Trouble with DVDs and external DVD-drive

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Level 1

13 points

Trouble with DVDs and external DVD-drive

As much as I love to watch my large DVD-collection on my iMac27“/2011 it turns into a nightmare when the internal slot-in drive died or at least won´t accept any DVD any longer. After Apple put in the third graphic-board in order which costs the value of an MacBook air I can´t let go. So I tried to find an external replacement. While macOS don´t seem the hurdle the power support is. 2 drives won´t even start so I found one with duo connections: a. for data b. for power consumption. Didn´t work either till I used a third party USB-power adapter. I started to think my luck was coming back when the first DVD mounted and the DVD-player.app appears in the dock- BUT - after 10min or so some warnings about „skipping defected part“ appeared on the screen which seems nonsense to me because the DVD is fresh-from-the-store. And some other like „Valerian“, „Battleship“, „Matrix“ won´t even mount. I´m so desperate loosing access to my DVD library. I´m not going to rebuy the collection digitally which will simply ruin me financially.

Question: Is there any external DVD-drive out there I can use with my iMac2011?

Any help, tip or hint is much appreciated.

Cheers

Posted on Jul 15, 2019 3:04 AM

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Answer 1

3d-Guy Author

Level 1

13 points

Jul 21, 2019 6:42 AM in response to QuickPost

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion. I guess you´re right - but I wasn´t expecting all that trouble with external USB-DVD drives in the beginning. A friend gave me an original Apple USB-Superdrive (Model A1379) and holy-moly and surprisesurprise it runs flawlessly; instruction leaflet says it´s from 2013. Not sure if there are other models. Another original SD don´t work on a colleague´s MB Pro Late 2011. So I´m happy at least but won´t call this thread solved as I don´t understand why thirdparty brands I tested don´t work essentially.

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Answer 2

Jul 19, 2019 7:35 PM in response to 3d-Guy

It sounds like you may have gotten a defective DVD drive if multiple DVDs are not working. Even a brand new DVD can have issues or defects. Plus DVDs include copy protection which can cause trouble with some DVD drives.

Also a powered USB3 hub from a respected brand might be better as it can filter the USB connection and also supply power to the DVD drive if needed. I've had issues with USB drives on some USB3 Macs and a powered hub resolved them.

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