Level 1

0 points

Super Drive won't read blank media, will read others just fine...

Hi there -

My HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4165B superdrive on my Power Mac G5 has suddenly stopped reading blank media. When I put it any blank DVD-R or CD-R - of any brand - I get the alert that says "You inserted a blank DVD. Choose an action...etc.". If I choose "open in finder", I then get an alert that "This disc cannot be used because it is not recognized." If I try to ignore the "choose an action" alert, and burn something from the Disk Utility, I'm told "The disk is reserved for exclusive use by another application."

I'm able to run existing DVDs and CDs just fine.

Everything was working fine just last week. The only thing I've done of any significance since then is create a disk image from a DVD, using Disk Utility. But I've done that before without any problems at all.

I've reset PRAM, restored permissions of my boot drive in Disk Utility, and the Super Drive is showing up fine in the System Profiler.

Any ideas???? Any advice or assistance is hugely appreciated!

PowerMac G5, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Jan 21, 2007 6:31 PM

66 replies

Sep 4, 2007 8:23 PM in response to xt4

The latest drivers from Western Digital's site have fixed the problem for me. Thanks for figuring out the connection to the hard drive!

unblind

Level 1

0 points

Sep 5, 2007 7:58 AM in response to Keith Cooley

Ahhhhh!!!!! Thanks Keith. Thanks a ton!!!!!! If I could give you a blue little box next to your name....I would!

ditchjr

Level 1

4 points

Sep 6, 2007 10:14 AM in response to xt4

I too have the same issue. It started just after I updated to iLife'08. Whenever i put in a blank DVD-R it won't always recognize it and I have to eject and re-insert the disc a few times for it to work. I have a pioneer DVR-112D drive myself. Lately (within the last couple weeks?) I see a TON of people on the boards here having the same issues with different drives. This can't be a coincidence.

Oct 11, 2007 7:29 AM in response to xt4

A client of mine (WD Mybook, no iLife) also had this exact problem, and the fix worked as advertised.

This is definitely one of the crappier support software releases I've seen for a product.

rrs112

Level 1

20 points

Oct 17, 2007 12:22 AM in response to Midknight32

Having the same problem with a 1TB MyBook Pro II, it was suffcient for me toe kill the respective process in the Activity Monitor and the eject the drive via disk utility. Perhaps as a quick fix this works for others too.

Regardarding the poster trying to boot from the MyBook Pro II, it is not possible to boot via Firewire from this model as WD employs a non compatile chipset. At least this is the info on the WD FAQ and I know of no work arounds.

PBoge

Level 1

0 points

Oct 25, 2007 7:52 AM in response to Keith Cooley

Keith,

To say I LOVE YOU!!! would be inappropriate but omg!!! You're genius! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

Oct 25, 2007 7:11 PM in response to xt4

I have the exact same symptoms, bus alas no My Book drive to blame. I do have iLife 08 if thats any clues ( saw it mentioned earlier). Anyone upgraded to leopard yet, does the problem remain? Any suggestions..has resetting the PMU worked for anyone?

pula

Level 1

0 points

Oct 27, 2007 6:39 PM in response to xt4

Ok, I got WD MyBook PRO 1.5 TB drive about 1 week ago. I have G5 (powerPC model) I don't know if installing WD and its drivers is the issue of my blank disks not being recognised (I got the message when I would insert the drive: This disc cannot be used because it is not recognized.) When I read this thread I decided to do the following and it worked:

1. removed file in /library/LaunchDaemons/ : com.WD.WDDriveServices.plist., and emptied the thrash
2. restarted computer
3. in disk utilities repaired permissions on my main start-up drive
4.tried to put in the same blank disk and this time it was recognized.

Problem resolved! Hope this helps

Nov 2, 2007 1:59 PM in response to Keith Cooley

Keith is correct here,
remove the files he discribes, reboot and your good.

Nov 2, 2007 9:13 PM in response to pula

I have the WD 1TB and a 17" MacBook Pro... I have the same problem... However there is no such folder as "/library/LaunchDaemons/ on my computer....So I cannot find the com.WD.WDDriveServices.plist. file.....any suggestions?

I have removed software from WD...updated drivers through WD....repaired disk permissions...restarted and still no luck...Please HELP..

Nov 8, 2007 4:40 PM in response to xt4

Thank you......I had the same problem. I have a G5 and just bought the Western Digital 1 TB my book pro II after installing the Raid software, I would get the "this disc cannot be used it is not recognized."

So for all of you that have the My book Pro II...

Does the raid capabilities still work?
I already have back up file using the raid what happens to those?
Should I keep using it just not with the raid software?
Or should I Re-format the drive and not use the raid
Or any other insights you all can add....
Thanks again for the help..

Message was edited by: surfonwater

Nov 15, 2007 8:26 AM in response to pula

Thank you, thank you!! I just got a WD drive and had the same problems everyone else is having w CDs. Your suggestion worked like a charm.

Nov 28, 2007 5:28 AM in response to colourpixels

No MyBook here. But have the disc burning issue everyone else is having. Explain that! Unless LaCie is to blame as well.

Dec 1, 2007 2:23 AM in response to Keith Cooley

Any idea how to resolve this in Leopard. I don't have <volume>/library/LaunchDaemons in Leopard or a file called com.WD.WDDriveServices.plist

I

Dec 3, 2007 1:36 PM in response to xt4

I'm having a similar problem but purely with my internal HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4481B drive on my G5. I insert a blank disc and nothing happens appears. It opens itunes when inserted but still nothing appears. I've looked on the disc utility and can see it but what do I do? Any other disc with stuff on works fine.

Having read all the posts on here nothing specifically answers the problem... anybody?

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Super Drive won't read blank media, will read others just fine...