USB External DVD writer not communicating

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Level 1

114 points

USB External DVD writer not communicating

This is not a new problem but I am getting this: The disc can’t be burned because because communication between the computer and the disc drive failed (error code 0x80020022).

OS High Sierra 10.13.6, iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017, 3.4 GHz Intel Core i5, 16Gb of memory. I am using a USB generic DVD writer/player which will not communicate with the Mac when I try to burn a 225Mb PDF. I have tried three different brands of disc, DVD and CD types that I have used before. Even tried the slowest write speed.

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The DVD writer will play existing discs written by itself and will play DVD movies. I can see the device in Disk Utility but the disc in the device shows as blank, all the options in DU are greyed out so I am stuck? It shows the writer as "Uninitialised"????

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I have tried different cables, tried different USB ports on the back of the Mac, but I know these are not the problem.

Question is how can I solve this problem/can it be solved as I can see many people have reported this previously. I have tried a number of previous suggestions but many are very old now.

Anyone know of a fix to this, clearly the DVD writer does work in some instances. I am loath to buy another writer because I could still end up with the same problem.

iMac, macOS High Sierra (10.13.4), Ipad Mini 4, iPad Pro, iPod 160gb

Posted on Nov 28, 2018 11:06 PM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

428,147 points

Nov 29, 2018 8:54 AM in response to Peter Bovis

My impression from many optical drive problem posts here is you have to troubleshoot each component which means essentially owning two of everything. Have you tried this drive on another computer?

You can probably do web research as well as I can but there are a lot of obscure error messages like that and many of which I have seen usually point to some kind of hardware issue which requires advance diagnosis and repair unless it is the optical drive unit itself. Since other components of the drive seem to work it may be the DVD burning laser that is faulty, but try it on another machine to make sure.

Disk Utility isn't very effective in diagnosing this kind of issue since it predicates on all the hardware functioning properly.

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Answer 2

Peter Bovis Author

Level 1

114 points

Nov 29, 2018 12:19 AM in response to Limnos

Thanks for your reply.

Your second link has links that no longer open, probably due to age.

I have tried a lens cleaner plus the other suggestions already, I use discs from, Sony and Maxell. Slowing the 'burn' rate makes no difference.

I do understand your last sentence but I have also read about people trying different 'burners' with the same result.

Problem remains.

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Answer 3

Limnos

Level 10

428,147 points

Nov 28, 2018 11:20 PM in response to Peter Bovis

Older discussions:

Error Code: 0x8002006D http://discussions.apple.com/thread/362918?answerId=1738737022#1738737022 - error code is associated with bad or incompatible media

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-notebooks/25163-error-code-0x8002006d-dvd -burning-problems.html#post156902

http://discussions.apple.com/thread/1013344

Realize that different lasers are used for different functions with optical drives so a drive may not be able to burn a DVD even if it can read it.

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USB External DVD writer not communicating

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