I have a brand new 5k Retina iMac with no internal DVD drive. I am on my second external DVD drive, which is an LG Slim Portable DVD Writer. It will not work to burn DVDs. Nor did the first one I tried. I have no idea what's going on. Is it El Capitan? Or the DVD burner? It wastes the DVD but won't burn with iDVD! What could the issue be? I need to burn DVDs for my work and am out of options except for trying a third DVD drive...
iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)
I would first verify the device you have is compantible with the version of OS X you have installed. Because LG makes many models you need to check the system requirements for the model of DVD drive you purchased. Apple makes it's own external DVD drive, this will work. Have you considered getting that one, it's available at:
http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD564LL/A/apple-usb-superdrive
Yeah, the problem with the Apple one is that it has poor reviews, costs 3 times the amount as others... You're right though, I would assume it would work. This LG one says it's Mac Compatible. Maybe it's not ready for El Capitan yet though...
If it does not work, then return it. I would recommend visiting OWC at www.macsales.com. They specialize in Macs and sell a wide variety of DVD drives that will work. You can call them and speak to someone, their service is great and products they sell are usually very high quality.
I recently purchased this one:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MR3F82SD24S/
I believe that one actually has an LG drive in it although they market it as their own brand. I agree re. the Apple Superdrive (or any slim drive for that matter) - it is not as reliable and a tray is easier to position the media rather than a slot drive.
I'd also caution using iDVD - it has not been supported for 2 OS versions and I have found it to be somewhat unreliable with both Yosemite and El Capitan. I will usually use it to assemble my final project with cool menus and transitions, but then I use Roxio Toast to burn it. Have you tried the free app Burn - it is rather limited, but, if you've processed it and save it as a Video_TS folder, it would hopefully work. You could try the Burn app just to see if the DVD burner will work using that.
I'm having the same problem.
LG model BH14NS40 optical (14x BR burner) arrived from OWC in their enclosure today. It will not work on any USB port on the Retina iMac nor from either Thunderbolt 2 port with a TB-to-FW800 adapter and cable, and when I use the latter as soon as the tray comes all the way out it immediately retracts and goes back into the drive. I'm running Yosemite 10.10.5; any suggestions on what to do?
I'd contact OWC if it does not work with any port. I do not have a retina iMac, so I have no idea if the new ones would refuse to accept a third party DVD burner; my iMac is a late 2012 and it works. Are you using Roxio Toast or ? to control the drive/tray?
I went and did the two resets that have been mentioned; that did the trick for me and the drive works. Hopefully it stays that way.
What two resets? I'd love to see if that helps with my problem.
Thanks!
External DVD Drive (LG) Won't Work
