Q: Imac will not accept DVD's or CD's

Jeez,

This whole thread dominated by 0 rep point posters.

First, one of the reasons for the failures of the SuperDrive in the newer aluminum iMac models is these drives are mounted in a vertical, uprightr position. The spinning shaft of the drive doesn't spin the disc evenly in that position.

The disc maybe wobbling just enough to either hit the CD/DVD lenses or cause excessive vibration and/or cause more than acceptable read/write errors. Also, the excessiveness of heat inside these iMacs is helping along the premature failure of these drives, too!

If your drive is having issues seeing/reading and writing discs, but eventually does, has anyone though of using a dry brush CD/DVD lens cleaning disc?!

I used one of the in my 2009 27 inch screen iMac as when I bought this used almost a year ago, the drive wasn't reliably reading any discs. The lens cleaner did the trick!

Any brand External SuperDrives will work with any Mac!l

Most of the SuperDrives are made by Matsushita or Pioneer.

It's is the connection that maybe in question.

Also, any USB 2.0, FIreWire 800/400 will work with older iMacs or, if newer iMac,  Thunderbolt, FireWire 800/400 USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 external optical drive will work with much newer IMacs.

The brand or manufacture doesn't matter.

The only exception seems to be Apple's new drive. That drive only works with Macs that didn't come with a SuperDrive built in. There is, however a workaround online for this Apple drive to work with most other Macs.

USB 2.0 external optical drives will be slower throughput than FireWire  or Thunderbolt optical drives

That stated, a cheap, external optical drive is a cheap external optical drive. The external drive may fail sooner...it may not.

I, usually go for the more expensive optical drives as they are, usually, better made, better quality and typically come in metal enclosures instead of cheap plastic enclosures.

Man, a lot of misinformation here.

Very good points plus the iMac normally is not at an exact 90 deg angle and might be moved while in use, also afftecing life and performance.

The one upside to the cheap external DVD is if it fails it's a lot easier to replace than the internal ones.

BTW wasn't this one of the reasons the original 'lap shade' LCD iMac was built with all the moving parts in the base.

True.

My older iMac wouldn't work with the external Superdrive thart Apple makes.  I called Apple and it wasn't a model that was supported.  I've run into others where it wouldn't work as well.  Not sure which model they had, but it was newer than mine, but I don't know by how much.  I looked at Apple's site and they listed which models it is suported with.

This is what Apple's site says about the external Superdrive they are selling currenlty.

System Requirements

Compatible with the following computers:

• MacBook Pro with Retina display
• MacBook Air
• iMac (late 2012)
• Mac mini (late 2009) and later

As I stated all those models are without a built-in drive.

However, as I also stated if you do a search for using Apple's new SuperDrive with older Macs, you'll find info that describes a proceedure for how to get the new drive to be recognized on quite a few older Intel Macs.

You also stated that "Any brand External SuperDrives will work with any Mac!l"

So, which one is it?

Well, I looked for a solution when I had my older 17inch iMac and couldn't find anything, but I just replaced the internal one with a refurb just to get it working.  But I have a new 27inch iMac which i use the external Superdrive and I don't have problems, but I also don't need to use it all that much right now.

I wish could get all music and movies in uncompressed formats on-line and all software was available on-line, but some apps require a bootable DVD to boot from.  Example: DiskWarrior and other Utility apps that do disk repair are the most common.

Off the top of my head as examples

LG

Samsung

LaCie

OWC mercury/mercury Pro lineup.

NewerTech

TDK used to make optical drives, not sure if still true

Toshiba...I think.

Pioneer

Liteon... I still have a Liteon CD burner

Why would third parties work and not the Apple Superdrive?  To me, it shouldn't matter.  people shouldn't have to look for a "work around", it should just plug in and work.

I agree and if there is a work around for those with a built in DVD then go for the Apple one. I've checked and the Apple on is not much more than most of the other good DVD drives and looks a whole lot better, plus most of the others have the traditional PC loading tray which IMO is ugly!

I, actually, prefer the tray loading style over the slot load style.

Having the tray and  cutout inside for the disc makes the discs spin more true and even.

Not sure if there is any internal platform that the disc sits on in the slot loading style external drives.

If I was to get a tray load DVD I'd probably opt for a full size USB caddy that can take a desktop BluRay, much cheaper to replace if it fails. Jut place it off to the side, hidden until I need to use it.

Hmmm...

That works!

I have an iMac and have been experiencing the same problem... I recently noticed that if I tilt my screen upward all the way while the disc is inserted... after a few rejections it finally accepts it and starts playing... I'm thinking that the fact that its a side loading dvd could most likely be the problem but that maybe tilting the screen upward all the way helps the laser catch the disc and finally "recognize it". Maybe that'll help some of you??? Not the greatest solution but a fix for now : ( I have heard that the newer macs coming out don't even have dvd options anymore/don't have dvd players... not sure what I think of that option.

OK.  Mid-2010 21.5 inch iMac.  Rarely used the CD/DVD, but has been working flawlessly to date.  Except for today.  Inserted a DVD of my son's performance at a local community theater, and the iMac spun and spit.  Did it again, the same.  Have tried it over 20 times, and all the same...spun and spit without it showing up on Desktop or in Finder.  My Preferences are fine.  The drive is clean.  Inserted about a dozen other DVD's (some store bought, some recorded like school plays etc.) all of them worked great . . . DVD player comes up, disk shows on Desktop and in Finder.  Tried the subject disk again and nothing but spin and spit.  Took that DVD and tried it in DVD player hooked up to TV . . . it plays fine.  Tried it in my car . . . plays fine.  Tried it on my PC laptop . . . works fine.  Put it back in the iMac . . . spin and spit.

So:  the subject DVD works on everything else but the iMAC; other DVD's and CD's work fine on the iMac; iMac is dust free and clean; No scratches, dings et. on the subject DVD; DVD/CD preferences are set as they should be..

Any thoughts/ideas on why the subject DVD won't work on the iMAC or get recognized by it even though it works everywhere else and even though the iMAC plays/recognizes other DVD's just fine?

(While not important, I want to get the subject DVD recognized by my iMAC because I want to extract certain scenes to include on a reel for my son . . . I can do it on the iMAC so long as I can get the DVD content "into" the iMAC . . . I can't get the content "into" the iMac without having the iMac recognize the DVD)

What difference does it make how much rep someone has if they are having a problem hm?  Most of these poor people bought a Mac thinking it might actually last.  They came to these forums either never owning a Mac before or never had problems with one.  They have every right to be here just as much as anyone else.

What you fail to mention in your post is that YOU CAN'T BOOT from an external drive.  The motherboards that came with these iMac's do not support booting from an external drive regardless of make or brand.  People have tried workarounds like using 3rd party boot software and other temp solutions to no avail.  This makes them utterly wortheless to me, and many others.  I speak from many long frustrating hours of experience.  So this is not a proper solution, period.

The real unfortunate part of all of this is, rather than Apple admitting that it's a rampant problem and issuing a recall...they just didn't put DVD drives in their current models.  Well that's great and unfortunate for clueless customers in the future (unaware of how they'll be treated), but what about all of us that sunk over two grand into these?  We call Apple support and are told..."What..warranty expired?  awww too baad....move along you're dead to me."  "Guess you better spend another $350+ if you want to boot from a DVD drive again."

Whenever people start asking about Apple products, I point them to threads like this.  The very fact that not one actual Apple representative has even bothered to come here to permanently resolve the issue is speaking volumes of how Apple treats their customers. 

Perhaps you should try doing your home work before you go spouting off misinformation.