External CD Drive won't connect to my MacBook Pro

Question

External CD Drive won't connect to my MacBook Pro

macbook pro wont connect with external CD drive. It is connected directly to the laptop with an adaptor. The disc is recognised in the About this Mac>system report>USB, where it says 'MacBook Air superdrive'. When I go into Settings>Privacy>Security>Accessories, the menu 'automatically allow when unlocked' is faded out.

Can anyone suggest a solution, please? I have tried to connect my Apple CD Drive and have also bought a new third-party external drive but have the same problem. What am I doing wrong?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.5

Posted on Aug 21, 2026 9:17 AM

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Answer 1

Rudegar

Level 10

184,798 points

Aug 21, 2026 9:24 AM in response to Katharine Crouan

not sure why you would believe privacy would be a factor

optical drives only show up in finder if there is a disc in them
some optical drives may require more current then a normal usb port profiles in which case one needs to use 2 ports with 2 to 1 cable
test the external drive with another computer windows or mac or whatever to verify it's not just defect

and maybe read

External DVD RW drive compatible with 202… - Apple Community

though the voltage output being lower than 5 volts is wrong, and putting connectors on parallel will never inc volts but only double the current that can be pulled

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Answer 2

MrHoffman

Level 10

160,897 points

Aug 21, 2026 9:55 AM in response to Katharine Crouan

One common problem: the Apple SuperDrive needs a USB-C to USB-A dongle that provides sufficient power.

Many (most?) don’t.

The Apple dongle does.

I have a few ancient optical drives with their own external power, and also an Apple dongle, which avoids this particular mess.

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Answer 3

Aug 21, 2026 9:44 AM in response to Rudegar

Thanks for helping, but

1 There's a disc in the external CD drive but it doesn't show in the Finder

2 I have just tried the procedure in the article you referred me to, but it was unsuccessful.

3 I have tried to connect the CD drives to my MacBook Pro and to my Mac Mini with the same unsuccessful results. In each case I hear a couple of noises from the CD drive and the operating light comes on, then nothing.

Any ideas?

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