Apple SuperDrive Special Power Requirements

See a lot of conflicting answers and advice for the Apple SuperDrive. Satechi support has stated their powered Thunderbolt 4 Dock can’t power this drive, the drive works fine when plugged into MacBook Air M2 with a USB-A to C adapter. How much power does the SuperDrive require?

Posted on Dec 7, 2022 8:52 AM

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Posted on Dec 7, 2022 9:29 AM

Doesn’t matter. The SuperDrive will not work when attached to any hub or dock. It MUST be attached to a port on a Mac, period, as you have already discovered. For what its’ worth it has been this way ever since the introduction of the SuperDrive.


OWC (MacSales.com) claims to provide a free custom driver for their docks that allows the SuperDrive to work with their products but I have no direct knowledge of whether it works or not.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 7, 2022 9:29 AM in response to TejasDave

Doesn’t matter. The SuperDrive will not work when attached to any hub or dock. It MUST be attached to a port on a Mac, period, as you have already discovered. For what its’ worth it has been this way ever since the introduction of the SuperDrive.


OWC (MacSales.com) claims to provide a free custom driver for their docks that allows the SuperDrive to work with their products but I have no direct knowledge of whether it works or not.

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Apple SuperDrive Special Power Requirements

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