Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
Just purchased an LG Mac Compatible Slim Portable DVD Writer to use with my 2011 iMac because I replaced the internal optical drive with an SSD drive. When I connect the drive via USB I get an initialization error. Any suggestions as to what might work to resolve this? I will contact LG this week but they are closed for the weekend so I thought I would ask here. Here's a pic of the error message:
Thanks.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.5)
Where are you from and where did you purchase the drive from?
It just may not be a Mac compatible drive despite what the box says.
Does the box have a Mac OS X logo somewhere on the packaging?
You may have to return this drive for a refund.
If you live in The States, try OWC ( macsales.com). They are a Apple/Mac hardware supplier. They have optical drives that are known to work and are compatible with Macs.
I live in the US...Los Angeles, CA. Bought the drive from Best Buy. There is a Mac logo on the box and it says Mac compatible.
Will take the drive back and get a full refund. Then buy one from OWC, like you have suggested.
I still don't understand how two different drives that say Mac compatible on the box could not work. Btw, I checked the back of the drive I have now and it says it was made in January 2013. So maybe the drives are like the Apple SuperDrive...only compatible with the newer iMacs. Just a thought.
It's a possibility.
Good Luck!
I'll call LG on Monday and find out if this is in fact the case.
Thanks for everyones help!!
One more thing we can try.
Plug the drive directly into one of the USB ports on the back of your iMac.
Then, try doing a restart of your iMac and see if the optical drive gets recognized.
Does your Mac have a Firewire port? If you decide to return this drive, I'd suggest getting one with Firewire.
Agree with Babowa.
Purchase a powered, FireWire optical drive.
I see you haven't bothered to answer my question. That's ok I didn't expect an answer from you.
Simple fact is the apple mac dvd player app only works when there is an internal superdrive installed on mac computers that originally came with a internal superdrive. That is unless you apply a hack to get it to work with the superdrive removed. Then with that hack it will work with any external dvd drive connected to any port, USB or FW.
A external dvd drive works fine if the superdrive is still installed.
When you buy a Optibay, Brand name, caddy to install a hard drive in the optical bay they suppy a file for each version of os x that allows the mac dvd player app to work with either the superdrive installed in their superdrive external case or any other external dvd drive.
Your suggestion to buy a powered FW external dvd drive still won't work with the mac dvd player app with the superdrive removed.
All external dvd drives work with any mac. The problem is the mac dvd player app does not work with a external unless the superdrive is still installed. If you put any other cd oer dvd disc in that drive your mac can read it in finder and it should show up in disk utility. The advice you are getting from M PM is completely incorrect. No need to buy any specific drive from anyplace. Any external dvd drive will work with your mac. I use one from Asus and since I still have my optical superdrive still installed inside my mac notebook I can play movie dvds using the mac dvd player app from that external drive.
This is with another external dvd drive I have, actually just a bare notebook size tray load dvd drive I have that I adapted to work connected to a USB port. The movie image doesn't show up in the screen shot but everything else does.
The movie is Sherlock Holmes Hound of the Baskervilles.
If I didn't have the superdrive installed the external can't be used with the mac dvd player app without a hack.
So either find the hack or use VLC.
And you are welcome.
cauchy wrote:
I live in the US...Los Angeles, CA. Bought the drive from Best Buy. There is a Mac logo on the box and it says Mac compatible.
Will take the drive back and get a full refund. Then buy one from OWC, like you have suggested.
I still don't understand how two different drives that say Mac compatible on the box could not work. Btw, I checked the back of the drive I have now and it says it was made in January 2013. So maybe the drives are like the Apple SuperDrive...only compatible with the newer iMacs. Just a thought.
Thanks for your informative reply. Well...that certainly explains why both brand new drives won't work. I don't know a lot about computers...I use it to compose music with Logic Pro and that's it...what exactly is a hack? And, will this hack screw up my computer in any form? Better yet, are there any commercial software programs available for purchase that will accomplish the same thing without my having to do the hack personally?
Thanks.
Now that is only with the built in mac os x dvd player app. You can still use any external dvd drive, other then the apple branded external dvd superdrive, to install software, burn disc or copy data from it.
To check if the drive is being seen use disk utility as it will not show up in finder until there is a cd or dvd disc in the drive.
As to the apple branded external superdrive that drive only works with apple computer that never came with a built in dvd drive. Like the mac air, retina and the newest imacs. None of those macs have a built in dvd drive.
You can still watch movies on your mac from that external but you will need some other dvd movie player program like VLC.
If for some reason your superdrive in the external enclosure is not shown in disk utility then it is either the enclosure is bad or it needs to be connected to 2 usb ports at the same time to supply enough power to it. Or it could be the superdrive has failed.
A hack is a file or set of files or a change to the base system to expand what the system can do or what it can work from.
The hack I am talking about is a system to change the dvd player app to work with a external dvd drive when the apple mac supplied internal superdrive has been removed.
Thanks. I am beginning to see the light.🙂 When I insert a disk into the external drive there are no problems with the drive reading the contents of the disc. In other words, the contents of the disc show up when I double click on the disc icon on my desktop. However, when I try to play the disk using Mac's DVD app it does not work...I get the initialization error message. I think this is what you are saying in your previous reply. And, the only way around this is a hack. Am I correct?
Yes you are correct and that is exactly what I am saying. The DVD player app only works if the superdrive is installed inside the system. It is set to look for the built in dvd drive. If it does not find one installed inside the system it does not work.
There are mods (Hacks) to make it work. If you google "Mod to make dvd player app work with superdrive removed" it should turn up the modifications needed to make it work with the superdrive removed.
Great. Thanks for your help! 🙂
In case anyone is interested...here's the best link I found after doing a Google search. It explains how to do the mod (or hack) step by step:
http://macenstein.com/default/2011/07/how-to-get-your-external-super-drive-worki ng-in-lion/
External optical drive not found by iMac?
