Apple dropped the optical drive from most Macs about a decade ago, long before many experts thought the company should. You can still purchase an Apple-branded USB SuperDrive to read and burn CDs and DVDs. This remains on sale to this day ($79), but Apple never updated the SuperDrive for more modern Macs and interfaces.
It is also a peculiar beast. The device’s sales page claims that “there’s no separate power adapter, and it works whether your Mac is plugged in or running on battery power.” But that’s only true when plugged directly into a USB Type-A port on a Mac, which not all modern Macs have. In other situations, it may be unable to draw enough power to function.
The SuperDrive should only draw 0.45 amps at 5 volts (2.25 watts), well within the normal range of a USB Type-A port, which is designed to comfortably deliver up to 0.9 to 1.0 A to 5 V (4.5 to 5 W), otherwise Continued. External AC-powered hubs and monitors with built-in hubs should easily meet this mark. Yet we have heard from readers (and can find many accounts in online forums) that this is not the case. There’s something special about the SuperDrive’s power demands that Apple’s USB ports can handle.
Apple even notes in a footnote on a support page: “If your SuperDrive does not respond when connected to an external display or USB hub, connect your SuperDrive to a USB port directly on your Mac .”
It’s not ideal if you have a Mac model from 2015 with only or mostly USB-C: you may not have all the ports you need for your other needs and rely on a hub or a docking station to multiply your available Type-A and other ports. .
If you’re okay with taking a USB-C port, at least when the player is in use, Apple lists only three adapters it sells as doing the trick: the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter ($69 ), the USB-C VGA Multiport Adapter ($69) and USB-C to USB Adapter ($19). Since I don’t have a USB SuperDrive, I can’t check if other USB-C adapters will work. But note that Apple’s USB-C adapters are terribly expensive compared to those available from other parties.
Some docks specifically call their lack of compatibility with a SuperDrive, as one reader noted to his frustration and I mentioned in a recent Mac 911 column on determining how much power a docking station you might consider buying can offer.
For example, see the following support notes:
- Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock: The company lists four models, then notes, “The SuperDrive is designed for use only with the above models that do not have an integrated optical drive.”
- Several IOGear dock models: A support page bluntly states, “No. Docking station does not work with Apple Super Drive.
On the other hand, you can also find docking stations that will allow you to use a SuperDrive, although a software driver will need to be installed on your Mac, apparently to handle power negotiation at a low system level. Including:
- Computers from another world: Several of its docking stations will support a SuperDrive, but only by installing the company’s Dock Ejector software, which provides low-level support for the docking station.
- CalDigit: Several models of CalDigit docking stations work with a SuperDrive driver that is part of a download specific to each docking station. This includes its Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 Element hub.
With all the fuss, maybe you should skip spending money on a USB-C adapter or USB/Thunderbolt docking station and just buy a brand new CD/DVD drive with either a USB connector -C, or with ordinary power requirements that allow it to be used with a Type A adapter.
My dad and I both rely on the LG 8x USB 2.0 Super Multi Ultra Slim Portable DVD+/-RW Burner (what a name!). It’s under $30 at online retailers. The similarly priced VersionTech supports USB 3.0 and can burn CDs at 24x, if that still matters. VersionTech integrates a Type-A connector into the device, but includes a Type-C adapter, although the company cautions against using a hub.
This Mac 911 article is a response to a question posed by Macworld readers Alan and Eric.
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