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Blu-Ray Optical Drive Trouble

I have a new Mac Pro Desktop 2012 Computer. This has two optical drive slots. In the upper I have the original drive that comes with the computer. In the lower slot I installed a Pioneer Blu-Ray BDR-208DBK disc reader. The problem is that I cannot get the Blu0Ray drive to remain connected to the computer.


I still seem to have some sort of problem with my new drive. I have con tacted Pioneer but they claim they have no techies that work with Apple product. I contacted Other Worlds Computing that I bought the unit from but the only real help they gave was to use the option key and the optic drive key to open/close the drive bay door.


Disc drive sees the two optic drives but soon the Poineer Blu-Ray just disappears.


It works after booting/rebooting but if left alone for a while the computer looses contact with it.


I'm attaching some snap shots that may help my explanation. The first shot is when attempting to open the drive (lower drive in Disc Utility. The second shot is the resulting error message. I don't know where to find the meaning of the error.


Can anyone help or recommend a suggestion?


User uploaded fileUser uploaded file

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 14, 2013 9:27 AM

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15 replies

Feb 14, 2013 4:59 PM in response to Bud Willner

This problem has been reported before with Pioneer Blu-ray drives in a Mac Pro. Other World Computing should know about it.


Make sure to unchceck "Put hard drives to sleep when possible" in Energy Saver system preference.


If that doesn't help, see if Other World Computing will replace the Pioner drive with another brand. They sell LG drives.


You shouldn't need any extra drivers or software, other than Mac Blu-ray Player if you want to play Blu-ray movies.

<http://www.macblurayplayer.com>

Feb 14, 2013 10:48 PM in response to Bud Willner

You may need to Restart the Mac Pro after unchecking the drive sleep box to make the Blu-ray drive function again. If you are lucky (it may depend on the drive's firmware version) it will stay connected. If not, try a LG drive. I have not heard of problems with non-Pioneer drives (with drive sleep unchecked, of course).

Don't forget to remove the tray lip.

<http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macpro_2009_opt/>


Pioneer always claims no knowledge of Macs, even though they provided all Apple DVD drives for many years. (Apple used special firmware and did not have drive sleep problems.)


To burn Blu-ray movie discs you will need extra software, such as Toast with a plugin.

<http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/toast/titanium/overview.html>

<http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/toast/plugin/overview.html>


MCE also sells Mac Pro compatible Blu-ray drives.

<http://store.mcetech.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BD12XMP E2009-10&Category_Code=STORBD&Product_Count=0>

They use the Lite-on drive.

Feb 16, 2013 3:35 PM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

The removal of the sleeo mode helped the problem. I still am returning the Pioneer drive to OWC due to lack of confidence in long term trouble free effort.


Looking for a LG 16X Blu-Ray internal optical drive for the Mac Pro Desktop. They are available in Europe but not yet in U.S. as best I can tell. 14X are here but they don't have all the goodies.

Mar 22, 2013 6:33 AM in response to Bud Willner

This is an old (~2yrs) & known problem with Pioneer BDR-20x drives. I have a MacPro 2010 with a Pioneer BDR205 which is always dissappearing. I have to do a power off before it shows up again. Sometimes I also have to pull the plug. I'm not sure when I started having the problem, but it seems to me when I went from Leopard to snow leopard. I know of no fix execpt to get rid of the BDR20x. I'm sure OWC is well aware of the problem,

Mar 22, 2013 6:57 AM in response to jeff work

Yes they are aware of the problem but look at Apple MAC as being able to solve their own problems and they do. In this case, Apple users do by deselecting the sleep mode as suggested above. It works for me.


I suppose Apple could fix the problem be recognizing a Blu-Ray drive but Blu-Ray's are not popular enough with MAC people yet. If, like the old video tape war back a few years, Blu-Ray is a fad, Apple can just wait it out.


What I did was return the Pioneer and bought an LG which does the same thing but at a cheaper price by half. Thinking it may have the same problem, I left the sleep mode deselected and everything works just fine.


Apple took care in the MAC mode of having two drives by put a eject icon on the main menu bar.


The real problem comes for me when using Windows. I can eject a CD but cannot electronically close the drive with the computer. The drive must be closed manually.

Mar 22, 2013 8:29 PM in response to budspwr

Apple took care in the MAC mode of having two drives by put a eject icon on the main menu bar.


Eject ⏏ should open or close the first drive, Option-Eject ⌥⏏ the second drive.


The real problem comes for me when using Windows. I can eject a CD but cannot electronically close the drive with the computer. The drive must be closed manually.

Have you installed the Boot Camp drivers?

Nov 8, 2013 4:22 PM in response to Bud Willner

This has nothing to do with "Put Hard Drives to Sleep"... Though a burner is a peripheral, it is not a hard drive.


Rather, Apple icon > System Preferences > CDs & DVDs > When you insert a Blu-ray > (Select IGNORE). [The OS default is: Ask what to do.]


The burn application is conflicting with the OS and taking control of the drive. So, your burn app receives a drive already in use conflict. Regardless, of what you select any burn attempt will fail.


When this particular conflict occurs between apps, it also seems to drop the BDR-208DBK from: System Report

Blu-Ray Optical Drive Trouble

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