External DVD drive not working post-Mojave update

I'm having the same problem on my 2017 iMac. The external DVD drive is Apple model number A1379 and it's only a couple years old. It worked fine before I installed Mojave. The drive no longer shows up in Finder. I've tried the obvious things like restarting and plugging into different USB ports. The drive shows up in Disk Utility, but the buttons for First Aid, Mounting, etc. are grayed out. The same is true for my co-worker's iMac. I really hope we don't have to buy new external drives. We work with large files that need to be given to vendors and DVDs are the easiest way.

I had the same problem and the first three steps from a similar German thread helped in my case:

1. Open Disc Utility and run First Aid

2. Restart you Mac with the shift key pressed

3. Restart you Mac again (the usual way)

That worked for me and my SuperDrive works now. Here is the thread (in German) if you need more information:

USB SuperDrive wird am MacBook Pro (Mitte… - Apple Community

I'm having this problem too. I'm using the Apple external CD drive, so no other cable to try. When I attach the drive to my MacBook Air's USB port, and put a CD in the drive, the CD icon does not appear on the desktop. It does appear in Disk Utility, though. I discovered that because I was worried about the CD being permanently stuck in the drive.

I had some success right-clicking on the file I wanted to burn, then selecting "Burn to CD". That worked, and then the CD suddenly appeared on the desktop. However, when I went to burn a second CD, it appeared in the Disk Utility but the right-click menu selection had no effect.

This seems like a bug in Mojave to me, because everything was just fine until I upgraded. (The upgrade is otherwise really great, though.)

I am having the same issue - has an update to this disaster been released? This is unacceptable and absolutely absurd to think that instead of updating amazing technology, Apple is yet again breaking those things that were working and did not need to be fixed. 😠

Hi Every one, I have found a solution!

If your dvd burner/drive will accept a blank dvd, do the following.

1) insert a blank dvd ( it will not show up on the desktop).

2) On the desktop highlight or click on the file/video you want to burn

3) in the top menu bar go to file and burn to disk

4) it will appear after burning on the desktop.

and a trillion dollar mobile phone company couldnt envisage this happening ?????

Also had the same issue (10.14.2, late 2013 MBPr, USB BD burner), but I found Burn Folders to be still working for burning multiple files from different locations.

I simply pressed the "Burn" button after adding my desired files, and my external drive burned them as usual.

Still no fix...

Apple support linked this article in their response to my tweet: https://support.apple.com/en-ie/HT203336

However, they either don't realise that this is not a solution, or they pretend not to.

This article tells us how to set the default actions AFTER your computer RECOGNISES a blank DVD.

The problem is that it's not recognised.

Neither Finder nor iTunes see the DVD, so there's no point in setting up these actions.

The only thing that works for me is CREATING A BLANK FOLDER somewhere, COPYING the items into this folder, and then right-clicking the folder to select 'Burn "ABC" to Disc...'

However, this is very inconvenient, because you're dealing with COPIES of the original files, and not the LINKS to these files.

How a normal disc burning system should work (and used to work before) is: whatever you drag into the BURN FOLDER, you're creating a link (alias) to the original file. This has 2 advantages:

1. putting these files into a burn folder takes a fraction of the second
2. no additional hard disc space is taken

Currently, when assembling a DVD to burn, up to additional 4.5 GB could be taken (this is just for a single disc - what if you want to prepare several discs to burn?). And it takes time to copy all the files.

Hey everyone! Was experiencing this issue and I found a solution that works.

I am currently running Mojave 10.14.4 on a 2015 MacBook Pro with a Samsung SE-506BB Blu-Ray/DVD/CD external drive. What I realized was that my discs were only playing when my MacBook was plugged in! Whether CD or DVD. Not a problem, as I expect to leave my Macbook Pro plugged in for a movie anyway. Follow these steps:

1. Plug in your MacBook and make sure it's fully updated.
2. Connect your external drive and insert a CD (I used a movie soundtrack).
3. Wait for the system to recognize the CD. Open it in iTunes to see if it plays.
4. Once the CD is recognized, go into System Preferences and select CDs & DVDs.
5. At the bottom, in "When you insert a video DVD" select "Open DVD Player" as your option.
6. Exit out of System Preferences, and restart the system.
7. Making sure your MacBook is plugged in, insert a DVD and see if it plays.

Hope this helps!

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but have you tried it with another USB cable? The reason I ask is that I also still use an optical drive (I buy all my music on CD), and the particular drive I use only works with one specific cable. With other cables, it spins up, but nothing appears in the Finder (or iTunes). It's hard to discern any difference between the cables, but I suspect it's a specification difference (voltage perhaps?).

Probably won't make a difference, but it's worth a try. Also, make sure you're connected to power, not running on battery - macOS seems to lower the available power to USB ports when on battery only.

Good luck!

I'm having the same problem & wondered if you'd managed to find a solution yet?

I buy CD's & use a DVD drive to add them to iTunes. This has worked perfectly for 5 years on my MBP, but after updating to High Sierra I'm getting the same error message as you. This is so frustrating!

Thank you caribo for the info!

I have been searching everywhere, and these 3 simple steps resolved my issue.

For others with similar issues...

I have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2018) running macOS Mojave Version 10.14.1.

For some reason I started receiving the same error as pictured above, and could no longer use my LG GP65NB60 external USB drive. I tried different cables and adapters with no luck.

However, I could use the same drive and cables on the same MacBook within my Parallels (Version 14.1.0 (45387)) VMs of Windows 7 and Windows 10, so I new the drive wasn't bad.

Thanks again caribo!

I have tried all the tips and tricks but none of them are working.

I need to burn DVDs as well as iCloud storage and only came to do this today after upgrading to Mojave.

My emails have also been disrupted since some are being deleted without any action I have taken (separate thread on this).

Just unfortunate? More than a coincidence that these issues have only appeared since the upgrade.

In the past I have always waited six months or so, but this time got fed up with the 'upgrade now' box appearing on the desktop.

The whole thing is a debacle when you are being pushed down a route that plainly has flaws.

Even this post will go un-noticed by Apple (either deliberately or cynically)

I have the same issue on my Macbook Pro Retina 15``. Since I update to Mojave my external LG DVD writer stop working, the icon don't appear on my desktop and I don't able to run first aid on Disk Utility.

Snap! Discovered this yesterday and was just about to post (No, honest!)

This works perfefectly for me but still begs the question as to why a blank DVD does not show on the desktop.

Another example of a developer shoving something onto the market with flaws and the attitude of "work it out for yourselves"

We just have to wait until they fix it (after all we are only customers who have made them even richer).

Over 2 hrs on the phone with Apple support & the issue is still not resolved. I've sent the logs through to Apple as requested, but who knows when I will get a reply?

When I put a DVD in the Samsung drive it's recognised but not music CD's after updating to HS. This is so frustrating & time-consuming!!!!