Q: Why is my new USB Superdrive not working?

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:

• MacBook Pro with Retina display
• MacBook Air
• iMac (late 2012)
• Mac mini (late 2009) and later

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.