Can any USB external drive work on iMac

I have used loads of different USB drives (mostly Hard Drives, pen drives and also a DVD reader) and have never come across any problems accessing them from any iMac or Mac Mini.

I think he's talking about DVD/CD/BluRay drives...

MrMister111 said:

It is yes, I'm after a DVD read/writer possibly for the new iMac for the very odd time I would use it

Click to expand...

I'm interested in the answer to this question as well. I'm thinking of getting a new iMac (my first Mac) - and I actually already have an external USB CD-ROM that I've used to install software on a netbook.

It would be great if I could just whip this thing out anytime I might need to install something from a disc (although, on the spot right now, I can't think of when that might be - but it would be a nice option).

There are lots of portable DVD/CD burners available for around $30 on sale which are made to support the NetBook computers. I suspect most of them will work with the Mac without any problems. There have been some threads posted here with specific examples, but I have had success with an Asus and a Rosewill branded units purchased from Amazon and Newegg.

MrMister111 said:

It is yes, I'm after a DVD read/writer possibly for the new iMac for the very odd time I would use it

Click to expand...

Yes, virtually any of them work. I use an LG Blu-ray burner, USB 2 interface, and it works perfectly right out of the box, no drivers or anything needed. (obviously OS X has no BR playback support but you can rip and burn BR discs just fine, as well as DVD+/-R/RW discs and CD/CD-R/CD-RW discs.) The built-in optical drive on my Mac never gets used anymore... why would it? You'll be in great shape with a 2012 iMac and an external USB optical drive.

Can anyone help in something similar to this

I have an Imac with a superdrive. But it's very fussy and won't read my previously burned DVDR's. I'm talking about stuff burned with my old Sony DVDR recorder, stuff grabbed off Freeview and old VHS tapes. But time has moved on, and I want to play them as video files from my Raspberry Pi as opposed to DVD discs


I was considering either:

Getting an external Blu-Ray drive off eBay (approx £20) but as it's a slimline model, I'm worried it will be equally as fussy

Getting a full size USB DVD rewriter from Cash Converters (I am currently using my Dad's full size rewriter in his Windows Desktop PC)

But I am worried that it's OSX being fussy rather than the drive, can other forumites offer their opinion