WARNING on NEW iMAC M3. Don't buy without reading!!

CD and DVD media and drives have always been flaky.

I’ve had most of the embedded optical drives replaced on the older Apple gear (back when Apple offered those, and back while under warranty) due to problems reading or writing media.

Since then, have had some success with either an externally-powered optical drive or (with Apple SuperDrive) an Apple USB-C to USB-A adapter. Apple SuperDrive in particular doesn’t necessarily work with a number of third-party USB-C to USB-A adapters, as those apparently don’t provide enough power. The Apple USB-C to USB-A adapters do.

Two of the optical drives I’ve used on various macOS (though not on M3) are externally-powered USB-A drives from Compaq (remember them?), and are quite old. But they have worked.

I’ve written optical recording software, and optical drives and drive firmware and media can all be… well… flaky.

If you need optical media, you’re going to have to try some experiments, and see what works. And what doesn’t.

davidfromsuffern wrote:

Apple eventually got mine to work after talking to apparently several non-geniuses. Very frustrating experience. I’d say bad on apple support except the last guy after 5 long experiences with bad ones, who figured out the problem through a process he said the prior tech supports and specialists should have known to do. And it was simple. So much needless aggravation. Grrrrrrr.

And what was that problem that was identified and resolved?

Wow, this thread potentially burst my new macbook pro m3 bubble purchase. Hundreds of DVD's sit idle ready for import to an external SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS - Evolution is a process where one can bridge the gap with a forward thinking system capable of doing so. Tech notes about obsolescence or EOL/EOS (superdrive working on M1,2,3) are an appreciated courtesy. HELP...

GuyMoore wrote:

I forgot to mention burning the CD at a slow speed. Apple really needs to fix this problem. I have been buying Apple products since the Apple II, but I may have to buy a windows machine to be able to do my radio show. Last week even though I followed my steps above it took me forever to burn 2 copies of my radio show.

Needing to slow the recording process usually means a problem with the optical drive or with the photo-optical dye media, or lower-spec or old or otherwise problematic optical media, or with impediments to getting the data to the device; with degraded I/O speeds, host processor contention, etc.

Try a different optical drive, and absolutely try different media and preferably from a different dye formulation type and from a different media vendor, and ensure your Mac isn’t running any add-on anti-malware apps or add-on cleaning apps or add-on security apps, or other similar apps that can cause system performance or I/O performance issues.

Again, CD and DVD media and drives have always been flaky.

Hello, I got a new 16" M3 MacBook Pro for Christmas and I do a radio show of alternative music (Instrumental Surf Rock). Many of the bands I follow have CDs out but many are not one any online music stores. I have an older Roomful CD player/burner, I have used it for quite a while with my older MacBook Pro. It has USB C/A cable attached to the unit. I have been able to use it to burn CDs for my radio show and import some CDs. It has a hard time recognizing the cd drive a lot of the time. I will often have to either eject the CD or unplug the drive and plug it back in to get it to work. I got to this message because I was searching for a more reliable drive to get to work with my new laptop. Were you able to find a good solution?

I am just now finding this out and extremely upset. I have some photography software I paid a lot of money for that is still useful to me that did not migrate over and I need to install the CDs that it came one and cannot because there is not CD drive that I can find that will work. Plus I spent my entire Saturday on the phone ever escalating to higher tech/reps and they kept having me do all sorts of things to my computer including reinstalling the OS and they kept trying to figure out how to connect my superdrive for hours and hours until the last guy found an article that said it wont work with my brand new iMac with an M3. I am furious. And this is why people have a great argument when they tell me ask me why I continue to buy Apple.

Apple eventually got mine to work after talking to apparently several non-geniuses. Very frustrating experience. I’d say bad on apple support except the last guy after 5 long experiences with bad ones, who figured out the problem through a process he said the prior tech supports and specialists should have known to do. And it was simple. So much needless aggravation. Grrrrrrr.

I forgot to mention burning the CD at a slow speed. Apple really needs to fix this problem. I have been buying Apple products since the Apple II, but I may have to buy a windows machine to be able to do my radio show. Last week even though I followed my steps above it took me forever to burn 2 copies of my radio show.

YES, We're all on the edge of our seats...

Thank you. I am now re accessing my strategic options. I do seminars, podcast, and entertainment media. I was not aware of upgrading to the most current I Mac would cause me to lose one of my (still relevant) input resources. Comrades that do not like Apple are now laughing at me. Removing that resource was a bad decision. We are considering going back to Windows to ensure continuation of that resource.

cortezligg wrote:

Thank you. I am now re accessing my strategic options. I do seminars, podcast, and entertainment media. I was not aware of upgrading to the most current I Mac would cause me to lose one of my (still relevant) input resources. Comrades that do not like Apple are now laughing at me. Removing that resource was a bad decision. We are considering going back to Windows to ensure continuation of that resource.

If Microsoft Windows works better for you, then absolutely migrate to Windows.

Alas, optical media and optical storage is still a dumpster fire over on Windows.

Optical media was a dumpster fire on platforms most here have never heard of, now and in decades long ago, too. Shipped out a whole large batch of software distribution kits to an entire continent, and about a quarter of the drives installed in the servers involved on that continent couldn't read that batch of media. The other three quarters of the optical drives read that media just fine. That was an expensive mess to fix.

dbncmactech wrote:

Looks like cortezligg has some homework to do. I think after reading this post that there are ramblings of a CD drive which is of no interest to me. I am only interested in "Apple Superdrive"

Usual problem with SuperDrive is an under-powered third-party USB-C to USB-A adapter.

The Apple USB-C to USB-A adapter does have enough power.

Third-party adapters too often don’t.

I would like for someone to post the solution before I return my new Macs for old ones.

Looks like cortezligg has some homework to do. I think after reading this post that there are ramblings of a CD drive which is of no interest to me. I am only interested in "Apple Superdrive"