MacBook Pro with Pioneer external Blu-Ray drive doesn't see DVD or blu-ray

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Level 1

33 points

MacBook Pro with Pioneer external Blu-Ray drive doesn't see DVD or blu-ray

I have a MacBook Pro (13 inch 2020) and an external Pioneer BDR-XD05B drive. When I load a DVD (or blu-ray) into the drive the OS doesn't show the disc in Finder. The drive appears on System Information, so I know the drive is recognized, and when the disc is loaded the drive spins as it always did to recognize the disc. This just started recently - could it be due to a system upgrade - I'm up to date with all OS updates? Any suggestions for how to get this drive working properly again?

Mac mini, macOS 13.0

Posted on Feb 11, 2023 05:49 PM

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Answer 1

LarryW-PDX Author

Level 1

33 points

Feb 12, 2023 10:08 AM in response to a brody

Again, you're not getting my message. This drive used to work on this Macbook Pro, a month ago. It works on another machine (a Mac mini). It's now not working on my Macbook Pro. I am trying to determine what has changed on my Macbook Pro that causes it not to work now.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

214,302 points

Feb 12, 2023 10:37 AM in response to LarryW-PDX

There have been numerous posts about Pioneer BDR-XD05B optical drives not working with Ventura. Something about a firmware update being needed. Contact Pioneer customer support regrind it.

See dialabrain's post in this topic: Pioneer BDR-XD05B - Apple Community

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

85,245 points

Feb 12, 2023 05:46 AM in response to LarryW-PDX

The computer has no direction how to run the lasers of a machine that has bluray capability. It needs those directions to come from somewhere. To it, it thinks this machine has diamonds when it is expecting a metal.

So naturally it won't be able to use any component of the drive.

Cheap crossplatform DVD burners are available on eBay and Amazon. It is Bluray that Mac OS has no idea what's going on.

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Answer 4

a brody

Level 10

85,245 points

Feb 12, 2023 10:22 AM in response to LarryW-PDX

Blueray depends on multiple layers to work right.

Does the drive work on any machine now?

If not, then it is likely the drive is broke.

Does the drive only work on certain operating systems now?

Then it is likely the driver support for such a specialized drive was accidental at best. Apple has never indicated the operating system itself has Blueray support.

Do you have a clone hard drive of the previous operating system, or can you boot into the previous operating system using target disk mode on the computer that stopped supporting on the newer operating system?

Say you have a Mac MIni with 10.15 and you upgraded to 11.0, you can put the MacBook Pro in target disk mode, and choose is at as an external boot hard drive for the MacBook Pro. Once connected via thunderbolt or firewire, you can add the Bluray burner to the MacBook Pro and see if it will work. If it does, then you know the accidental support existed in 10.15. It could also indicate the Bluray drive manufacturer has gotten out of sync with Apple's built-in drivers and needs to give you an updated firmware for the drive.

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Answer 5

LarryW-PDX Author

Level 1

33 points

Feb 12, 2023 10:31 AM in response to a brody

I have a Mac mini that just upgraded to Ventura 13.2. I have a 13 inch MacBook Pro (2020) running 13.2, and a 16 inch MacBook Pro (2019) running 13.2. When I plug this Pioneer drive into the mini with a DVD loaded, the Player app starts and the DVD menu appears. When I plug the drive into either of the MacBook Pro machines, the drive spins up but no program starts, and the DVD does not appear in Finder. On both MacBook Pros, the Pioneer drive appears in the System Report, so I know the drive is visible to the machine, but the DVD is not available to the OS.

So I know the Pioneer drive is functioning properly, and I know that this Pioneer external drive used to work properly on these MacBook Pros. The (recently occurring) problem is that the drive no longer works on Ventura 13.2 running on a MacBook Pro.

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Answer 6

LarryW-PDX Author

Level 1

33 points

Feb 12, 2023 12:46 PM in response to Old Toad

Discovered this is part of a much larger issue. Hopefully it will be corrected in an upcoming OS release. https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/02/03/some-pioneer-blu-ray-drives-dont-work-in-macos-ventura-132

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Answer 7

a brody

Level 10

85,245 points

Feb 12, 2023 01:38 PM in response to LarryW-PDX

Keep in mind AppleInsider is famous for portraying a lot of unjustifiable speculation.

If you want to get more involved in future releases, open an account at http://developer.apple.com/ and submit bug reports at http://bugreporter.apple.com/

Keep in miind what you share there is not to be divulged elsewhere, including Apple Support Communities.

In the meantime I would also get on the horn with Pioneer and ask them if they are working on a firmware update.

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