My drive had not played DVDs for some time now. To open up the drive and clean it this way. Of course it’s a little bit more work, because you have to open your Mac, but you can directly clean the lens this way without fear of destroying the drive. I cleaned the lens using alcohol. Unfortunately it.
Jun 25, 2012 drive that no longer reads cds/dvds. I bought an external cd drive in order to load snow leopard but the cd drive does not show up on the desktop. The cd drive is a panasonic which is supposed to be compatible with mac os x. The drive came with 2 usb cables one for data and one for power, both are plugged in. Oct 05, 2017 This video will show you how to get Windows on your Mac without using a USB or CD to install it. This method is better for older Macs that cannot use the. Oct 24, 2012 This triggers the system to eject your disk before OS X begins loading. Shut down your Mac, then turn it back on and let it rest for 10 minutes. Don’t login to your Mac yet. After a few minutes have past, the disk may eject itself (that’s the default if you insert a disk before login). If not, try pressing the Eject key once more. It should just work, I have been doing exactly that for many years and external DVDs have always worked on my Macs. First plug in the external drive to a Usb port that you know works with other devices. Now insert a DVD movie that you know w. Jun 30, 2020 If a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM disc drive in your computer is not reading discs correctly, the following tips and information may help you fix the problem. Bad or dirty CD. Make sure you have tested more than one CD in the disc drive, as it may be one CD that is bad or dirty. If all but one or two discs fail, the disc drive is bad or dirty. Oct 06, 2017 What do you mean 'The only usb drive I have isn't bootable', being bootable is about what is stored on the drive itself, not a property of the hardware itself. (Which mean you could create a bootable USB Drive from OS X and then use it to boot your computer) Also, about the drive, honestly it is very likely that the drive is just (physically) dead.
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Why be careful? If you are considering trying this, your drive already doesn't work. What could you possibly do - make it blow up? Sure, maybe you could break it worse, but non-functional is non-functional, so what difference does it make if you do? :-)
You answer your own question: if someone isn't careful while using this cleaning method, they could break something in the optical drive and REALLY make the drive useless. If they're careful, they can sometimes make the drive work again instead of making it unfixable at all (at least not fixable in a practical sense).
Mac Not Recognizing Disc Drive
Mac Os X Cd
Holy Cow! My drive had not played DVDs for some time now. Compressed air didn't help. Just now it spit out a DVD, did one swipe with an eyeglass cloth, reinserted AND I'M WATCHING A MOVIE!
It is obviously a risky thing to do, but it was worth a try before buying a replacement drive at $100 for a very old laptop (2006 MBP).
Thanks!
I had found this hint elsewhere (can't remember where) quite some time ago and it has served me well. Sadly, my SuperDriver eventually stopped reading disks altogether so I replaced it. But this hint definately made the drive usable for a few years after I first noticed the problem.
The DVD cleaner discs work well with dusty drives too. I have a Macbook pro that was in same situation. I put in the DVD cleaner and it started working again. The DVD cleaner disc actually has little bristles right on the discs surface that brush the lens as it searches the disc. But in a pinch I can see how this might work.
Thank you for the idea. I actually managed to clean my 1.5 year broken SuperDrive in early 2009 MacBookPro with glasses cleaning cloth and a business card ;)
Nice to know, but I prefer to open up the drive and clean it this way. Of course it’s a little bit more work, because you have to open your Mac, but you can directly clean the lens this way without fear of destroying the drive. Here’s a good example: http://muzso.hu/2008/08/17/how-to-clean-the-lens-of-a-slot-loading-optical-drive-a-macbook-pros-superdrive
I did this... I cleaned the lens using alcohol. Unfortunately it didn't helped at all. DVD's are still working but not CD's... Those superdrives are really a piece of junk. Mine stopped working after one year.
I did this and everything worked fine afterwards. Before the cleaning it would neither read nor burn CDs and DVDs.
Worked first time. Many thanks.
Holy crap it worked. My mini would burn CDs under Lion and Mountain Lion, but then not recognize them. This trick is brilliant.