I can no longer read data CDs via Superdrive on my Macbook pro. Disk utilities can see the disc is there, but won't mount it. I get this message 'Could not mount “CD1”. (com.apple.DiskManagement.disenter error 49153.). I am running Catalina 10.15.2. I can still read DVDs and audio CDs. Any ideas? Help much appreciated!
Macbook won't read data CDs via Superdrive
- Thread starter RobP
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Cory Cooper
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Hello and welcome.
-Which exact model MacBook Pro?
-Which version of OS X/macOS?
-Are these data discs retail software, or previously burned CD-Rs?
C
-Which exact model MacBook Pro?
-Which version of OS X/macOS?
-Are these data discs retail software, or previously burned CD-Rs?
C
Cory Cooper
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OK, thanks for the additional information.
First, you could try updating to Catalina 10.15.3.
I have seen CD-Rs go bad over the years, but usually not all. I have also seen optical drives read commercial discs, but not writeable media. If an optical won't read any writeable media at all, then it may be a failing laser. Do you happen to have access to another Mac or a USB optical drive to test them in?
C
First, you could try updating to Catalina 10.15.3.
I have seen CD-Rs go bad over the years, but usually not all. I have also seen optical drives read commercial discs, but not writeable media. If an optical won't read any writeable media at all, then it may be a failing laser. Do you happen to have access to another Mac or a USB optical drive to test them in?
C
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Eddie and Rob, I'm having the same issue. Audio CDs are mounting but not data. I am using an external LG drive and have tried a different external drive. I'm on 10.15.3. I did a reinstall of Catalina from the recovery partition, reset NVRAM and SMC. The drive is recognized in Disk Utility and can see how much of the CD is used but that's about it. I can eject the drive from there but can not mount it. I've looked at all the system prefs associated with CD/DVD. I have also looked in System Information>Software>Extensions. I can see all the APPLEUSB extensions there. Last updated on 1/10/20. That seems a bit old. I've run ONYX and and ensured Kernel and Extensions Cache was cleaned.
What else to do? Have you had any luck?
What else to do? Have you had any luck?
Bad news all around, from my experience thus far.
I've narrowed it down to any data CD that is formatted HFS Standard (HFS+ data CDs seem to mount fine). I also have used Disk Utility to "see" the disk, but as soon as I try to mount it, I get the com.apple.DiskManagement.disenter error 49153.
Not only on my Catalina (10.15.3) system, but also two or three customers on Catalina that have reported the issue with our CDs (thank goodness we can send them a download version as a workaround!)
I've heard that, so far, Apple Support isn't giving any indication of a forthcoming fix from Apple. Just silly workarounds.
Sorry that this is no help. I'd love to hear of a workaround that is actually useful!
I've narrowed it down to any data CD that is formatted HFS Standard (HFS+ data CDs seem to mount fine). I also have used Disk Utility to "see" the disk, but as soon as I try to mount it, I get the com.apple.DiskManagement.disenter error 49153.
Not only on my Catalina (10.15.3) system, but also two or three customers on Catalina that have reported the issue with our CDs (thank goodness we can send them a download version as a workaround!)
I've heard that, so far, Apple Support isn't giving any indication of a forthcoming fix from Apple. Just silly workarounds.
Sorry that this is no help. I'd love to hear of a workaround that is actually useful!
Cory Cooper
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EddieOP,
That is actually helpful, as it narrows the issue down to another real-world experience. I haven't experienced the issue myself, as I don't have a Catalina Mac that I access discs with. However, I will this weekend, and I will do some testing to see if I can replicate the issue.
C
That is actually helpful, as it narrows the issue down to another real-world experience. I haven't experienced the issue myself, as I don't have a Catalina Mac that I access discs with. However, I will this weekend, and I will do some testing to see if I can replicate the issue.
C
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I should add a few things. I have a bootcamp partition. So with the exact same hardware the disk I have that doesn't work in Catalina mounts (is that what it's called in windows) and reads just fine in Win10. I'm not sure what kind of formatting but it is DVDRAM. Full of PDFs for an educational course. Attached a screenshot of everything disk utility has to say about the situation.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Cory Cooper
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Hello.
As promised, I ran a test with a 2016 MBP running 10.15.3 Catalina and a USB Apple SuperDrive. With HFS Standard formatted CD-Rs, I get the same error. Seems Catalina no longer supports the old format standard. The disc mounts and reads fine on a 2009 iMac running 10.13.6 High Sierra with its built-in SuperDrive, or an external drive.
Guess you will have to find an older Mac running an older version of OS X/macOS to make a disc copy in HFS+.
C
As promised, I ran a test with a 2016 MBP running 10.15.3 Catalina and a USB Apple SuperDrive. With HFS Standard formatted CD-Rs, I get the same error. Seems Catalina no longer supports the old format standard. The disc mounts and reads fine on a 2009 iMac running 10.13.6 High Sierra with its built-in SuperDrive, or an external drive.
Guess you will have to find an older Mac running an older version of OS X/macOS to make a disc copy in HFS+.
C
Cory Cooper
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In addition...thank you.
The disc I tested with actually had part of the aluminum layer come off at the edge, rendering part of it unreadable. Luckily, I used the ditto command in Terminal to save most of the data before it became totally disc rotted.
So, I guess I have a new project - check the integrity of my older CD-Rs and make disk images of them on my RAID.
C
The disc I tested with actually had part of the aluminum layer come off at the edge, rendering part of it unreadable. Luckily, I used the ditto command in Terminal to save most of the data before it became totally disc rotted.
So, I guess I have a new project - check the integrity of my older CD-Rs and make disk images of them on my RAID.
C
Cory,
This is hilarious: the CD you show in your screenshots was published by my company (I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the title of the CD, "LP-Elections")
These CDs were produced in Toast as Hybrid data CDs. I recently came to find out that, under the version of Toast I was using to burn the master, checking the "Optimize on-the-fly" option led Toast to make the Mac partition on these CDs HFS Standard instead of HFS+... I thought I was creating HFS+ partitions all along when I burned these. This Catalina issue has brought to light the fact that I've been unknowingly creating HFS standard partitions. I wish I'd realized is at the time.
Since I'm trying to come up with a solution for these CDs that are already in our customer's hands, do you know of a fairly simple way to get Catalina to mount the Windows partition, since it can't mount the HFS partition? I'm trying to develop a workaround that a layperson could use on Catalina to insert the disk, follow a few simple steps, and get to the PDFs.
Thanks!
This is hilarious: the CD you show in your screenshots was published by my company (I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the title of the CD, "LP-Elections")
These CDs were produced in Toast as Hybrid data CDs. I recently came to find out that, under the version of Toast I was using to burn the master, checking the "Optimize on-the-fly" option led Toast to make the Mac partition on these CDs HFS Standard instead of HFS+... I thought I was creating HFS+ partitions all along when I burned these. This Catalina issue has brought to light the fact that I've been unknowingly creating HFS standard partitions. I wish I'd realized is at the time.
Since I'm trying to come up with a solution for these CDs that are already in our customer's hands, do you know of a fairly simple way to get Catalina to mount the Windows partition, since it can't mount the HFS partition? I'm trying to develop a workaround that a layperson could use on Catalina to insert the disk, follow a few simple steps, and get to the PDFs.
Thanks!
Cory Cooper
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HA! Bet that's a blast from the past! (Although they were LibertySurfer's screenshots)
I don't know of a way to make macOS mount the Windows part of a "hybrid" disc. I did find this: Mount CD-ROMs as a Windows user would see them, but I am not sure if that actually will work for these discs or in Catalina. Worth a try I guess.
C
I don't know of a way to make macOS mount the Windows part of a "hybrid" disc. I did find this: Mount CD-ROMs as a Windows user would see them, but I am not sure if that actually will work for these discs or in Catalina. Worth a try I guess.
C
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HAHAH, that is crazy! Small world as they say. Staying tuned for any other developments. I didn't realize this CD was partitioned 1/2 for win and 1/2 for mac. That is what you are saying right?
Cory Cooper
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Some authoring applications make hybrid discs that way, where there are two actual partitions that mount - the HFS/HFS+ Mac partition and an ISO 9660 Windows partition. Some author them as an ISO 9660 with FAT and HFS partitions. Not totally sure how Finder made them back in the day.
C
Yes, Cory, Toast was like that. It allowed you to create a hybrid ISO/HFS CD, but the CD wasn't divided in half; the actual files were shared across the two partitions, so you could use most of the CD's capacity, but still make it appear like two separate partitions, formatted for different platforms. It worked well for 15 years, until Catalina.
In retrospect, if I'd been less "fancy" and simply made Mac users deal with ISO discs all along, Mac OS would probably have been able to read them indefinitely, but their own HFS format is now obsolete. The irony...
In retrospect, if I'd been less "fancy" and simply made Mac users deal with ISO discs all along, Mac OS would probably have been able to read them indefinitely, but their own HFS format is now obsolete. The irony...
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I have a similar problem. I'm using a Mac Pro 2019 with Catalina 10.15.4.
I can't mount an old Freehand disc in standard Mac format.
However, I have a Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6.8) running in a Parallels virtual machine and it reads the disc fine.
Apple seems to be up to their old tricks again by dropping support for stuff.
I can't mount an old Freehand disc in standard Mac format.
However, I have a Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6.8) running in a Parallels virtual machine and it reads the disc fine.
Apple seems to be up to their old tricks again by dropping support for stuff.
Cory Cooper
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Hello and welcome.
Sounds like you are experiencing the same limitation as the others in this thread. Catalina doesn't recognize older discs in HFS format.
Is there something specific you need off the old Freehand disc?
C
Sounds like you are experiencing the same limitation as the others in this thread. Catalina doesn't recognize older discs in HFS format.
Is there something specific you need off the old Freehand disc?
C
Yeah, I finally acquiesced when someone at long last pointed me to Wikipedia's HFS page, which included:
"With the introduction of Mac OS X 10.6, Apple dropped support for formatting or writing HFS disks and images, which remain supported as read-only volumes.[1] Starting with macOS 10.15, HFS disks can no longer be read."
I was in search of either a fix or confirmation of that last sentence. I got the latter, and so am done (in more ways than one).
"With the introduction of Mac OS X 10.6, Apple dropped support for formatting or writing HFS disks and images, which remain supported as read-only volumes.[1] Starting with macOS 10.15, HFS disks can no longer be read."
I was in search of either a fix or confirmation of that last sentence. I got the latter, and so am done (in more ways than one).