Slow CD/DVD burning/ripping process on MacBook Pro

I'm trying to move a large number of DVDs and CDs onto a more modern backup system. I'm using an old external Apple CD/DVD burner/player connected to my 2023 MacBook Pro and it's an incredibly slow process. Is there a faster option available? Thank you, Louie

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.7

Posted on Sep 22, 2026 12:01 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 22, 2026 12:35 PM

The Apple Superdrive operates at about 10 MB/s for DVDs. It might reach 20-30 MB/s for CDs.


If you have a 4.7 GB DVD, that's about 4700 MB. So a full DVD could take 470 seconds, or about 8 minutes or so.


The only way to speed this up would be to find a non-Apple faster external DVD reader/writer.

2 replies

Slow CD/DVD burning/ripping process on MacBook Pro

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.