News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

August 15, 2006

hardware

Tales of iffy DVD drives

Posted Aug. 15, ’06, 1:23 PM PT by Scott Silverman
Category | Hardware

DVD DriveSince Macs generally pride themselves as the best in the world of PCs (the best OS, hardware, software, design, support), when we run into a problem we often take it personally (and very seriously). This is the case not only for me, but a growing number of new Mac owners with respect to the SuperDrive in our MacBooks.

The built in SuperDrive in the MacBooks and MacBook Pros is very shaky when it comes to reading from CDs (the ComboDrive seems to work fine). It either: works very very slowly, or it crashes iTunes and doesn’t work at all. I also have problems when copying data off CDs from the Finder. It seems to copy ridiculously slow. As this thread in Apple Discussions documents, this is a problem for a significant number of Intel-based notebook users.

The problem seems to lie in the drive itself. The Matshita drives that Apple uses are apparently very sensitive, due to their small compact size. The smallest scratch, nick, or fleck of dirt could interfere with the import process (more so than with any other drive). A CD try I tried importing slowed down and eventually crashed iTunes, while the same CD in my friend’s XPS Dell laptop imported quickly and without flaw.

My question to you is this: how widespread is this problem? If you own an Intel-based Apple laptop with a SuperDrive, have you run into speed or compatibility issues while importing/reading off a CD?


17 Comments

Specter said:

I'm new to the world of Macs (bought my Macbook 2Ghz in June), and I'm more than happy that I switched. But one thing that I noticed was the slow copying from CDs. I didn't give it much thought back then, but copying 700mb took soooo long (approx. 8 min)! Now I know this is not an isolated problem...

August 15, 2006 1:52 PM
Shawn I said:

I have the same problem with my drive on the 15" Macbook Pro. At first I thought it was one or two CDs, but I then realized it was nearly all my discs that have some sort of small scratch. At least I know I'm not he only one.

August 15, 2006 2:08 PM
Andrea Emery said:

We have a 3 month old macbook pro. My husband put a cd into the drive a few days ago and it got stuck in there. A few minutes later, not only was the disk not recognized nor any sound heard but the computer no longer recognized the cd drive at all. It seems we now have to replace the dead drive. We're mac lovers but this has us both a little upset.

August 15, 2006 2:30 PM
Lars Levie said:

I have a buddy who just called me today to fill me in on the latest installment in his black MacBook story. A Genius at the Apple Store gave him a new MacBook after he took his in because of the crashing problem you describe. The new MacBook has the very same issue. He told me he is considering returning the machine altogether, but the idea of buying a PC again (he's a switcher) makes him want to "puke."

Apple needs to fix these problems instead of waiting for weeks or months until the press beomes unbearable. They are going to lose switchers like my friend just when they seem to be gaining momentum.

August 15, 2006 2:40 PM
Postchaise said:

I like the MacUser blog. And the contributors deserve thanks, because they make lots of great posts. But for some reason useful posts often end with something not very rational---like a statement of the obvious ("Let’s certainly hope that last part [about criminal charges] doesn’t apply to Apple.") or an invitation to "share." Like this post---it's helpful, it's informative, and then it ends with this puzzling non seq. "How widespread is the problem?" is a good question; asking people to post comments if they have the problem tells you just about nothing. Rigorous polling or even just asking a few Mac repair technicians would be more useful. So thanks for the many great blog posts at MacUser, and I'm still scratching my head about this one.

August 15, 2006 2:46 PM
Scott Silverman Author Profile Page said:
But for some reason useful posts often end with something not very rational---like a statement of the obvious ("Let’s certainly hope that last part [about criminal charges] doesn’t apply to Apple.") or an invitation to "share." Like this post---it's helpful, it's informative, and then it ends with this puzzling non seq. "How widespread is the problem?"
Thanks for posting your opinion; I will take it into consideration. But perhaps you missed the four posts above yours, all of which shed more light on this issue. This is how change begins, by raising awareness and starting a small uprising. Everything has to start somewhere. And perhaps you missed this comment by Shawn:
At least I know I'm not he only one.
I'm very sorry you feel this way, but some people in this world will just never stop complaining.
August 15, 2006 5:27 PM
Barbara said:

I have a MacBook Pro and am awaiting a new DVD/CD Super drive. First it would not read DVD's, then it was picky as to which CDs it would read. If it did not like the CD it would freeze-up and just keep spinning the little color wheel. I sure hope the new drive doesn't fail. While at the genius bar I noted to the tech the chatter on multiple sites that the drives did not appear to be reliable. The genius stated that only people with problems post to the sites. He's correct, that is how we know we have a problem when more than one person complains.

August 15, 2006 5:39 PM
Anthony said:

I have a 2GHz MacBook and it does seem to take inordinate amount of time to copy things off of a CD.

August 15, 2006 6:19 PM
Luke Stuard said:

Just yesterday my girlfriend experienced a huge problem with her recently purchashed black macbook. She was in the process of burning a data disc of songs she purchashed from the itunes store when the computer powered down, seemingly from the battery being drained. She hastily plugged it in and the macbook restarted, but the startup process got no further than a blank grey screen and the dvd drive spinning incessantly. It almost seemed like the computer was trying to boot from the disc. She restarted the macbook several times using the power button, but got the same result each attempt. I consulted the manual and tried the method it recommends for a stuck disc ( holding down the trackpad button while restarting), but it was to no avail. We called Apple tech support and they had her zap the p-ram and do this weird operation that entailed unplugging the macbook, removing the battery, and holding down the power key for a number of seconds. Nothing worked. Before we hung up with apple support, the tech said the problem might lie with a faulty logic board, which seemed rather unlikely to me. After several attempts at getting an appointment to see a genius at two different Macstores, we took her macbook to a local independent apple reseller to have it serviced (it seemed like a more viable option than wasting another day trying to get an appointment with a genius at a macstore so they can ship it off to Applecare in texas). It'll take up to two weeks before we hear anything from the shop, but when we do I'll report back on what they found.

August 15, 2006 9:04 PM
Clark said:

My MacBook Pro's Superdrive was working fine until about two weeks ago when the drive suddenly started to fail. Now it won't read CDs at all. Oh, and then my battery failed. So the reliability record of this computer is pretty bad, even though I love the machine.

August 15, 2006 9:08 PM
Gabe said:

Hello, i'm new to Mac's and was on a trip to New York. I had to check out the new mac store on 5th ave. and bought a macbook with a combo drive. I'm still in the hotel room trying to figure out my new computer. I'm very disapointed in the information i'm hearing in this blog. I guess i'll just have to wait and see if i have any problems with my nice new laptop. Hope it won't be a problem.

August 15, 2006 9:21 PM
Caden Burross said:

I'm running a 15" macbook pro, and my drive has this same...ia minor scratch on a disc can cause an iTunes crash, but in my girlfriends pc i can copy just fine from it...although it is a pain to have iTunes crash on me, i actually appreciate this occasionaly, it keeps me from getting subpar quality off discs and such... Although my significant others PC will capture the tracks, occasionaly they drop out, or have very audible glitches in the sound.... So i can take it or leave it...

August 15, 2006 9:26 PM
Meyer said:

I've been having that problem on my PowerPC G4 and wondering if was me...

Very frustrating.

August 15, 2006 11:35 PM
Mark Magennis said:

My 15" macbook pro with superdrive has recently been unable to read blank disks - CD-R and DVD-R. I've tried several brand new disks of each type and it just does nothing at all. Just another "me too" I'm afraid cos I don't have any useful info to shed light on the problem.

August 16, 2006 3:50 AM
Djenan said:

I've got an 20" Intel iMac and I seem to get a similar problem as the one you've described with the MacBook & Macbook Pros. I've had one replacement but the the new drive is still iffy with some disks, especially when importing into iTunes.

August 16, 2006 4:47 AM
Ted Modrich said:

Hey there,
Well seeing these replies kind of worries me, but I'm running a 17" MBP and haven't had one problem with, burning CD's, reading CD's, importing music, it flies along.....but that might be due to the 17" slightly larger drive (since it's capable of burning dual layer discs)

August 16, 2006 7:43 AM
Luke Stuard said:

Well, the verdict is in. The repair guys called this morning and it seems like the mysterious problem I described earlier was due to a faulty cd-rom disc and not the optical drive. Who knew a bum disc could cause so much trouble. Esh!

August 18, 2006 7:09 PM

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