2012 iMac Catalina: HP external DVD drive won't read disc

A 2012 iMac running macOS Catalina should normally work with an HP DVDRAM GT80N external USB DVD drive without requiring additional drivers.

If the Mac cannot read discs, the problem is usually related to the drive itself, the USB connection, the disc, or the available USB power.

First, check whether the Mac detects the drive.

Open Apple menu, select About This Mac, then System Report, and choose USB. If the HP drive appears in the USB device list, the Mac is communicating with the hardware.

If it does not appear, connect it directly to the iMac instead of through a USB hub, try a different USB port, and if possible, try a different USB cable.

Testing the drive on another computer can also help determine whether the problem is with the drive or the Mac.

Next, open Disk Utility and insert a known-good CD or DVD.

If the drive appears but no disc mounts, listen for the drive's behavior. If it repeatedly spins up, clicks, or fails to recognize any type of disc, the optical mechanism may be failing.

Testing several different discs is worthwhile because it helps rule out damaged or incompatible media.

A commercial DVD, a music CD, and a data DVD are all useful choices. If none of them are recognized, the drive itself becomes the most likely cause.

You can also check whether macOS detects a disc being inserted by opening Terminal and running drutil status.

Insert a disc and see whether the reported status changes from "No Media Inserted." If it does not, the laser may not be detecting the disc.

Running diskutil list before and after inserting a disc can also show whether macOS detects any new optical media.

If the drive powers on but behaves inconsistently, restart the iMac, wait until macOS has fully loaded, and then reconnect the drive.

Some slim external DVD drives also require more power than a single USB port can reliably provide.

If the drive spins briefly, stops unexpectedly, or repeatedly resets, connecting it through a powered USB hub or using a USB Y-cable, if supported by the enclosure, may resolve the issue.

The HP DVDRAM GT80N is a standard slim SATA DVD drive installed in an external USB enclosure.

macOS Catalina generally supports this type of optical drive without requiring additional software, so compatibility is unlikely to be the cause.

If the drive appears in the USB device list and spins discs but never recognizes any disc, the optical pickup laser has most likely failed, which is a common problem with older slim DVD drives.

If the drive never appears in the USB device list, the problem is more likely related to the USB connection, the enclosure electronics, or insufficient power.

Testing the drive on another computer, or testing another USB DVD drive on the iMac, is the quickest way to determine which component is at fault.

Wow, Owl-53! What a comprehensive answer!

A bit ago when I was going through decades of backups on CDs and DVDs, I ended up buying two cheap drives, because some disks would work on one but not the other. The best results were from an older Mac that had a built-in DVD drive.

Professional disks, like movies, always worked. Disks that I had burned were problematic.

👍

🦉-53

A job worth doing is worth the extra work before hand