Can't find CD drive, Think I accidentally deleted it
Before when I put in a blank CD, the CD logo would popup on my desktop so I could copy files to it, etc. Now when I put it in, nothing. I can put in a DVD and the DVD player works, so I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the drive itself. I've tried to click on the Mac HD to open it to look for it but it is nowhere there, either. I remember doing something and a question popped up about the drive and I obviously clicked the wrong answer...since then it doesn't show.
I guess I need to have the mac recognize the drive again. System Pref didn't help.
Anyone got any ideas what I did or how I can correct it?
Yes, that would be correct assuming you wish to burn CDs using Finder rather than a third-party application such as Toast.
Does your drive recognize normal (that is, not blank) CDs such as an audio CD? Note that your Finder settings may be such that a CD won't appear on the desktop, but one should always appear in the sidebar in Finder.
I have the settings set to open music CDs to open ITunes. I tried a commercial music CD which should have opened ITunes but it didn't.
There is nothing showing in FINDER. I have those set to open finder when inserting a blank CD. You say one should always show on sidebar even if not on desktop...I see nothing in the sidebar either. My computer obviously is NOT recognizing the drive or it's toast.
If iTunes won't recognize a commercial CD, most likely there's a problem with the drive or with the OS, not a settings issue. I presume you've tried restarting the computer, yes? If so and that hasn't fixed the problem, try logging into Mac OS X under a different user account - create one if necessary to test - and see if the problem persists there. That will tell indicate whether it's a problem just with your normal user account or if it's a system-wide issue.
OK, we're narrowing it down. I logged in as a new person and put the commercial audio CD in and ITunes loaded. The CD showed in both the desktop and the sidebar. I also noticed while I had Windows opened, it recognized the CD, as well. That should prove it's not the drive, just the settings or software.
We went through settings and they appear to be okay, so it sounds like it's the operating system under my regular setup.
Question, what do I do now? Do I need to use the Leopard OS CD and do a re-install or is there some way I can just use Time Machine to fix it?
Since CDs work under other user accounts, there's probably no need for a full OSX reinstallation. It's more likely to be other software blocking the CD or a corrupted preference in your user account. Are you running Windows in a virtualization solution in your normal user account when you're inserting a CD? If so, it may be hijacking the CDs. Try disconnecting the CD "drive" in your virtualization solution and see if the CDs then will appear to Mac OS X.
BINGO! I went into VMFusion and disabled the CD/DVD drive and now it works. When I put in the commercial audio CD it loads ITunes and shows on both the desktop and sidebar.
Many, many thanks...really appreciate all your help.