When I connect my new USB superdrive (external disc drive) to my iMac, it doesn't show on my list of devices in Finder or on the desktop. I took it back to the store and it works on the store's iMacs. My eReader and USB memory stick both work.
Is there something I have to set in Preferences or software I have to load?
iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)
Thanks!
I am immensely disappointed. As a doctor, I am faced with the fact that patients bring their imaging studies done at outside imaging facilities on optical discs to my office for me to look at. My old macbook pro was great and I could easily view them. My new and incredibly expensive MacBook pro has certainly been a disappointment as it does not support the usb apple superdrive. I have spent at least 5 hours speaking to sales people, on the phone with AppleCare, and dealing with the business team. While everyone has been very nice, the bottom line is that the SuperDrive works transiently when the machine boots up. You can insert a disc and as long as there is a disc in it you can look at the contents. If you pop a disc out, and see another patient and come back in 30 minutes and put the next patient's disc in, the superdrive does not power up to feed the disc in. It also does not appear in Finder. The solution is to never have a disc out. Or the other solution is to reboot the computer each time you have a new disc to put in and it has been sitting empty for 5-10 minutes. So I have to put a dummy music disc in between patients to keep the drive powered. But I have to remember to do that. Or I have to reboot, again, and again. I cannot tell you what an incredible disappointment this is. I appreciate the kindness of Apple staff to replace the computer and try a new one. It is the same. Different drives, same thing. I have checked the drive codes and they are not 1CHQ or 2CH9 firmware versions that are documented as incompatible. I am running the latest Sierra version. I am using an Apple manufactured USB-C adapter.
While Apple may choose to view optical disc as a historical footnote in a cloud-based world, the reality that American patients live in is one in which optical discs are the diagnostic imaging industry's standard. Those of us in medicine who are die hard Apple fans (in my case I am a musician as well) have always struggled to make our Apple products work in a PC world of hospitals and Xray departments that never support Apple. I have always done complex workarounds. I am really disappointed after spending so much on this new Apple MacBook Pro that such a basic need as mine is simply not supported. Sadly, I have my old MacBook pro on the desk so I can still use it and its slower process to view the optical disks and my new MacBook pro sits there sleeping like a beauty, but not really helping me. Really, really, really disappointed. I have spent long enough on this I felt I should share my story so I can save someone else some time in figuring this out. I have posted several times on Apple Feedback but not heard anything back. I hope my story can be helpful. Thanks.
You won't get a response from Apple's online Feedback form.
Apple reads ALL feedback submitted in this manner, but Apple never responds personally to anyone's feedback report.
Just know they get the feedback reports and the feedback reports are read.
There are other Mac compatble optical drives out there besides Apple's here are some here.
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/optical-drives/
https://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Portable-External-GP40NB40/dp/B009DS6OFU/r e
Good Luck to You!
What year is your Mac? Is this the one you got?
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD564ZM/A/apple-usb-superdrive#overview-4
It only works with the new 2012 iMacs (which would explain why it works with the Macs in the store) and a couple of other models.
You could try an SMC reset:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
and reset the PRAM:
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11243
If that does not help and yours is a late 2012, then I have no answer for you except that unless someone else chimes in with one, I'd call Apple if you're still covered by the warranty or go back to the store.
Additionally, my LaCie external burner does not show on the desktop unless I have a disk inserted.
Check the General and Sidebar settings in your Finder Preferences.
as babowa stated with his link, if the iMac has a built in optical drive it will not work with the computer as it is only compatible with the following computers:
also if there is no disk in the super drive it may not be recognized b/c no media is mounted
While the USB Superdrive is only officially supported on the above models, there is a workaround to enable it on other models. Just Google "make superdrive work with any mac" and the guide to do so appears as the first result.
Fantastic! Thanks!
try restarting
I have a iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) running OS X El Capitan version 10.11.5. At first, it could not see the SuperDrive and tried a number of things that did not work. The eventual fix was easy. I left the SuperDrive plugged in and restarted the machine. Problem solved. Hope this helps others.
Why is my new USB Superdrive not working?
