OWC Mercury Pro optical drive stopped working with Sonoma

[RodeoLinebacker]

Since I installed MacOS Sonoma, my OWC Mercury Pro optical drive (CD/DVD/Blu-ray) can no longer mount any discs. I've tried this with both an M1 iMac and the latest Macbook Pro, both on Sonoma 14.1.2. OWC has no idea why this is happening and LG (the drive manufacturer) is equally clueless. I've looked in the security settings but can't find anything pertaining to this drive, which shows up on the system report on the USB list.

Behavior: Drive opens, disc is inserted, drive closes, tries to spin up the disc several times then finally gives up and ejects it. Besides trying this drive on two different machines, I've tried multiple discs but nothing works. Does anyone have an idea what might be going on?

 

[Bigwaff]

Are you using a USB-A > USB-C adapter? You should try a different adapter.

 

[DeltaMac]

I have 3 different Macs, running Sonoma, and each have internal optical drives.
None function. There's no response when inserting a CD/DVD disc, and System Information does not show that an optical drive is available.
Well, yes, those 3 are using Sonoma with an OCLP install, but all other hardware appears to be ready to use.
I have read that there is no software support in Sonoma for optical drives.
Can anyone say that is incorrect (I hope...)?

 

[flowrider]

^^^^I'm using an Asus BW-16D1X-U Optical Drive with my 7,1 NcMP and no issues. The drive is recognized and I can burn, download from and play CD, DVD, DVD DL, and BD. No issues.

Do you folks have the CDs & DVDs page in System Settings?

Lou

 

[martens]

I am late to this discussion, but I'm having this exact problem with OWC BluRay drive. It does show in System Properties for USB3 bus but that's it. 3 different Macs.

I do see CDs & DVDs settings (when the drive is powered up and connected), none are set to Ignore, yet nothing happens.

Sent a message to OWC, will report what they tell me.

I connected to Windows 11 system, it recognized the drive, but didn't detect that there was a disk in there. I will have to try that again, surely that should work?

My Sony CD/DVD burner external drive works as expected.

 

[martens]

OWC is looking at it (again it seems).

The menu bar widget (Show eject in menu bar) works.

There must be some logging associated with connecting/disconnecting, open/close, but I have not been able to discover any.

 

[MacHeritage]

Are you all still having issues with this or does it come and go with Sonoma? This is very concerning to me if I got a new Mac and can't even read or burn discs with LG burners and OWC.

not really.
merely expressing surprise at ongoing usage of outdated tech is all …

Optical media is more stable than any other digital storage medium for long term self storage and is also WORM for write-once discs, so no one can just write over the precious data you are storing.
This outdated tech has not been superseded by anything yet. If so, I would love to know about it.

Also, movies still have the highest quality and look the best from disc. Plus, no Internet, no problem.

 

[MacCheetah3]

It’s not a general USB optical drive support problem. My long discontinued LG GP30 slim, portable DVDRW drive seems to work fine.



DVD Player launched immediately with no playback issues.

P.S. As fragile as they are in their own way, I prefer the tray loading drives. The insert/eject disc mechanism on every slot loading drive has eventually failed in my devices.

 

[MNGR]

I am late to this discussion, but I'm having this exact problem with OWC BluRay drive. It does show in System Properties for USB3 bus but that's it. 3 different Macs.

I do see CDs & DVDs settings (when the drive is powered up and connected), none are set to Ignore, yet nothing happens.

Sent a message to OWC, will report what they tell me.

I connected to Windows 11 system, it recognized the drive, but didn't detect that there was a disk in there. I will have to try that again, surely that should work?

My Sony CD/DVD burner external drive works as expected.

Did you get a response from OWC???

 

[halledise]

Since I installed MacOS Sonoma, my OWC Mercury Pro optical drive (CD/DVD/Blu-ray) can no longer mount any discs. I've tried this with both an M1 iMac and the latest Macbook Pro, both on Sonoma 14.1.2. OWC has no idea why this is happening and LG (the drive manufacturer) is equally clueless. I've looked in the security settings but can't find anything pertaining to this drive, which shows up on the system report on the USB list.

Behavior: Drive opens, disc is inserted, drive closes, tries to spin up the disc several times then finally gives up and ejects it. Besides trying this drive on two different machines, I've tried multiple discs but nothing works. Does anyone have an idea what might be going on?

to be sure, downgrade back to monterey (or whatever you were on before) and see if you get the same result.
can only be the actual external drive or macOS, in my opinion, most likely the drive.
(which is unusual as OWC make good reliable gear)
have you tried bigwaff's suggestion?

 

[orpheus1120]

to be sure, downgrade back to monterey (or whatever you were on before) and see if you get the same result.
can only be the actual external drive or macOS, in my opinion, most likely the drive.
(which is unusual as OWC make good reliable gear)
have you tried bigwaff's suggestion?

OP already stated in the opening post that he encountered the problem only after upgrading to Sonoma.

 

[halledise]

OP already stated in the opening post that he encountered the problem only after upgrading to Sonoma.

which is why i suggested downgrading to monterey …

 

[orpheus1120]

which is why i suggested downgrading to monterey …

to be sure, downgrade back to monterey (or whatever you were on before) and see if you get the same result.

nah... you said. Obviously OP was fine before he upgraded or else he won't have posted.

 

[halledise]

nah... you said. Obviously OP was fine before he upgraded or else he won't have posted.

so, what is your point exactly?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I have an OWC optical drive hooked to a Sonoma Mac and all is just fine. But this is not the first time I've seen something about some Macs on Sonoma having trouble with optical drives.

In my experience, macOS seems to have many problems with all kinds of drives... though other enclosures can work fine. See/search "unexpected ejections" and/or just randomly look up some enclosure on Amazon, then search reviews for "macOS" and odds are good you'll find someone(s) writing that they tried it and it wouldn't remain connected.

So I'm doubting this is an OWC thing or an optical drive thing but just general issues with many kinds of enclosures and how macOS handles them. People with such stories have tried downgrading and then their "old reliable" drive works fine again... all other things being the same.

If OP has access to a PC, I suggest unhooking the drive then plugging the same cable into the PC and seeing if it is fine with PC. If so, I think that should rule out cable, firmware, brand, drive, drive "dying", etc... leaving the long changed variable as most likely being the issue. Else, I suggest doing the same with an old Mac and seeing if it will be magically perfectly stable on an old Mac with all other variables the same. If it works, again, this would imply where the real issue is centered.

Modern optical/HDD/SSD enclosures are basically roulette with Macs since macOS Big Sur. You might get lucky with any given one or you might have problems. Post it on Apple fan sites looking for help and anything & everything NOT Apple will get suggested as being at fault. BUT, using the same cable (and thus same everything else), hook the problematic drive to any PC or an older Mac and it may very well "just works" again.

 

[halledise]

so this is my old generic external apple dvd/cd player - Apple Super Drive.
i bought it from macfixit if memory serves …
it works fine irrespective of the macOS running.
had it since the days of High Sierra (2017).
it runs fine on Sonoma and now with Ventura.
all of which leads me to conclude that the OP’s OWC is on the fritz.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

...or the old generic is one of the lucky ones that works and the OWC one could work fine- if hooked to an older Mac or any PC but something is broken with macOS in terms of how it handles things hooked to the ports. Some things work just fine and others don't. I've tested this with about every drive I have and about 5 out of 20 won't stay connected... UNLESS I connect them to an older Mac or a PC and then they are perfectly stable.

It very well could be OPs OWC drive is fading/failing... but we shouldn't jump to such conclusions until OP can hopefully connect it to a PC or older Mac and see what happens... as an "on the fritz" drive is not going to be fine with ANY computer if it is indeed "on the fritz." However, if it is just fine with other computers, that would imply it's NOT the drive, NOT the enclosure, NOT the firmware, NOT the cable, NOT the user, NOT user settings, etc... but only the variable that remains.

There are MANY posts all over the web about macOS since BigSur having problems with LOTS of enclosures. They too end up with suggestions everything but Apple is at fault. However, among those many stories are stories where Apple people needed their "old reliable" drive more than they needed the macOS, downgraded and the enclosure was fine again. I don't know how to read those stories and not think that "just works" QC may need some updating.

 

[halledise]

...or the old generic is one of the lucky ones that works and the OWC one could work fine- if hooked to an older Mac or any PC but something is broken with macOS in terms of how it handles things hooked to the ports. Some things works just fine and other don't. I've tested this with about every drive I have and about 5 out of 20 won't stay connected... UNLESS I connect them to an older Mac or a PC and then they are perfectly stable.

It very well could be OPs OWC drive is fading... but we shouldn't jump to such conclusions until OP can hopefully connect it to a PC or older Mac and sees what happens... as an "on the fritz" drive is not going to be fine with any computer if it is indeed "on the fritz." However, if it is just fine with other computers, that would imply it's NOT the drive, NOT the enclosure, NOT the firmware, NOT the cable, NOT the user, NOT user settings, etc... but only the variable that remains.

actually, i just checked and it is a genuine Apple 'Super Drive'.
your point is well made 👌 but I, for one, see no issues when using this external drive in any Mac that I've owned, irrespective of macOS I'm running.
buy genuine, i guess.
that's all i'm trying to say …

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Yes, as I've shared, LOTS of enclosures work fine... including well over half of all of mine.

As I've also shared, I have an OWC enclsoure for optical drive and it is working just fine with macOS Sonoma too.

But the "catch" in this concept is that there seems to be no common variable about what works and what doesn't other than macOS since BigSur.

Another OWC HDD enclosure can't remain connected for more than 3 hours but the OWC HDD enclosure that I have temporarily replaced it with is having no trouble at all. Take that other drive to any of my other Macs or any PC and it is perfectly stable again... as it was before I upgraded to >BigSur.

I don't know if this is OPs problem or not but I post because it MIGHT be... and if so, it can't be resolved- IMO- until Apple debugs their port management software in macOS. In the meantime, the option is likely to have to buy another optical drive OR use that one with an older Mac (pre BigSur macOS) or any PC.

OPs first post SOUNDS like this problem as it implies that it was perhaps FINE for some period of time BEFORE upgrading macOS and now it can't mount discs. My guess is that if OP hooks it to an older Mac (pre Big-Sur) or any PC, that OWC drive will be perfectly fine again. If so, that seems to shout where the real problem is centered.

 

[halledise]

Yes, as I've shared, LOTS of enclosures work fine... including well over half of all of mine.

As I've also shared, I have an OWC enclsoure for optical drive and it is working just fine with macOS Sonoma too.

But the "catch" in this concept is that there seems to be no common variable about what works and what doesn't other than macOS since BigSur.

Another OWC HDD enclosure can't remain connected for more than 3 hours but the OWC HDD enclosure that I have temporarily replaced it with is having no trouble at all. Take that other drive to any of my other Macs or any PC and it is perfectly stable again... as it was before I upgraded to >BigSur.

I don't know if this is OPs problem or not but I post because it MIGHT be... and if so, it can't be resolved- IMO- until Apple debugs their port management software in macOS. In the meantime, the option is likely to have to buy another optical drive OR use that one with an older Mac (pre BigSur macOS) or any PC.

OPs first post SOUNDS like this problem as it implies that it was perhaps FINE for some period of time BEFORE upgrading macOS and now it can't mount discs. My guess is that if OP hooks it to an older Mac (pre Big-Sur) or any PC, that OWC drive will be perfectly fine again. If so, that seems to shout where the real problem is centered.

perhaps …

 

[martens]

Did you get a response from OWC???

Yes, the drive I had was out of warranty and there were no remedies available. I wound up purchasing a new 'bare' drive (newer and slightly faster LG model) and putting it in the enclosure, and it is working fine.

 

[halledise]

Yes, the drive I had was out of warranty and there were no remedies available. I wound up purchasing a new 'bare' drive (newer and slightly faster LG model) and putting it in the enclosure, and it is working fine.

aah. so it was the physical drive after all - not macOS.
good to know …
glad you have a successful resolution

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Again, it may still be macOS. The remedy to all port management issues is replace drives/enclosures until you find one that works with macOS BigSur and newer. And that’s what that guy did. And that’s what I’ve done. And countless others with this kind of problem too.

However, the drive was apparently fine before the macOS upgrade… so it either conked at the same time- which could have happened- or perhaps the macOS upgrade introduced the bugs that made that drive no longer work fine.

The test to verify “so it was the drive” was reconnect it to a Mac running the former macOS version or older or any PC. If it “was the drive” then it wouldn’t work with older Macs or when connected to a PC either.

My various drives that “don’t work” with my latest Mac running Sonoma work fine when connected to older Macs or any PC. Thus it’s NOT the drive or any other “not Apple” link in the chain but the one variable that is different.

I too am happy that guy got a resolution- BY SPENDING MORE MONEY- but they may have discovered that the former drive was actually still fine and that the macOS upgrade was actually the issue. The OP of this thread could perhaps still put this guess to the test by hooking their optical drive to any other computer and seeing what happens. Maybe it is the drive conking too... or maybe they will find that the drive is fine and something else is to blame. If so, what's different? And that narrows it in real quickly on the most likely cause.

 

[camelia]

Hello,
I have the model OWCMR3F8BDSD16S, and I do not have any issue reading or burning Optical Media Drives running macOS Sonoma. (MBP 16" 2023 M2 Pro 512 GB 32 GB)
My problem is that this model does not play 4K Ultra HD movies, what should I do?
Thanks
Camelia

 

[oneaburns]

Since I installed MacOS Sonoma, my OWC Mercury Pro optical drive (CD/DVD/Blu-ray) can no longer mount any discs. I've tried this with both an M1 iMac and the latest Macbook Pro, both on Sonoma 14.1.2. OWC has no idea why this is happening and LG (the drive manufacturer) is equally clueless. I've looked in the security settings but can't find anything pertaining to this drive, which shows up on the system report on the USB list.

Behavior: Drive opens, disc is inserted, drive closes, tries to spin up the disc several times then finally gives up and ejects it. Besides trying this drive on two different machines, I've tried multiple discs but nothing works. Does anyone have an idea what might be going on?

Once I bought a USB C to A adapter from OWC, it worked right away. The Apple adapter I had didn't work at all. Strange. Anyway, just look for the Mercury Pro on OWC's site and there should be a link to the adapter there. It was pretty cheap.