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Can mac os Ventura 13.2.1 read old cds?

I have lots of photos stored on CDs that don't seem to be recognized by my IMac. The drive whirrs, but the disk icon doesn't mount. Other CDs and DVDs will work in my drive. Is reading 15 year old CDs not possible with Ventura?

iMac 21.5″, macOS 13.2

Posted on Apr 9, 2023 4:02 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 9, 2023 6:12 PM

Ancient CDs can sometimes use ancient app-specific storage formats, as well. Kodak had a weird format or three IIRC (Photo CD and Picture CD), as did some other vendors. If that is the case here, you will either need the apps or an older system with the apps, or will need some other means to extract the photos from the CDs.


And yes, an old CD can degrade into unreadability, so do test this CD in another CD drive.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 9, 2023 6:12 PM in response to r-l-g-

Ancient CDs can sometimes use ancient app-specific storage formats, as well. Kodak had a weird format or three IIRC (Photo CD and Picture CD), as did some other vendors. If that is the case here, you will either need the apps or an older system with the apps, or will need some other means to extract the photos from the CDs.


And yes, an old CD can degrade into unreadability, so do test this CD in another CD drive.

Can mac os Ventura 13.2.1 read old cds?

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