Optical Drive For Mac And Pc

Posted on 19-04-2021 by admin

Sharing discs

If your Mac doesn't have a built-in optical drive and you need to use a CD or DVD, you can connect an external drive like the Apple USB SuperDrive. You can also share discs from the optical drive of another Mac, or from a Windows computer that has DVD or CD Sharing Setup installed. DVD or CD sharing allows you to access documents stored on these discs, and allows you to install some software.

DVD or CD sharing isn't designed for some kinds of optical media. Connect a compatible optical drive directly to your Mac if you need to use one of these discs:

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External Optical Drive For Mac And Pc May 13, 2019 If you find yourself in need of an external CD drive, there are a few factors you will need to consider before making your final purchase. Don’t just go out and buy the first external CD drive you see in the store or click “Buy Now” on.
External DVD Drive, SAWAKE USB 3.0 & USB-C DVD CD ROM Burner Player, Portable CD DVD +/- RW Optical Drive Writer for Laptop Desktop PC MAC OS Windows 7/8/10 (with SD/TF Card Reader 2 USB Ports) 4.6 out of 5 stars 111.
VersionTECH External Drive. No eject button. Very slim and lightweight.

Audio CDs
Blu-ray or DVD movies
Copy protected discs (such as some game discs)
Recordable CDs or DVDs that you want to burn or erase
Microsoft Windows installation discs

If you have a Microsoft Windows install disc that you want to use with Boot Camp, you can create a disc image of this disc and copy it to a USB flash drive for installation instead.

Setting up a Mac to share discs

To share discs from a Mac that has a built-in or external optical drive, use these steps:

On the Mac that has an optical drive, choose System Preferences from the Apple menu.
Click the Sharing icon in the System Preferences window.
Make sure you've entered a name that you can easily recognize in the Computer Name field.
Enable the checkbox for DVD or CD Sharing.
You can also restrict who has access to your optical drive by selecting 'Ask me before allowing others to use my DVD drive.'

Setting up a Windows PC to share discs

To share discs from a Windows PC that has a built-in or external optical drive, use these steps:

Download and install DVD or CD Sharing Update 1.0 for Windows.
From Control Panel, open 'Hardware and Sound'
Click 'DVD or CD Sharing Options.'
Select the checkbox for DVD or CD Sharing.
You can also restrict who has access to your optical drive by selecting 'Ask me before allowing others to use my DVD drive.'

If you're sharing discs from a Windows computer and your PC has firewall software enabled, be sure to allow access to the following programs from your firewall:

ODSAgent
RemoteInstallMacOSX

Use a shared DVD or CD

After you've enabled DVD or CD Sharing, you can use that computer's optical drive at any time. Insert a disc in the optical drive of the computer that's being shared. The disc should then be available on any Mac that's connected to the same network.

On the Mac that doesn't have an optical drive, open a Finder window.
Select Remote Disc in the Devices section of the sidebar. You should see the computer that has DVD or CD Sharing enabled.
Double-click the computer's icon, then click Connect to see the contents of the CD or DVD available from that computer.

If you can't use a shared disc

If your Mac already has a built-in optical drive, or an external optical drive connected, you won't see the Remote Disc feature appear in the Finder or other apps.

If you're using a compatible disc and you don't see it from Remote Disc, make sure the sharing computer is turned on, is connected to the same network as your Mac, and has a compatible CD or DVD in its optical drive. If you've enabled the option to ask for permission before using the drive, click Accept on the computer that is sharing its optical drive.

More and more laptops have no internal optical drive, but there are still many users who need to play movie DVDs, rip music, burning discs, installing the system, etc. Currently, the most convenient solution should be the USB external optical drive.

For windows system computer users, lots of laptop/desktop PC have been upgraded to Windows 10, some old external optical drives are not compatible well with Windows 10 systems, even though most sellers claim their products support Windows 10.

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Here are some reliable external CD/DVD RW drives for Windows 10 on Amazon that we have carefully analyzed and listed (Updated: Feb 01, 2020):

1. Dell DW316 External USB Slim DVD R/W Optical Drive 429-AAUX

Features

Interface: USB 2.0 & Type-C
Optical Drive Type: Reader, Writer, ReWriter
Compatible with Windows 10/8.1/7/xp and Mac OS
Supported discs: CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL, M-DISC
Read: 24x (CD) / 8x (DVD)
Write: 24x (CD) / 8x (DVD±R) / 6x (DVD±R DL)
Rewrite Speed: 24x (CD) / 6x (DVD-RW) / 8x (DVD+RW) / 5x (DVD-RAM)
Plug and play, no additional installation required

2. ROOFULL Portable USB 3.0 External CD DVD Optical Drive Burner Writer with Protective Carrying Sleeve for Windows 10 Laptops

Features

Interface: USB 3.0
Optical Drive Type: Reader, Writer, ReWriter
Compatible with Windows 10/8.1/7/xp, Linux and Mac OS 10.10.14 & below
Supported discs: DVD +/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD+R(DL), DVD-R(SL), DVD-RAM, DVD-R(DL), CD-R, CD-RW
Max 24x CD Write Speed
Max 8x DVD±R Write Speed
Plug and play, no additional installation required
Very good customer service

3. LG Electronics 8X USB 2.0 Super Multi Ultra Slim Portable DVD Writer Drive +/-RW External Drive with M-DISC Support (Black) GP65NB60

Features

Interface: USB 2.0
Optical Drive Type: Reader, Writer, ReWriter
Compatible with Windows 10/8.1/7/xp/2008, Mac OS X(10.7.5)
Supported discs: DVD +/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD+R(DL), DVD-R(SL), DVD-RAM, DVD-R(DL), CD-R, CD-RW, M-Disc
Max 24x CD Write Speed
Max 8x DVD±R Write Speed
Plug and play, no additional installation required

4. ASUS ZenDrive Ultra Slim USB 2.0 External 8X DVD Optical Drive

Features

Interface: USB 2.0
Optical Drive Type: Reader, Writer, ReWriter
Compatible with Windows 10/8.1/7/xp and Mac OS
Supported discs: DVD+R, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-ROM, CD-RW, M-Disc
Read: 24X CD, 8X DVD, 5X DVD-RAM
Write: 24X CD-R/CD-RW; 8X (DVD+/-R, DVD+RW); 6X (DVD-RW, DVD+/-R DL); 5X DVD-RAM
Nero backup full back up solution for Android devices
Plug and play, no additional installation required

FAQs:

Q: How to tell if your computer provides enough power
A: Normally 14″ and below ultrathin laptops may not supply sufficient power for external optical drive, the phenomenon is that the indicator of the CD DVD drive will flash for a few seconds and then disappear.

Q: How can I use an external optical drive if my computer cannot provide enough computers?
A: You can also use a powered (20 watt or above) USB hub to supply extra power for the external devices, or see this post: Best External CD DVD Drives for Surface Pro 2/3/4/5/6/7/x laptop

Q: Why can’t my Windows computer recognize the external optical drive?
A: This is one common problem, it can be fixed, you can refer to this article to fix it: https://www.easeus.com/backup-utility/cd-dvd-missing-or-not-showing-up-in-windows-10.html

Q: Can you recommend some popular media player software to play CDs and DVDs?
A: You can try free media player software such as 5KPlayer, VLC player, GOM Player for Windows and Mac OS, you can easily search and download them.