External DVD/CD Drive

[Raz0rEdge]

With my upgrade to the Mac Mini, I now have no Macs that have a optical drive anymore. However, there are few music CDs that I want to rip into MP3s and have been looking for drives on Amazon. All of the drives that say they are compatible seem to be no longer working with Catalina or the last update.

Does anyone have a drive that is working well for them, especially on Catalina or Big Sur?

My use is very limited, so I'd be fine with either USB 2.0 or USB 3.0, it doesn't need to be speedy or anything, just work!

 

[pm-r]

Does anyone have a drive that is working well for them, especially on Catalina or Big Sur?

If that's all you need or want with an optical drive, why not have someone rip the CDs for you and put them onto a flash drive or something for you to play on your newer Mac???

Or has Apple removed that capability as well with their latest OS Versions???


- Patrick
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[MacInWin]

Catalina here. Updated to the last update 10.15.7. I have an old Samsung Model SE-S084 that works perfectly, and has for the last five years. Just tested it and it's still working. Played music, ripped one track as a test. I don't know what "All of the drives that say they are compatible seem to be no longer working with Catalina or the last update" really means. Did they give any specific problem I can check for you?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

If that's all you need or want with an optical drive, why not have someone rip the CDs for you and put them onto a flash drive or something for you to play on your newer Mac???

Or has Apple removed that capability as well with their latest OS Versions???


- Patrick
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Unfortunately don't know anyone locally that has a a machine with a drive, dying breed for sure..

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Catalina here. Updated to the last update 10.15.7. I have an old Samsung Model SE-S084 that works perfectly, and has for the last five years. Just tested it and it's still working. Played music, ripped one track as a test. I don't know what "All of the drives that say they are compatible seem to be no longer working with Catalina or the last update" really means. Did they give any specific problem I can check for you?

Thanks Jake, I'll check out some name brand drives. Amazon reviews for the drives I was finding seems to indicate that the drives were working fine on Mojave and some earlier version of Catalina and then with the 10.15.7 update, they just stopped working. Nothing appears in Finder or Disk Utility. But the drives continue to work with Macs running the older versions of macOS.

 

[chscag]

I just tested my LG Model GP08NU6W and it works fine with Catalina 10.15.7. I also have an older Samsung that I keep as a spare but haven't tested it. I don't see why it wouldn't work though.

 

[MacInWin]

Thanks Jake, I'll check out some name brand drives. Amazon reviews for the drives I was finding seems to indicate that the drives were working fine on Mojave and some earlier version of Catalina and then with the 10.15.7 update, they just stopped working. Nothing appears in Finder or Disk Utility. But the drives continue to work with Macs running the older versions of macOS.

Bear in mind that an empty drive won't show in Finder or in Disk Utility. Nothing is there to be read, mounted, or unmounted. The device itself is not shown, just the disk in it. I suspect that is what the reports were actually seeing and not understanding.

 

[pm-r]

Unfortunately don't know anyone locally that has a a machine with a drive, dying breed for sure..

Lots of options available doing a google search on 'CD-transfer services';

CD-transfer services - Google Search

www.google.com

And this one seems to have good reviews and seems to be quite reasonable:

MusicShifter—CD Ripping Service, CD Conversion Service

MusicShifter

www.musicshifter.com

MusicShifter—CD Ripping Service, CD Conversion Service

MusicShifter

www.musicshifter.com

- Patrick
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[Raz0rEdge]

Interesting find Partick. But I think I'll just sprint the $25 for an external drive. That way I can use it to rip music but also the other occasional needs I have.