OS 10.6.8 Why is a ghost disc appearing in my disc drive?

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Level 1

11 points

OS 10.6.8 Why is a ghost disc appearing in my disc drive?

Been keeping my old MacPro on 10.6.8 to run some legacy apps. I occasionally connect it to my iMac (on 10.14) via wifi.

After years of no issues, got a weird startup recently - instead of my username identity, it showed my username with a space after it, in an unusual font, then my password didn’t work and I couldn’t sign in. After several restarts from the screen, I did a cold start, and apparently its back to normal.

Disk Utility shows an unexpected volume - ie a disc mounted called HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GH41N. But there’s no disc in the tray.

Have I got hacked? Or is this a "normal"volume the system sees "by accident".. How can I can delete it?

I'd rather not connect this insecure old 10.6.8 to my internet-connected iMac via Wifi, but i transfer files regularly and don't know of a better way since the iMac has no ethernet port. Suggestions?

Earlier displays & monitors

Posted on Mar 31, 2025 03:14 PM

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Answer 1

Camelot

Level 9

57,873 points

Mar 31, 2025 03:50 PM in response to onefiftymph

I think you're misinterpreting what you're seeing.

What you're seeing is the DVD-RW drive. If you read the screen you'll see:

So there is no disk.

Doesn't explain the other weirdness you saw, but I don't think it's related.

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

153,604 points

Apr 1, 2025 07:06 PM in response to onefiftymph

Sure, but it's up to the manufacturer to hard-code that information in the drive's firmware. Apple can use any number of suppliers, and DU simply extracts whatever that happens to be.

A clue is its Capabilities, so clicking that blue text may reveal more information. Obviously it's a DVD-RW though — pretty much anyone needs to know.

They are also easily replaced, or upgraded to a DVD-RW DL if you were so inclined. Good thing because optical drives were always the most life-limited computer components (their laser diodes degraded with age).

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Answer 3

onefiftymph Author

Level 1

11 points

Apr 1, 2025 06:35 PM in response to John Galt

John Galt wrote:

It's not a "ghost disc". That's how the optical drive has always been represented in Snow Leopard. As Camelot wrote it's an icon for the drive. Every Mac Pro ever built has an Ethernet port. Two of them in fact. M series iMacs will need an adapter unless you specified it with Ethernet.Also, mine are connected to the Internet routinely, via W-Fi. Not all the time, since I seldom have a need to use Snow Leopard. This is one of those occasions:

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/20b71403-ff3c-45f7-b5ad-1a0d0092a863

I surmise more information will be needed. So will those original discs.

Thanks for letting me see what Disk Utility shows for your drive - at least you know its an "Optiarc" drive. Mine showing as "HL-DT-ST" could've been more descriptive e.g., "Hitachi-LG Data Storage" would avoid confusing it for a disc.

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Answer 4

John Galt

Level 10

153,604 points

Apr 1, 2025 05:09 PM in response to onefiftymph

It's not a "ghost disc". That's how the optical drive has always been represented in Snow Leopard. As Camelot wrote it's an icon for the drive.

Every Mac Pro ever built has an Ethernet port. Two of them in fact. M series iMacs will need an adapter unless you specified it with Ethernet.

Also, mine are connected to the Internet routinely, via W-Fi. Not all the time, since I seldom have a need to use Snow Leopard.

This is one of those occasions:

I surmise more information will be needed. So will those original discs.

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Answer 5

Camelot

Level 9

57,873 points

Mar 31, 2025 04:13 PM in response to onefiftymph

> That prompt did not / does not appear. So its more than misinterpreting...

I don't know what you mean. That is literally in the screenshot you included in your post. I took a screenshot of your screenshot:

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Answer 6

onefiftymph Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 31, 2025 04:20 PM in response to onefiftymph

Its just weird that Disk Utility doesnt ID that volume as a drive, the factory disc drive inside the MacPro. Instead, all the label and text and the icon makes it appear to be a ghost disc. And with the startup weirdness.. .unsettling...

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Answer 7

onefiftymph Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 31, 2025 04:10 PM in response to Camelot

That prompt did not appear - except in Disk Utility. DU did find an index error it recommends fixing, so I'm searching everywhere for my Install discs, which I've misfiled...

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OS 10.6.8 Why is a ghost disc appearing in my disc drive?

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