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My Samsung DVD writer, model SE-218, no longer works with "Catalina" (and has not worked since 10.13).
I have looked (in vain!) for Mac drivers on Samsung's site, which, like most manufacturers' sites, is oriented towards new sales. (Once you've bought the product, their interest drops like a stone, or am I being cynical?)
Are there any "workarounds"?
iPad
Hello, VelcroJP.
Unless Samsung is forthcoming with a 64-bit version of drivers for that device, I think it's best used a paperweight.
I recommend visiting OWC/Macsales and take a look at what they offer for small CD/DVD drives. The folks there know their Macs and provide decent support.
EDIT - +1 to what @Allan Jones has posted above. 👍🏽
Hello, VelcroJP.
Unless Samsung is forthcoming with a 64-bit version of drivers for that device, I think it's best used a paperweight.
I recommend visiting OWC/Macsales and take a look at what they offer for small CD/DVD drives. The folks there know their Macs and provide decent support.
EDIT - +1 to what @Allan Jones has posted above. 👍🏽
What Mac are you connecting to? Please include the model year and and modifiers like Early, Mid, or Late. Ports vary with mode
That model is bus-powered, lacking an independent power supply. In this article:
https://oemdrivers.com/optical-samsung-dvd-writer-se-218
I found this comment:
The "adapter to give the drive the current it needs" would be a powered USB hub. A powered hub comes with amn independent power supply. Example:
Yours is a common problem with bus-powered drive. Even Apple's USB Superdrive, which hs not been updated in years, suffers similar issues.
Not sure what is unique about that drive but I have a Samsung SE-084 drive and it works fine with Mojave, Catalina and Big Sur. I also have an Apple Super Drive and also works with all 3 operating systems. No additional drivers required.
Nice to know you are not having problems! I had been using the Samsung SE-218 (different from yours) very successfully on this same iMac (no upgrades or replacements) until the OS X release before Mojave which is when (I think) Apple changed OS X to 64-bit. SE-218 has not worked since then but it DOES work on my daughter's MacBook Air, running Apple's chip and Big Sur, so there is nothing wrong with the drive.
There were other (older) threads in the "Community" about other drives and Mojave but they were, similarly, not relevant to my problem. I think I shall take D.I. Johnson's advice and add it to my stock of paperweights! (While my daughter is visiting, I may get her to copy all my CDs and DVDs to memory sticks and I will upload them to the iMac; I will just have to forego making permanent "last ditch" backups (which was the main reason for the "writer" part of the device). A pain in the proverbials, but at least it's a workaround.
Allan Jones was correct!
I disconnected the two (physically small) SSDs which were also connected by USB and lo and behold, when I reconnected it, the DVD drive was accessible -- for about 15 seconds! It is obviously a USB-power problem and I have now ordered a powered hub.
Nothing else has changed -- other than the version of OS X -- since last time the DVD writer worked (without problems), so I'm wondering if "Catalina" puts additional requirements on the power supply? (Although why it would affect the USB power is beyond my comprehension capacity!)
Given that I will want to keep up to date with OS X (or whatever comes after it!), I shall probably invest in a Mac Mini and use my Intel-powered iMac as a 21" display! (Last time I did not keep to the latest OS version, my iPhoto library became "damaged" -- how, I have no idea! -- and I still have not recovered from that, with Photo having 'lost' the library on the iMac and 5 partial-libraries [thanks to a repair/recovery utility which no longer works!] for iPhoto, none of which is currently accessible. Luckily, I have more recent photos on iPad and iPhone, but have lost all -- several hundred -- pre-2014 photos.)
Thanks for reading my tale of woe and thanks to Allan Jones for putting me on the right track regarding the USB power problem.
DVD Writer not recognised
