What are signs of optical drive failure?

I have a Matshita DVD-R UJ-825 optical drive in my iBook G4. After updating to iTunes 9.0.3, every other CD, or so, that I import into iTunes is skipping when playing back on iTunes (the CDs are in new & good condition & play fine on my CD player). I've been able to reimport the CD with success the 2nd or 3rd time. I can tell when it will be a bad import if the import speed is below 4X. I need to get import speeds of 6X to 9X+ to get a good import. Is this a sign that the optical drive is beginning to fail? Is the timing just a coincidence with it showing up after updating to 9.0.3? Appreciate any & all input.

I suppose some drives fail immediately, whereas, some times they slowly go? Is that correct?
Hard to tell for sure, but from your description it sounds like it might be on the way out. If you plan to keep the computer I would go ahead and replace it now so you can get trouble free performance. If, however, you only use the drive occasionally it may serve you for a while yet. Accessing the optical drive on the iBook G4 is a bit of a challenge, but it can be done. If you need to get someone to do it for you I used a service in my area that charges a flat fee of $75 plus parts. If you are interested, let me know.
cornelius

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Possible solution to your Optical Drive failure

Hey everyone. So I've been having the same issue that it seems like everyone else has been having with their optical drive spitting out DVDs and CDs.
Well first off here are the specs of my drive:
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N:
Model: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N
Revision: AP09
Serial Number: K0078710705
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: Yes
Power Off: Yes
So it's the same as drive thats been causing lots of problems. My issues started about 5 months ago. One day my drive was able to read/write DVDs just fine but then out of the blue it stopped writing DVDs. I was a little upset but whatever right? I didn't REALLY need to write DVDs. Then it all together stopped reading DVDs that's when I got a little ticked. So then I searched the web for an answer but came up the conclusion that I needed a new drive but the problem is my warranty is over. So then I pretty much gave up. Not really wanting to pay $150 for a new drive I tried to forget that my $2000 macbook pro was crippled. Tonight though I thought about it again. I thought of how disc drives work. Inside there is a laser that reads the disc. Remember your walkman? Before the age of the ipod. It always had a tag right by the laser that said "Don't Touch." So then I thought, "maybe the laser in my disc drive is dirty." So I grabbed my can of compressed air and stuck the straw attachment into the slot. After spraying for few seconds I loaded a normal dvd in and PRESTO IT WORKS! I couldn't believe it. IT WAS DIRTY!
This might not work for you maybe there is some thing seriously wrong with the hardware or the software. But right now what do you have to lose right? Before you run off and buy a new drive try cleaning the lens with some compressed air.
BOTTOM LINE: TRY COMPRESSED AIR. It worked for me =D

my macbook pro is just over one year old, and my inernal dvdrw also stopped working with dvd disks (it still worked with cd disks).
i stuck the nozzle of my spray air into the drive slot, sprayed three times and VOILA, my drive reads and writes dvds again!
amazing and easy fix!!

Optical Drive Failure

I was loading Snow Leopard onto my Dad's iMac. The install did not finish since the optical drive failed. I took it to the local Mac dealer, and they replaced the optical drive. The drive still did not work. I took it back and they wanted $500 to check the logic board. That was not a good idea. Is there a way to verify their findings?
Thanks.

Hello RoleneF,
While it's easy to google the web for firewire drives, I believe what u need is recommendations from users on this forum WHO HAVE TRIED A PARTICULAR DRIVE, which I believe is the reason you came here in the first place.
It all depends on what you are looking for exactly: if u r looking for portable drives with firewire, there aren't that many (that I know of) besides LaCie's found here http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10985
If u r looking for a desktop alternative, OWC offers a wide range of desktop dvd burners, found here http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/
u also have the option of purchasing an internal superdrive and putting it in an enclosure (purchased separately of course)... I believe OWC has those as well... a little research on their site will help for sure...
Personally, I'd go for LaCie's portable drive, I've read excellent reviews about it, but that's just me.
Good luck!

What is the best optical drive for MacPro (early 2008) ?

I am having my MacPro optical drive repaired but I wish to add a new one in the second bay.
I have come to know that the Apple Store does not sell it separetely and do not know what to buy.
Suggestions?
Thank you.

Mac Pro 3,1 also has two extra SATA ports, easy enough to run a cable from one or both of them to the optical drive bays. But if you want to use the connectors that are already in the optical drive bays get one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007589%2060000370 5&IsNodeId=1&name=IDE
Or get a SATA drive. I put a Blue Ray drive in so I can burn data to those, I have an LG
WH12LS38 that was plug and play (I think I had to order a SATA cable for it).

What are all the hard drive icons on my desktop from app installations?

Most of the apps I have installed leave a new hard drive icon on my desktop, like these. Obviously the Macintosh HD is an good one to keep, but the others just keep accumulating and I find that to be a problem.
What are these?
What purpose do they serve?
Can I delete them?
If no delete, can I hide them?
Thanks

1. Mounted disk images.
2. They contain the software or its installer. The dmg format doesn't require separately storing the decompressed version of the data on the computer.
3. Yes.
(116534)

Re: What are properties of SSD drive used in Tecra R10

Hello,
Does anyone know what are the characteristics of the ssd drive ?
128GB but from which contructor? I need all characteristics of the SSD drive for the Tecra R10.
Thanks for your help ;)

Hi
I have only found these details:
The SSD drive which was installed in Tecra R10-10J is an
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What make of slot / optical drives will my power book accept?

My superdrive has basically stopped working all I can manage is reading disks, which has led me to replace my superdrive, and im a little confused to what i can put in. Im currently looking at a:
Sony AD-7633A Slot Load 8x DVD+/-RW does anyone know if this will work on my machine and what else I should look at.
Thanks look forward to your replies.

Does this info help you?
Battery Information:
Model Information:
Serial Number:          9G******3NB
Manufacturer:          DP
Device Name:          bq20z451
Pack Lot Code:          0
PCB Lot Code:          0
Firmware Version:          201
Hardware Revision:          2
Cell Revision:          164
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh):          2366
Fully Charged:          No
Charging:          No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh):          4993
Health Information:
Cycle Count:          523
Condition:          Normal
Battery Installed:          Yes
Amperage (mA):          0
Voltage (mV):          11430
I backup using an external drive and time machine
<Edited by Host>

What are signs of water damage to macbook pro?

Man this is embarassing... the one day I decide to open my window is the one day there's torrential rain here haha good thing my mb pro was generally out of direct contact with the incoming rain
Question is, I came home and there were signs of very very VERY little water on my desk and around my mb pro, probably around a couple of drops but you could tell it was from the rain and may have entered through the screen window behind it. There were a couple of drops next to my mb pro, and when I opened it, the screen had very very little water on it, just on the outer edges of the screen and near the trackpad, but I want to know if this water entered in any way. The computer works perfectly fine so far, I used disk utility to verify the disk and it says everything is good.
are there any other checks I can do to see if water touched it at all, because I have my doubts that the rain actually came into contact and it may just be humidity, but I would still like to know if in the future potential unseen damage from now will affect it later.
And I know water damage voids my warranty. I just want to know if there are any signs that it's even received water damage?
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     -screen's fine
     -everything runs as smooth as before
     -no signs that I can think of that mb pro suffered water damage

Liquid Spill
If you believe you’ve spilled anything (water, soda, trendy energy drink, etc.) on your Apple notebook, shut it down immediately, lest you continue short-circuiting your computer and thus blasting small holes through its components. Just because your computer works for a while after you’ve spilled liquid on it doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. Damage from liquid spills start out small and difficult to diagnose, and then over time spreads to become larger functional issues.
The best thing to do in this case is to take your Mac to an Apple-authorized service center. Diagnostic testing is FREE! But if you are feeling handy and are OK with voiding your AppleCare warranty (AppleCare does not cover accidental damage), you can clean your computer yourself. Unplug it, open it up, and disconnect the battery and all connections to the logic board. Then sit the open computer by a fan while gently scrubbing all sections of the logic board with cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol. Clean both the top and bottom of the logic board if possible, then let the exposed MacBook dry in the path of the fan overnight before piecing everything back together and turning the computer back on. With any luck, the crisis will be over. http://www.macworld.com/article/2030013/advice-from-an-apple-tech-three-common-m ac-fixes.html

What are compatible DVD-RWs drives with Satellite Pro 6000

Hi
Can any one tell me what dvd rw's is compatible withe the satellite pro 6000?

Hi
Its always hard to find any information about compatible drives because of the different master / slave and c-sel settings.
In my knowledge Toshiba user manuals dont provide such information. Ok, I dont know if all user manual dont provide this but I did not find such info in my user manual.
However. I have investigated a little bit a someone has suggested that Toshiba SD-R6372 dvd writer is compatible with Satellite Pro 6000/6100 units.
I found it on a very popular online auctioneers ;)

HT1510 What are signs of needing a new battery for an iPod Shuffle 2nd generation?

I have an iPod Shuffle 2nd Generation that is about 4 years old. Sometimes it won't turn on, charge, and even not show up on my computer when it's plugged into it. I put it on the charging dock and sometimes the light won't even come on showing that it's charging. Could that be the battery or the iPod itself??
I hope someone can help me!! I am severely lost without my music!!!!!!
Thanks!

Did it previously work properly and reliably with this computer? If it did, and it does not now, and nothing else has changed, such as connecting new USB devices to the computer, or using the shuffle through a USB hub (instead of connecting it to a direct USB port on the computer), then it may be a problem with the battery. A 2nd gen shuffle would actually be about 5 or 6 years old at this point.
If you have connected new USB devices to the computer recently, as a test, you may want to try shutting down (powering off) the computer and disconnecting all USB devices (including any hub), except standard keyboard and mouse (if used). Then start up the computer, run iTunes, and connect the shuffle to a direct USB port on the computer. Is there any difference?
If this is a new computer, it may be something else. Please post back...

Mini hard drive failure? What to do...

My Mini was exhibiting signs of hard drive failure: Lots of SBBODs, taking a long time to bootup (and sometimes not booting up), locking up for no apparent reason with only the mouse working, and making clicking noises like the hard drive is searching for something.
I ran Onyx and repaired permissions to no avail. Hardware check showed no problems. I ran Disk Utility from the setup disk and it repaired several problems (e.g., invalid leaf record, minor Bit Map repair, invalid volume free block count, etc.). It reported that my hard drive was repaired successfully.
However, the drive is still acting up. Strangely, when I jiggle or tilt the Mini while it's hanging, it will sometimes kick-start it. It looks bad all around. Fortunately, my valuable data is all on an external drive (250 GB MiniStack), since I use the Mini to manage my media and a PowerBook as my primary machine.
My questions are these:
• Does it make sense to continue using this drive by zeroing out the drive and reinstalling Tiger?
• Or, should I consider replacing the drive altogether (the tilting action makes me think it may be mechanical)?
Or course, my AppleCare expired a couple of weeks ago...<sigh>
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Best,
Amy

Sounds exactly like mine!
See if you have any friends with computers that could loan you a stick of 2700 or higher.
If I were closer, I would loan you my other stick from my PC.
Since your valuable data is on another drive...if you want to reload everything...
You can erase and reinstall OSX. If the drive is bad, it will have problems loading, then you'll know.
If it does load, and it runs fine, then the OS was somehow screwed up, but if it gives you the SBBOD again after the install and during software update or other intensive programs (like mine did) then I would suspect the memory.
Memory isn't used very much for the minor applications during the Hardware Test or booting to CD/DVD. Mine only showed up during actual OS booting and running programs, but since it's the easiest thing to replace and check, that's what I did first and it resolved my problems.
If you want to check out what I went through see:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=392827
Maybe some of that can help you too.

Optical drive problems after upgrade to Tiger 10.4.10

I've just had my machine updated to Tiger 10.4.10 after having two new hard drives installed after a hard drive failure. I'm now having issues with burning data for backup purposes.
I can't burn anything with Mac OS Disc Burner utility, it doesn't seem to recognize blank disc's DVD's or CD's. It keeps telling me to load a disc when one is already in the drive.
System profiler recognizes CD-R's & DVD-R's when they are in the optical drive
I can burn with Toast Titanium ver 6.0.3 DVD's & CD's. The burned CD's will mount. The burned DVD's will not mount.
I have checked the burned DVD's in the optical drive of my iBook G4 Mac OS 10.3.9 and they mount on it fine.
Movie DVD's will mount & play. Software DVD's will mount and load applications.
I have cleaned the drive with a cleaning disc.
The Optical Drive was working fine before the upgrade, so what is the problem?
I can only assume two problems now!
1.) the optical drive has a physical malfunction
2.) there is a software issue between Tiger 10.4.10 & this optical drive (this is my favorite at the moment)
The upgrade was done by an Apple Authorised Service Provider they say there are no issues with Tiger & the optical drive.
So any ideas or help would be much appreciated.
Machine Name: Power Mac G5
Machine Model: PowerMac7,2
CPU Type: PowerPC 970 (2.2)
Number Of CPUs: 2
CPU Speed: 1.8 GHz
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 1.5 GB
Bus Speed: 900 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.5f0
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D:
Model: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D
Revision: A606
Serial Number: DBDL909690WL
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D:
Firmware Revision: A606
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2000 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No

I'm having a similar problem. I bought my G5 with Panther OS on it a few years ago. The DVD drive functioned perfectly back then. Then I upgraded to Tiger this past year which caused the DVD drive to open later..that is, I'd have to hold down the eject button for a good 2 or 3 seconds before it would open or close. Previously it responded instantly. Now what happens more and more is it can't read DVD-ROM disks that it has burned. My imac G4 with Jaguar has no trouble reading the disks but Tiger 10.4.9 and 10.4.10 simply refuse to mount DVD ROM disks that it burned.
I'm trying to make a duplicate DVD of the offending disk on my single-processor G4 and then put THAT disk into the G5 so it can read the info. Hopefully that will be my work-around.
It's got to be a software issue and I keep hoping the Apple wiz kids will put out an update to remedy this. Something's fishy with the DVD drive programming.

Hard drive failure - options for data recovery and AppleCare coverage

I have been handed a relative's 12 month old MacBook Pro with a factory-installed 500GB hard drive which appears to have failed. When attempting to boot the MacBook I am met with the classic clicking and grating noise which I know is a tell-tale sign of hard drive failure. The drive will not boot and I am shown the question mark folder icon, indicating that the operating system cannot be found. Have booted into internet recovery mode, Disk Utility appears to have found no sign of the hard drive's existence and shows none of its partitions. I have attempted putting the MacBook into FW target-mode and mounting the disk from another laptop, but to no avail; while it will go into target mode the drive simply isn't visible. The SATA connection to the drive is definitely OK - I have tested with another 2.5 inch hard drive which showed up fine in Disk Utility and was bootable. Have run Apple Hardware Test/Diagnostics but this returned no errors. It seems like a pretty clear cut case of drive failure.
I put this all to the relative whose laptop this is and asked them whether the MacBook had been dropped recently, explaining to them that this is one of the likeliest causes for such sudden failure. Sheepishly they admitted that they had indeed dropped it, although not from too great a distance and onto a carpeted floor. Apparently in the days immediately after the shock the hard drive continued to boot but the system was very slow and beset by spinning beech ball hangups. It is only in the last few days that the hard drive has become completely unbootable, and seemingly unreachable.
I have two questions that I would be grateful for some help with.
Firstly, is there any possibility of recovering data from this drive without going to a data recovery specialist? The user did have backups of most important data, but some recently imported photos were not backed up. Is it any use me trying any third-party data recovery software utilities, bearing in mind that I can't even mount the drive in target mode?
Second, the MacBook is still covered by the extended AppleCare warranty for the next two years. Is it worth my relative's while making a Genius Bar appointment to see whether Apple would replace this drive for free, given that the damage was most likely user-inflicted? Is there any chance that this sudden failure could be unrelated to the drop the MacBook suffered the other day - perhaps just a result of the 'normal' failure rate? I am more than happy to exchange the drive for a new one myself and my relative is happy to pay for the new part (I was amazed at how cheap hard drives are now), but would we be better off trying an Apple Store? My prediction would be that while we might get lucky and have an obliging genius who agrees to swap the drive without asking too many questions, we could also have one who concludes the damage is not covered by the warranty and insists on charging for the new hard drive (at a mark-up I assume) and labour.
Any thoughts about these two issues or the hard drive failure more generally are very welcome. Thanks.

1, Data recovery software is your only alternative if there is no backup. It may or may not be able to revoker anything from that hard drive. If it does then the only other choice is to go to a data recovery service. If have to go that route expect to pay for it, like $$$$.
2, Yes. They will at least tell him what the problem is and the cost if any to fix. There is a good chance they will fix it for nothing and only charge for data recovery if they can do it.

Optical drive not recognized in system profile after hardware rebuild

This is an old MacBook Pro. Apple call it vintage.
Logic board died, so rather than consign it being a doorstop, I took out the logic board and "cooked" it to reflow the solder. It actually worked!
Just prior to this and just before the logic board completely bit the dust I'd inserted a DVD into the optical drive, where it sat and didn't read, wasn't recognized etc. I was trying to drop back down in OS as Lion was too resource hungry for the old machine, so it was an OS install disk. Panther I think?
So now I've got the logic board working, but I cannot remove the DVD. I tried all the tricks, including Terminal etc. On checking System Profile I noticed that the optical drive isn't even listed now. So my question is, is it possible I missed a connection etc when rebuilding the MBP after replacing the logic board? If so, thoughts on where I should look? Is there a way to "force" the OS to find the optical drive? Any thoughts on what to do?
I can't pull the optical drive as one of the screws is completely stripped and honestly, not sure if the laptop is even worth the cost of a replacement drive anyway.

Ok, that's it. I read a few posts in the "...SuperDrive won't accept my CD.." section. and it seems some people are just swapping optical drives like mad, ready to accept that the kit is crap, and "...oh, well, I sure hope this one works better...".
But one guy had the brains to have a look inside. Turns out dust had accumulated in the drive and on the connectors, and when he cleaned them, and unplugged and replugged them, it worked fine. So that's what I did. Took it out and put it back in. Amazing the stuff I cleared out! I also un- and re-plugged the power cable and the data ribbon at the mutha board and bingo!. We have disk, and I can breathe again.
Recommend to others they pretend they've bought a new drive, do a remove and reinstall and be very fastidious. You may not need a new one after all. I just love it that stuff can still be FIXED!
Thanks to Lou and all of you who share your experiences. It's like my brain is suddenly soooo huge...

G$ FW800 stock optical drive not seen in System Profile - is it daid?

I added a USB PCI card (2.0) to my FW and shifted some files (Migration Assistant) to my FW by Firewire from an eMac and then I wanted to run Diskwarrior to sort it all out. My CDW/DVDR wouldn't open, either with the eject key or through Toast. Not recognized in Toast. Not recognized in System Profile either. I reset the PMU (cause I can), then tried to boot the DW CD from a Firewire LaCie drive. No good. I finally got the CD to start the FW by using "alt" on startup and waiting for it to find DW but after running all the tests, my drive still seems to be dead. Any more resets or something I can try?
Also, I took the card out and tried again but no good. Are the circuits for the drive and PCI somehow related? Did I cook a controller or something?
Guys, what's the scoop? or is it poop?

Ok, that's it. I read a few posts in the "...SuperDrive won't accept my CD.." section. and it seems some people are just swapping optical drives like mad, ready to accept that the kit is crap, and "...oh, well, I sure hope this one works better...".
But one guy had the brains to have a look inside. Turns out dust had accumulated in the drive and on the connectors, and when he cleaned them, and unplugged and replugged them, it worked fine. So that's what I did. Took it out and put it back in. Amazing the stuff I cleared out! I also un- and re-plugged the power cable and the data ribbon at the mutha board and bingo!. We have disk, and I can breathe again.
Recommend to others they pretend they've bought a new drive, do a remove and reinstall and be very fastidious. You may not need a new one after all. I just love it that stuff can still be FIXED!
Thanks to Lou and all of you who share your experiences. It's like my brain is suddenly soooo huge...

What are signs of optical drive failure?

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