imation super discs

It could simply be Finder settings. By default, the macOS does not display mounted drives on the desktop (You can change that with FInder Preferences). However, it should show up in the sidebar of a window:

and in Disk Utility:

Can you see it either place?

Have you tried different USB cables? can you hear the imation disk spin up? Does the power adapter have a status light showing it is getting power?

This ASC discussion from 2012 suggests that imation Superdrives work without drivers on OS versions up to 10.11 El Capitan:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3957765

so I doubt drivers are the problem or the fix. Beware the online driver search--I found many sites that we know include adware claiming to have drivers. Sites claiming to have hard-to find driers are among the most contaminated with adware/malware.

Good morning, Henry.

Wow, I'm running out of ideas. Does the disk reader show up anywhere if no disks are inserted?

Another thought. On the computer do, "About this Mac..." from your Apple menu and, in the resulting window, click the "system Report..." button to open your System Information utility. When it opens, find and select "USB" in the left-hand Content pane :

Unlike Disk Utility that only sees working drives, SI sees any attached USB device, including a drive that is sickly. See if the drive shows up in the main pane. Try it both with and without a disk inserted.

If it doesn't show up there, I'd suspect the drive itself has failed.

I'm running out of ideas. I'll send up the old Bat Signal to see if some of my esteemed colleagues spot anything familiar.

Please help us help you. What computer do you wish to use for viewing and what OS version is it running?

Do you have an imation external disk drive? What ports does it have? imation sold drives with parallel ports, USB ports, ATAPI ports, and SCSI ports. If you have a modern computer you probably need an imation drive with USB for the best chances for compatibility like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Imation-SuperDisk-Drive-120-MB/dp/B000Y1NKSY. Note the price--it is not cheap.

Any information about the exact SuperDisk drive model number?

Is the problem the same with 120 MB SuperDisks and normal 1.44 MB floppy disks? Are the disks Mac- or PC-formatted?

Any chance of testing the USB drive with another Mac? With a Windows PC (you would have to use an appropriate Mac-disk utility if the disks are Mac-formatted)?

A starting and stopping drive could possibly indicate that the available USB power is inadequate. Do you have access to a powered USB hub just for a test?

Correction

>A starting and stopping drive could possibly indicate that the available

USB power is inadequate. Do you have access to a powered USB hub just

for a test?

Please disregard. I assume that your device is separately powered already.

I guess it is too old but you never know:

there is a third party app, called DriveDx, that can "in principle" read any disk. This app is using a very large disk library, the first verion of the app itself is about 5 years old. So depending on the age of the oldest disk in DriveDx's library it may know your disk.

Download DriveDx (the trial has no limitations except time to use free): download not from the Appstore, but from the website (on the website the kext for reading external disks is included, on the Appstore not so). Install it, then connect the disk and start DriveDx to see whether it is visible or not, when visible it gives you info about the disk.

https://binaryfruit.com

There is always drivesavers.com

R

Too old, well, I have had no other ideas. Hope someone will find how to do it. Perhaps in a (computer) antiquariat....

Lex