Catalina does not mount SuperDrive disks

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Level 1

53 points

Catalina does not mount SuperDrive disks

Plugged my SuperDrive into my 2014 iMac 5K. The CDs & DVDs System Preference Panel appeared, so the drive is being recognized. But Catalina would not mount the disk. The drive shows up in Disk Utility, but the volume is grayed out. When I tried to mount it, I got "Could not mount "CD". (com.apple.DiskManagement.disenter error 49153.)

Started Windows 10 under Parallels. It can mount and browse the CD no problem.

Apple still sells the SuperDrive for $79 on their store, so it's not like it's a discontinued product.

Yet another example of basic QA not being done at Apple. I can't understand why this wouldn't be part of an automated test suite.

Posted on Sep 5, 2020 10:29 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 6, 2020 7:31 AM in response to Old Toad

The Superdrive works with many disks so I don't believe that is the problem.

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Answer 2

TheLittles

Level 10

192,645 points

Sep 5, 2020 6:58 PM in response to bryston

bryston Said:

"Catalina does not mount SuperDrive disks"

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Try a Virtual Machine:

Maybe Using a Virtual Machine would do the Trick?

If there ends up being not solution for viewing these on the macOS, consider using a Virtual Machine(VM) for reading these(Windows-in-a-window). You would open items in the VM, and run it right off of that. When plugging in the drive, make it accessible to the Virtual Machine. You'd be prompted which to use the drive on: The VM or the macOS. If the Virtual Machine is working, you will get this popup message.

All would be accessed and would operate as desired on the VM. Virtual Machine applications include VMWare Fusion and Parallels. Learn more here: What Is a Virtual Machine? - VMWare Support.

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Answer 3

Sep 5, 2020 7:11 PM in response to BDAqua

Likely the problem is due to the HFS code being 32-bit, which won't run in Catalina. Since HFS was superseded by HFS+ over twenty years ago, Apple may have though it not used any more, so didn't bother converting the code to 64-bit.

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Answer 4

Sep 5, 2020 4:30 PM in response to bryston

Some data CDs were formatted as HFS. HFS was superseded by HFS+ in 1998, but HFS seems to have been still used for data CDs many years later. Catalina can't mount HFS disks.

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

239,483 points

Sep 5, 2020 6:25 PM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

AHA! :)

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251765568?answerId=253388380022&page=1

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Answer 6

Old Toad

Level 10

207,751 points

Sep 5, 2020 10:51 AM in response to bryston

It's been noted here that the early versions of Apple's Superdrive (introduced in 2008) don't work with the newer Macs. The newer model was introduced in 2014. Which do you have?

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

239,483 points

Sep 5, 2020 7:15 PM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

Yeah, you might drop in &post there, I left a link to hear, but you never know if links get clicked on or not.

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Catalina does not mount SuperDrive disks

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