indeed failed, mine did, you could either use an external hard drive to move your photos to or purchase an inexpensive USB DVD burner, par tally any brand will work.

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IPhoto '11- super drive failed. It won't burn to disc.

iPhoto '11 won't burn to disc...says super drive failed. It goes through preparing to burn and then, immediately shows "finished" and spits out the disc. I had just finished burning another successfully. I talked with apple and we repaired permissions for iPhoto. It worked fine during the test, but didn't after that.
Thanks for any help.
Sheila

Yes. Successfully burned to a disc. Not only is it doing that from the top tool bar menu, but the information it shows at the bottom of the screen (MG for the burn and how full the disc is) is not accurate. The iPhoto info shows 3.7 MG for the pictures selected, but the burn info at the bottom shows some other amount and says not enough space on the disc. And I'm using a 4.7MG DVD! So, now, I'm just making a burn file on my desktop and burning the disc from there. It works fine. However, I'd still like my iPhoto program to be working the way it's supposed to, so I can use it that way.
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Mac Book Air Super Drive fails to respond

The external Super Drive stopped responding today. I have tried the drive on another computer and that one doesn't see the drive either. Is there a way to manually eject a disk that is in this drive?

Have a look and see if the drive is appearing in the system profiler as a USB device. My original superdrive was faulty out the box, and while it was showing up in the system profiler, it wasn't mounting, nor visible in the filesystem, nevermind in the finder window.
The drive would accept a disk, and I could hear it spin up, but nothing happened, and the eject button didn't work.
If I remember correctly, I found restarting the macbook with the drive attached forced it to eject the disk.
I took the superdrive into my local Apple store (Cambridge, UK), and they replaced it there and then.
Hope this helps.
a

Black Macbook, super drive fail = sad day. need advice, thanks

Hi there,
I have recently confirmed with 90% certainty that my superdrive has failed after 14 months (meaning no more warranty <sad />). I have tried burning CDs and DVDs. CDs burn fine, DVDs will not burn. they error out within seconds of starting the burn with an unknown error via disk util and finder, toast etc. i have reset PRAM, dusted unit, etc etc. the one thing i have not tried is different media. I do not suspect this to be issue as this unit has been able to use this media previously. I am not ruling this solution out, however to me it seems unlikely.
This brings me to my point. I am looking at replacement superdrives and they are a touch more than i wish to spend.
Will any slot load drive do the trick or does it have to be an apple specific part? New egg has slot load drives for as little as $40, superdrives range from 80-200 dependent on where you look.
Thanks for the insight!

You need the 9.5mm height drive for the MacBook. You can get them for about $65 on eBay.
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?LHBIN=1&LH_IncludeSIF=1&_nkw=macbook+superdrive&_sc=1&_sop=15&trksid=p3286.c0.m301
Message was edited by: frederic1943

The DVD drive fails to read some disks

Audio disks and program disks that read OK on my other Macs may fail to read on this one, yet this one recognizes most disks with no trouble.
I'll buy a few new music disks and two will be fine while the 3rd isn't recognized. I put the unregognized one in my PowerBook and it's 100% OK there.
This MacBook Pro is not an over-used drive. 20 to 30 disks over its lifetime.
Is there a cleaning disk made for laptops? The cleaners I've seen say not for laptops.
Appreciate any advice.

No I haven't. Nor have I ever used any CD/DVD cleaning discs of any type on any drive. If I have a CD/DVD drive fail to work properly I just replace it. For the cost of most it is not worth my time to bother trying to clean an already faulty drive.
IMHO the drives used by Apple are anything But Super, as the name would imply.
The only reason I could see that any normal drive cleaning disk would not work in a Notebook Tray drive, and especially in any Slot loading drive, is if it was one of those Mini discs that are much smaller in diameter then a standard CD/DVD disc. Those will get stuck inside a slot loading drive. Not sure what the problem would be with them in a Slimline Tray loading notebook drive. Maybe because the head is already so close to the disc?
I was going by many other posts I have seen on this forum about using one of these cleaning discs.
Sorry if I mislead you in any way. That was not my intension. That is why I stated "In the end you may have to replace the drive or get an external".
Good Luck and Best Wishes.

Late 2009 Mac Mini odd Super Drive Loading and Ejecting Noise

I have had no problems with my Mac Mini until now. Just today I inserted a disk into the super drive and it made a different noise to usual as it took the disk. Also, when I ejected it, it made different noise to what it usually makes. The drive still reads and writes fine it is just the loading and ejecting noise I am worried about.
Help would me much appreciated
cp1996

Sounds like you should be expecting the drive to fail more or less any time now. If the thing is still under warranty, take it in and try to get it replaced. There is a category for abnormal noise when selecting the failure type, so you should have a decent chance. But only if it's under warranty.

Gave mbp for super drive replacement ends up with display replacement as well

Hey there,
My mbp 13" late 2011 was not reading any dvds but reading cds well so i gave it in under warranty to my authorized service provider, they asked me to keep the macbook for 3-4 days as they did not have the super drive in stock. I was supposed to get my laptop back today when i rang them up they tell me that just one part has arrived and not the other one! asked them what are the two parts and bam they tell me the super drive and the display.
I dont remember having any display issues or webcam issues so i asked them about it and they tell me while running some diagnostics tests they found that my webcam would fail soon and hence they are replacing the display unit as well.
Now i would like to know if they could really find out via the diagnostics about which part would fail in the near future or did they mess up the camera cable which is quite close to the super drive.
They are replacing the display in warranty but id like to still know so that i could avoid the service centre in future if it turns out that they had actually damaged the connector.
thanks guys.
13" mbp late 2011
2.8ghz i7
8gb ddr3 1600 mhz corsair vengeance

This is a technical site that users volunteer their time on. Most forum users do not directly/officially question the Apple Genius Bar because they do not know the specifics of your case and do not have the Apple Repair Certification. Also we are not allowed to, by terms of use.
Most advise you take it up the chain of Apple Support and through the store management itself.
I am exiting this discussion.

How do you clean a Super Drive?

I upgraded my daughter's Mac Mini 1.66 Intel from Leopard to Snow Leopard. Now she says it tends to eject DVDs. I just ran a test and it played a CD fine. It took two tries for it to read the Leopard install DVD which I tried next. Then I put in a movie and it also played on the second try. I guess we have either a failing drive or the laser that reads the disks is dirty.
What do you use to clean the Super Drive? I might as well clean all of the computer DVDs at home.

After 4 years of pretty intense use my drive stopped burning DVDs but would still burn CDs and play DVDs. I kept getting the same media sense error. I tried cleaning the lens by shooting some compressed air in the slot, running a "cleaner" disc (with the brushes on it), and inserting a slim plastic card covered with a microfiber cloth. None of that worked. So I finally resorted to opening up my MacBook Pro, taking out the drive, and opening it up. All along the way I was blasting with compressed air to remove any dust or hairs I saw. I used a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol to gently wipe the lens and another (unidentified) part that had some dust that wouldn't blow off. I put it all back together and it now burns DVDs again without errors. I am elated that I didn't have to buy a replacement optical drive. If you want to go this route I recommend following the instructions on ifixit.com. They'll show you how to get inside your laptop.

Known issues with the Super Drive on an iMac 2.7 Ghz

Are there any known issues with the Super Drive on an iMac 2.7 that would result in speed issues and a grinding sound?

Vertically installed super slim DVD drives are not as reliable as a plain desktop burner. I've had one fail in two of three iMacs and have always had an external which I use most of the time. Other than that, the brand new iMacs do not have a Super Drive, so if that is what you are inquiring about, the point is moot. You need to buy an external anyway. As far as speed, I have never used a burner at high speed - unless you have a professional model, you can easily get burn errors when burning at a fast speed; sometimes consumer models do well burning with high speeds , other times not.

Business card(s?) stuck in external super drive...

My external super drive has failed to read any disc I insert. It attempts to read the disk, sounds like it can't spin it at full speed, and then ejects the disc. I've tried multiple discs and upon ejecting one, the smallest corner of a business card appeared in the slot. I removed it but suspect there are more inside as the drive still fails to read any disc. Any thoughts on how I can: a) fish more card(s) out or b) open the drive for a visual inspection. Thanks!

Cut a hook out of stiff paper or thin cardboard.

About my MacBook Pro's super drive....

First, i like to apologize when i ask this question because in my country we are using alot of pirated software, here is my question
my super drive cant read the pirated DVD properly, even those original software. it's mean my drive in trouble? or just my luck which got a lousy super drive when i bought my Macbook Pro?

You should be able to do that by partitioning but then how would that data be backed up? If the Time Capsule drive fails, then all of that data is lost. I would suggest you consider an additional external HDD for redundancy unless the video files are of no importance.
Ciao.

Replacing combo drive with super drive

I think my iMac G5 needs a new optical drive, because I frequently get the error "failed to calibrate the laser power" when trying to burn from iTunes. (Yes, I've tried all the usual remedies: Different media, cleaning the lens, changing the burn rate... The Apple store genius say they see this "a lot," and it's probably the drive.)
My G5 has its original combo drive, but I've never burned a DVD and don't expect to with this machine. So my question is: Would there be any problem in replacing the combo with a super drive? Would the OS be able to "recognize" the different device and adjust for any differences?

You're right -- I had super and combo reversed. (Actually, the website I was looking at when I posted had them reversed.) I currently have the super drive (MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845) that came with the iMac.
I can get an Apple combo drive replacement for $95 or a super for $145. There will not be any labor cost. So what I'm considering is replacing the super with a combo. I'm set on keeping it internal. My only concern would be that the change might cause some sort of system errors.

Internal hard drive fails to mount in Disk Utility.

My internal hard drive fails to mount in Disk Utility for the past year, so I cannot verify it. However, it does mount in Disk Warrior. (1) I am concerned that it will not mount within the Apple software, and what that bodes for my computer. (2) I also have MANY spinning beach balls daily and have to use the power button to reboot. I just bought extra Crucial RAM and have yet to install it. Somehow, I don't think it wil help my issue # 1 though. Please advise, anyone out there! Thank you.

No, there are never any errors like that. Also, I have upgraded the Mac OS from 10.5 to 10.6.8. That did nothing. I backed up my Users = Christina folders to a good, 15 year old Firewire 800 La Cie 1 TB external hard drive. I also tested using the Apple Hardware test, which showed no problems, and Alsoft's Disk Warrior and defragged, and fixed a very minor issure re directory count, probably resulting from many improper shutdowns lately due to frozen spinning beach balls. None of these procedures alleviated the issues, and I still have the same issues: mainly that super-frequent spinning beach ball. Do you think I ought to install that new RAM sitting here finally? Perhaps it is a lack of RAM??I only have 2 lousy GB's of RAM after all! Thank you so very much for a reply.
Message was edited by: Flamingcreatures

Mac Pro Super Drives Stuck Closed

Hi there, I've got an odd problem affecting both my MacPro's super drives. They're original factory super drives and recently they've both stopped opening.
To clarify, it's nothing to do with the flip down door mechanism, the drives themselves will not open. They respond to both manual and eject key requests whiring first open, and then eventually closed, but unless you insert a pin into the release port they both fail to 'unlatch' themselves from the closed position. Once manually unlatched they'll slide open and closed under their own power, and the drives themselves both work fine. But without fail you have to physically unlatch them to actually get a disk in or out.
So it's not the platter motor, there's nothing software related here, and it's nothing to do with the mac case itself as they exhibit this behaviour when removed from the housing.
Anyone got tips on fixing the 'latch' mechanism?
Ev.

Mac pro 2008 or older? (uses IDE/ATA drives and 40-pin cables)
Or 2009 and newer? (uses SATA drives and compact cables)
Have you changed anything or added any software that might have anything to do with DVD readers?

Maverick broke my super drive - Intel 2008

After upgrading to Maverick my super drive is no longer working. I insert a disk (DVD or CD) and it just spits it out. The drive is recognized by the system ( a Pioneer brand IIRC) I have followed the instructions for SMC and NVRAM/PRAM reset. I've checked the settings, reset drive permissions and other suggestions ad nauseum.... Now before anyone spouts off that "it's broken - go see the Genius bar folks" - I decided to put in my snow leopard disk (after I shut down the comp). I powered it up while holding the option key and VIOLA' - there is the drive and it is reading the disk. It loaded and gave me the options for reinstalling or troubleshooting.
Im not doing a reload. That would be dumb and waste a ton of time. The drive works. Maverick is the culprit.
Apple Support Folks - what is the solution to this problem? is there a driver update? Can I send you any information to assist in resolving this problem?
Too many exsisting complaints are out there across many different models. Dont ignore your customer base. This is a problem that needs to be addressed.
Chris

I have just installed Mavericks in a MBP and like hundreds of people seemingly my superdrive chose that moment to fail, I have read dozens and dozens of re-set this and that and don't do this and that and yesterday just resigned myself to having the back off and installing a new drive.
There is something niggling about replacing a drive that worked perfectly up to a week ago, so just before I did that I went and scouted out my DVD Cleaning disk that was in the garage with my old Windows 95 software, you know the music CD with little nylon bristles that flick the dust off of the SuperDrive Lens.
BANG works like a charm. Not claiming it will work for everone, but it certainly worked for me, if only I'd thought of it 6 hours earlier !!!

Super drive failed

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