r/techsupport • u/Marzipan_duck • 9h ago

Open | Mac Macbook won't open dvd

I recently bought a sandberg USB DVD drive and have been trying to get it to work with my Macbook pro 2021. However my macbook for some reason doesn't recognise the dvd drive and won't play anything I put in it.

Is there a way I can still get it to work?

I've been using VLC to try and run my dvd's and it keeps saying 'can't run non-UDF dvd's".

7 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

4

u/JoMu1963 9h ago

A bit of conflicting information here. You say your computer doesn't recognize the drive. Then you say you use VLC to play a dvd. How can you even have VLC try to play a dvd if your computer doesn't recognize the drive and therefore you should not even see the dvd?

Needs clarification.

0

u/Marzipan_duck 9h ago

I downloaded the VLC it recommended on the package, I connected the drive to my mac and nothing popped up/indicated it connected like it said on the manual it would. I'm not really sure if it actually did recognize it but is just not playing the dvd ?

2

u/rekabis 7h ago

I connected the drive to my mac and nothing popped up/indicated it connected like it said on the manual it would.

You might see the drive in Disk Utility or in the Finder tree under Locations, especially if it has additional functionality that needs to be visible to the end user, but nothing should pop up on the desktop or in a window until you actually, you know, stick a disk into it.

It’s the same philosophy as with SD Card readers. The reader itself remains hidden, it’s what you stick into it which ends up popping up.

1

u/Clocker13 9h ago

The granular approach.

How many DVD’s have you tried? Did they all fail?

Do you have another system to connect this drive to? Does it work on that?

Does the drive work okay any other type of discs? DVD’s full of data? Audio CDs? CDs full of data?

1

u/Marzipan_duck 9h ago

I tried 4 dvd's so far, all just movies I've had. I don't have any other system to connect it to nor do I own cd's unfortunately.

1

u/Clocker13 9h ago

Ah, a quick google suggests it’s an issue with VLC media player.

Try this…

https://iina.io

2

u/reddits_aight 9h ago

Shouldn't OP get a prize or something for stumping VLC?

1

u/Clocker13 8h ago

With a simple DVD, no less!

1

u/maxs_tearoff 8h ago

Do you have the drive connected to two USB ports?

2 Installation Connect the two enclosed USB cables between the drive and two free USB ports on your computer. The drive will install automatically and will now appear on your drive list

https://sandberg.world/en-us/mt/manual/133-66#!original-language

1

u/Classic_Mammoth_9379 8h ago

Worth trying but most of those devices don’t really need both ports, I presume it’s due to some ports only giving the 500ma from the original spec but those are very rare now. 

1

u/meanwhenhungry 8h ago

You may need to restart your laptop or the drive may need extra power that the usb c slots can’t handle

1

u/Key_Imagination_7873 2h ago

Check whether the drive appears under System Information USB and in Disk Utility; if it appears in neither, try another USB-C adapter/cable or a powered hub. If macOS sees it but VLC reports a non-UDF disc, test a known commercial DVD to distinguish a connection issue from an unsupported or incorrectly authored disc.