Mac External Cd Drive Not Recognized

Return to site

Mac External Cd Drive Not Recognized

Make sure your Mac is connected to the external storage device (for example, using a USB cable or over a network). Click the Finder icon in the Dock to open a Finder window, then do one of the following to move your files.
Mac External Cd Drive Not Recognized Working
Mac Not Recognizing External Drive
Mac External Cd Drive Not Recognized Drive
Mac External Cd Drive Not Recognized Forgotten
Summary: About why is external hard drive not showing up on Mac and how to fix this issue to access the external drive on Mac. To prevent unnecessary data loss, you can free download iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac in macOS Catalina/Mojave/High Sierra and get data off first.
 Probably, you connect an external hard drive to Mac but it is not showing up. Don't panic! You can troubleshoot and fix the external hard drive not showing up Mac issue. Don't know where to start? We are here to help.
In that case, make use of USB cable having one USB connection for the external HD and two for Mac. This will supply the power required by the external hard drive. These steps for fixing an external hard drive not recognized on Windows and Mac are suitable for external hard drives of all capacities and manufacturers.
It turns out that most of the time, Mac doesn't recognize external hard drives, USB flash drives, pen drives, SD cards, etc. Just because the drive is not properly connected. Since a good connection is a basic condition for secondary hard drives working on the Mac, we need to try these things step by step.
Take it easy and follow our guide to check the connections, macOS settings, and imperatively, the external hard drive itself. Then, the external hard drive will show up on Mac again.
First of all, let's see why hard drives not working or showing up. Download facebook app for mac air.
Make sure that your external drive doesn't become damaged in the future by always unmounting the disk properly after using it. Don't just unplug the USB cable. To unmount your drive you can. There are various reasons why a CD or DVD drive is not detected. The resolutions that are listed in this article may help solve some instances but not all instances of this problem. You may also need to contact your hardware manufacturer for assistance with your hardware.
Mac External Cd Drive Not Recognized WorkingWhy is the External Hard Drive Not Showing up on Mac?Most of the time, Mac not recognizing external hard drives is because of the hard drive corruption and faulty connections. But other factors can make external hard drive invisible on Mac as well.
The causes for external hard drives, USB pen drives, and SD cards not showing up on Mac vary from case to case. Namely, they are:
 The USB cable is broken.
 The USB port is malfunctioned.
 The USB adapter is not working properly.
 The external hard drive is not formatted incorrectly.
 The hardware and software like disk driver need an update.
 The file system of the external hard drive is corrupted.
As a result, you plug the external hard drive into your Mac but nothing happens. It looks like that Mac is not reading your external hard drive. The hard drive won't appear on the desktop or in the Finder. But this doesn't necessarily mean your Mac not recognizing the hard drive.
It's a definite guide to fix the Mac not recognizing external hard drive issue. What is alexa mac address. It includes why and how to make the external hard drive recognized by macOS again. Read more >>
Guide to Fix External Hard Dive Not Showing up on MacThen what do you do if your external hard drive is not detected by Mac? To find and access this external hard drive on your Mac, simply follow our step-by-step guide.
1. Check the Connections of the External Hard DriveExternal hard drives like Buffalo Ministation, WD, Samsung, Seagate, and Lacie are connected to Mac using USB cables and ports. But if the connection fails, your external drive won't show up on Mac.
So, if Mac not seeing your external hard drive, check if the external hard drive is properly connected by the following steps. 
Step 1: Check the power connections
External hard drive requires electricity to light up, spin, and transfer data. So, if the external hard drive is lack of power, it won't show up on Mac. You can do these things to check the power supply.
1. For Desktop external hard drives like Seagate Backup plus and WD Elements Desktop, make sure the external hard drive is externally connected to a power socket.
2. For portable USB external hard drives, make sure the USB port is not wobbly, dusty, loose, or deformed. If the USB port won't work and can't supply with enough power, you can try another USB port.
If you are working on MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro models, two things to notice. 
1. First, make sure your Mac is not in a low power mode. External hard drives can't work if there is no enough power in the USB port. 
2. Then, make sure the USB hub and USB-C adapter work if your Mac uses Thunderbolt 3 port. Though an authentic USB Type C adapter is better, it lesses problem if you connect the Thunderbolt portable hard drive for Mac directly to your Mac.
Step 2: Check the other connections
Sometimes, the external hard drive like a Seagate hard drive is not recognized by Mac. Then, you need to check the other parts of connections as well, especially when your external hard drive lights on but is not detected or showing up on Mac.
 Check if the wire of the external hard drive is broken.
 Try to connect it to another Mac or even a PC. Possibly, it's just an incompatible USB driver that stops your removable hard drive working.
 Check the USB port on hard drive enclosure case. Sometimes, the external drive is not showing up due to a problematic SATA connection. So if necessary, you can ask help from specialists to open the external hard drive case and have a check.
After checking the connections, you can see if the second hard drive is detected by your Mac.
2. Check Application That's Incompatible with the External Hard DriveChances are that some programs are stopping your external hard drive being loaded. Those incompatible programs could be the USB security app, encryption program, or any antivirus software that you installed recently. In this case, you can try to reboot your Mac in Safe mode, which only runs essential macOS items.
1. Restart your Mac (some Mac computers play a startup sound).
2. Immediately press and hold the Shift key, and then release the Shift key when you see the progress indicator.
3. After the restart, reconnect your external hard drive to the Mac and see if it is recognized.
If the external hard drive is recognized by macOS in Safe mode, you should start your Mac in normal mode and then uninstall the suspicious programs that you download recently.
3. Check if the Mac is Set to Show Connected External DrivesSometimes, the external hard drive is not showing up because your Mac is not set to. If you can't see the external hard drive on Mac, you can get Finder to locate the external hard drive. To make external HDD show up on the desktop and in the Finder of macOS Catalina, Mojave, or earlier, the following steps would be helpful.
Show the external hard drive on the desktop: Go to Finder > Preferences > General tab and select 'External disks' to make external hard drives show on the desktop.
Show external hard drives in Finder: Go to Finder > Preferences > Sidebar and make sure the 'External disks' under 'Locations' is ticked. Then your external hard drive will appear in Finder.
4. Access the External Hard Drive by /Volumes/ FolderIf the external hard drive is not showing up on Mac still, where else you can find the hard drive? In fact, you can try your luck by checking the /Volumes/ folder. Most of the time, Mac will show connected and mounted volumes there.
1. Launch Finder and click Go in the top menu bar > Go to folder.
2. Then type /Volume/ and hit Enter.
3. Then you can see the volumes folder that lists all mounted drives and disk images. If your external hard drive is listed, access the hard drive and get to your files there directly.
5. Check Whether the External HDD Can be Found in Disk UtilityTo make sure whether your external hard drive is detected by macOS, you can go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility and check if Mac is picking up the external hard drive.
Note: If your external fusion drive is not showing up on Mac, you can check if it is recognized as two separate drives by macOS in Disk Utility also.
There are two possible circumstances: 
The external hard drive could be showing up in Disk Utility but greyed out.
The external hard drive doesn't show up in Disk Utility.
Let's take a look at what we can do if the external hard drive is showing up in Disk Utility.
Step 1: Check if the external hard drive is mounted in Disk Utility
If the external hard drive can be found in Disk Utility, it means that your external hard drive is detected by your Mac. But since you can't see and open your hard drive as usual, we need to confirm more information displayed in Disk Utility.
1. Expand the View option and choose Show All Devices.
2. Find and select the external hard drive that is not showing up on your Mac.
3. Choose Mount at the top menu bar.
You may see no partition showing up in Disk Utility but the manufacturer's name like WD and Seagate. This means the partition table (A unit of data describing the partition information on the hard disk) is damaged or lost. As a result, macOS is unable to recognize the external hard drive. In this situation, you're advised to recover important data with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac first, and then reformat this hard drive.
Step 2: Check if the file system of the external hard drive is recognizable
The file system manages how and where data on a storage disk is stored, accessed and managed. So it's crucial to make sure that the file system is not corrupted and it is doing a good job.
To check the file system in Disk Utility: simply select the drive you want to check, and then the disk information, including file system and storage capacity, would be displayed at right.
You could see one of the 4 possible circumstances:
Apple player free download. 1. The file system of the external HDD is corrupted
The file system could be damaged due to improper ejection or bad sectors. As a result, the disk information is not displayed correctly. And you are unable to mount this external hard drive on Mac. To repair this corrupted external hard drive, First Aid on your Mac is a great disk repair tool to use. 
Step 1: Launch Disk Utility.
Step 2: Choose the grayed out external hard drive from the left sidebar.
Step 3: Click the First Aid button on the top and then choose Run to confirm this operation.
If Mac is unable to recognize the external hard drive still or First Aid failed to repair the external hard drive, the file system or some core data is too corrupted to be repaired by First Aid. Here are some error reports you might receive from Disk Utility:
In this case, you have to reformat it to assign a new file system to this hard drive. However, as it was pointed out before, reformatting will clean the external hard drive and erase your data on this drive. https://hereiup507.weebly.com/blog/collins-efis-84-manual. If you don't have any backup and don't want to lose the data, you are advised to recover files from the corrupted external hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is powerful in hard drive data recovery, especially when your Macintosh hard drive or external hard drive is not recognized on Mac. It helps you recover lost data from unreadable, unmountable, corrupted, and formatted drives. Except for hard drives, this data recovery software also works with USB flash drives, memory cards, SD cards, pen drives, CF cards, etc.
To recover lost data and reformat the corrupted external hard drive: 
Step 1: Download and install iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac on Mac, and then restart the computer.
When external hard drive is not showing up normally on Mac due to disk corruption, the data on the drive becomes a great concern. To recover and access your files on the unrecognized external hard drive, iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac is a handy tool to help.
Step 2: Scan for lost data on the external hard drive. 
After launching this program, check if you can see the unrecognizable/corrupted external hard drive is listed in the main interface. If you can see it, click on Scan to search for your files on this external hard drive. If not, you need to send it to data recovery lab.
Step 3: Preview the searching results, choose files you need, and click Recover to get them back.
When you can't open the external hard drive and access files normally on your Mac, you can use the Preview feature of iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac to see your files. It helps to make sure that your documents, photos, music files, videos, and emails are in good condition.
Step 4: Launch Disk Utility and locate the external hard drive from the left sidebar of the window.
Step 5: Select this unrecognizable external hard drive and click the Erase button.
Step 6: Complete the related information (name, format, scheme), then click Erase to reformat the problematic external hard drives in Disk Utility.
2. The external HDD is APFS formatted
If your Mac uses macOS 10.12 or earlier but external hard drive is APFS formatted, you are advised to update your macOS so that it can work with the latest file systems, software, as well as some firmware relating to USB peripherals and devices.

Wd external hard drive not recognized mac

To update macOS, you can: 
Step 1: Right-click the Apple logo at top right, and then choose System Preferences. 
Step 2: Find and open Software Update to check for new macOS update. 
Step 3: Back up your important files and follow the wizard to update your operating system.
3. The external hard drive is Read-only Windows NTFS formatted
Even though Mac can recognize NTFS drive, you can only read NTFS without write permission. And some times, the external hard drive will not work properly. In this case, do not force the external HDD to mount in read-write mode with 'LABEL=NAME none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse' in Terminal. Changing 'fstab' is risky and unstable. 
Instead, you have two other options:
 If you need to use this NTFS external hard drive both for Mac and PC, you can install an NTFS for Mac program to fix this issue without reformatting.
 If the external hard drive is used only for Mac, you can back up your important files and then reformat it to a compatible file system like HFS, FAT32 or exFAT.
4. The external hard drive is formatted with unrecognizable file system
Mac can't recognize non-native file systems. So, other file systems like Linux EXT3 and EXT4 would not be readable by Mac. In this case, the only solution is to reformat it to make it compatible with your Mac.
Warning: Any operation relating to 'Erase' and 'Format' would wipe files off your storage devices. So make sure you have a copy of the data, or you can recover files from this external hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
The solutions above are prepared for external hard drive showing up in Disk Utility on Mac. 
6. Check and Fix Hardware Information of the External Hard DriveNevertheless, what if the external hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility at all? It should be some hardware problems that stop the external hard drive showing up on Mac. Don't worry! You can check and repair those problems with the following solutions.
Step 1: Find invisible external hard drive in System Information
If the external hard drive doesn't show up in Disk Utility, you can check if the Mac has detected and recognized its hardware information in System Information: Go to Applications > Utilities > System Information > USB, and then check the external hard drive information.
Mac Not Recognizing External DriveIf you see the external hard drive showing up there but not in Disk Utility, the hard drive may be under repair by macOS. Go and check it the Activity Monitor.
1. Click the Launchpad and find the Other folder. Find and open Activity Monitor there.
2. Type and search if there is any process named 'fsck_hfs' or something similar. (If your external hard drive is exFAT formatted, then it should be 'fsck_exfat'.)
3. Select that task and click the Force a process to quit button at the upper left to stop it. and Then the external hard drive should show up on the desktop of your Mac.
If the parameters of the external hard drive are not recognized correctly or even not recognized, you can move forward.
Step 2: Reset your Mac's NVRAM

To update macOS, you can: 
Step 1: Right-click the Apple logo at top right, and then choose System Preferences. 
Step 2: Find and open Software Update to check for new macOS update. 
Step 3: Back up your important files and follow the wizard to update your operating system.
3. The external hard drive is Read-only Windows NTFS formatted
Even though Mac can recognize NTFS drive, you can only read NTFS without write permission. And some times, the external hard drive will not work properly. In this case, do not force the external HDD to mount in read-write mode with 'LABEL=NAME none ntfs rw,auto,nobrowse' in Terminal. Changing 'fstab' is risky and unstable. 
Instead, you have two other options:
 If you need to use this NTFS external hard drive both for Mac and PC, you can install an NTFS for Mac program to fix this issue without reformatting.
 If the external hard drive is used only for Mac, you can back up your important files and then reformat it to a compatible file system like HFS, FAT32 or exFAT.
4. The external hard drive is formatted with unrecognizable file system
Mac can't recognize non-native file systems. So, other file systems like Linux EXT3 and EXT4 would not be readable by Mac. In this case, the only solution is to reformat it to make it compatible with your Mac.
Warning: Any operation relating to 'Erase' and 'Format' would wipe files off your storage devices. So make sure you have a copy of the data, or you can recover files from this external hard drive with iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
The solutions above are prepared for external hard drive showing up in Disk Utility on Mac. 
6. Check and Fix Hardware Information of the External Hard DriveNevertheless, what if the external hard drive is not showing up in Disk Utility at all? It should be some hardware problems that stop the external hard drive showing up on Mac. Don't worry! You can check and repair those problems with the following solutions.
Step 1: Find invisible external hard drive in System Information
If the external hard drive doesn't show up in Disk Utility, you can check if the Mac has detected and recognized its hardware information in System Information: Go to Applications > Utilities > System Information > USB, and then check the external hard drive information.
Mac Not Recognizing External DriveIf you see the external hard drive showing up there but not in Disk Utility, the hard drive may be under repair by macOS. Go and check it the Activity Monitor.
1. Click the Launchpad and find the Other folder. Find and open Activity Monitor there.
2. Type and search if there is any process named 'fsck_hfs' or something similar. (If your external hard drive is exFAT formatted, then it should be 'fsck_exfat'.)
3. Select that task and click the Force a process to quit button at the upper left to stop it. and Then the external hard drive should show up on the desktop of your Mac.
If the parameters of the external hard drive are not recognized correctly or even not recognized, you can move forward.
Step 2: Reset your Mac's NVRAM
NVRAM is helpful to retain the information while power is turned off. If you experience issues related to these settings or others, resetting NVRAM might be helpful to get your Mac to recognize the external hard drive.
1. Shut down or reboot your Mac.
2. Immediately press these four keys in a sequence: Command + Option + P + R.
3. Hold the keys for at least 20 seconds and after you hear the second chime, release the buttons.
4. After releasing the keys, your Mac will restart and hopefully your drive will show up.
Step 3: Reset the SMC on your Mac
In certain circumstances, resetting SMC can be a solution because SMC is responsible for lower-level functions like power and hardware. 
Note: The method of resetting SMC is varied from models to models, so check and know how to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac.
Mac External Cd Drive Not Recognized DriveLet's take resetting SMC of a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro Retina, or MacBook Pro's with an internal non-removable battery as an example: 
1. Shut down your MacBook Air/MacBook Pro.
2. Connect the power adapter to the Mac.
3. After your Mac shuts down, press Shift + Control + Option on the left side of the built-in keyboard, then press the power button at the same time. Hold these keys and the power button for 10 seconds.
4. Release all keys and the power button at the same time. Then press the power button again to turn on your Mac, which would take a little time.
Step 4: Run Mac diagnostics to detect hardware issues
Apple Service Diagnostic is a set of diagnostic tools used by technicians to find faults. You can use it to confirm or deny your suspicions. If the external hard drive has been physically damaged, you have to send it to local disk repair center.
1. It is advised to disconnect all the external devices except keyboard, mouse and other useful devices.
2. Reboot your Mac or you can power on your Mac if it powers off.
3. Press and hold D button on your keyboard. Hold the button until you would be asked to choose the language.
4. After selecting your language, it will display a progress bar stating Checking your mac.
5. After completing the diagnostics, it will suggest you the solutions for the errors diagnosed.
To sum up
It's relatively complicated to check out why is an external hard drive not showing up, recognized, or detected by macOS. If you worry about data loss in this process, you can recover all important data from the external hard drive first with the assistance of iBoysoft Data Recovery for Mac.
Moreover, to prevent an external hard drive not showing up issue, it's advised to properly eject or connect your external drives at any time. Besides, always backing up critical files on another drive or in the cloud would help a lot.
Itrash 5 0 36. Apple computers without a built-in optical drive can connect an external Apple USB SuperDrive or MacBook Air SuperDrive to read optical media such as CDs and DVDs. The Apple USB SuperDrive has a slightly longer (340mm) cable compared to the cable on the MacBook Air SuperDrive (250mm). Both SuperDrives are functionally equivalent.
Older models of the MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Pro, and Mac mini computers have a built-in SuperDrive. The SuperDrive uses a slot-loading mechanism which pulls the disc directly in rather than first placing the disc onto a loading tray. Older Mac Pro models use a loading tray.
First stepsMake sure the Apple USB SuperDrive is lying flat on a surface with the silver top facing upward (shown below). If the Superdrive is oriented upside down it will not read discs.Correct:Aluminum enclosure is facing up
Incorrect: Apple logo should be facing down
Because the USB port on external displays may not be powered at startup, connect the drive directly to the USB ports on your Apple computer when you need to use the Superdrive as a startup device. Reconnect the Superdrive directly to the display when you no longer need to start the computer from the SuperDrive.
The Apple USB SuperDrive and MacBook Air SuperDrive are designed exclusively for use with Mac computers that do not have a built-in optical drive. Plug in the SuperDrive directly to the computer's USB port. Don't use a USB hub.
You can also connect the SuperDrive to the USB ports on the back of the Apple LED Cinema Display (24-inch, Late 2008), Apple LED Cinema Display (27-inch), or Apple Thunderbolt Display.
Be sure not to put the drive underneath anything heavy, underneath your computer, or on top of your computer.
If you have trouble using a SuperDrive with Microsoft Windows, try starting the computer with the SuperDrive already plugged in.
Check your discBefore troubleshooting, first confirm the discs you are using will work with your computer. Inserting a non-standard sized or shaped disc into a drive that is not designed to accommodate it may damage the drive. Use of such discs is not supported and any damage caused will not be covered under your Apple warranty or applicable extended service contract. The slot loading drives used in Apple computers work with only standard 120 mm round discs.
Standard 120 mm round disc:
Example nonstandard sized or shaped discs that are not supported:
Specific troubleshootingBelow are several possible symptoms you may see. Follow the steps for the appropriate symptom to figure out whether the issue stems from the drive or the media. Be sure to inspect discs before use to ensure they are not cracked, scratched, or otherwise damaged. Inspection should include the inner ring of the disc which should be smooth and burr free. A disc with physical defects may become stuck in or cause damage to the drive.
Doesn't accept discsBe sure to check your disc to make sure it is flat. You can check this by putting the disc upside-down on a flat surface. If the disc is bowed up on any side or in the center, do not use the disc because it might get stuck in the drive. Do not use discs that have anything attached to them or dangling from them (such as 'sweeper' or cleaning discs).
If the drive struggles when you put in a disc or stops part-way, carefully look at the disc for labels that may be interfering. If there aren't any raised labels then try putting the disc in a few more times.
Try another disc to see if the issue is being caused by a specific disc.
Make sure you insert the disc far enough for the drive mechanism to activate. You need to insert discs nearly all the way before the drive will activate and pull them in. If you don't completely insert a disc, the drive will reverse and push the disc back out.
Allow the drive one or two seconds to accept the disc while it is fully inserted.
Reset the System Management Controller (SMC).
If the drive repeatedly does not accept discs, contact Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or make an appointment with an Apple Retail Store.
Accepts discs but they don't mount or are automatically ejectedMake sure the drive is not placed upside down. The aluminum enclosure should be facing up as shown in section 1.
Check the disc's surface for scratches and dirt, since these things can prevent the disc from appearing on the desktop.
Connect the MacBook Air SuperDrive directly to the computer's USB port instead a USB hub.
Reset the System Management Controller (SMC).
Ensure your drive can read the specific type of disc being used. The System Profiler or System Information may provide additional information regarding what media your computer supports.OS X Snow Leopard v10.6 or earlier: Open Apple System Profiler by choosing 'About this Mac' from the Apple () menu. Then, click More Info.
OS X Lion v10.7 and later: Click the Apple () menu and then hold down the Option key. Choose System Information from the menu.
If the disc continues to not be recognized, contact Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or make an appointment with an Apple Retail Store.
Doesn't eject discs or discs eject slowlyIf the drive ejects discs slowly or appears to be struggling, insert and eject a single disc several times. Check the disc to see if it has a label or other material stuck to the disc that increases the thickness. Remove the label if possible.
If the disc will not eject, try pressing the eject key on the keyboard. Some older keyboards may use the F12 key to eject discs.
If the disc will not eject, try dragging the disc icon to the trash.
If the disc will still not eject, try holding down the trackpad or mouse button after restarting the computer. The Superdrive should attempt to eject the disc.
If the disc continues not to eject, reset the System Management Controller (SMC) and try steps 1-4 again.
If the disc still does not eject, contact Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or make an appointment with an Apple Retail Store for additional assistance.
Noisy or vibrating driveNote that due to the way optical drives function by rotating the disc rapidly, some noise and vibration is expected.
If you think the drive is making noise beyond what's expected when you insert or eject discs, try inserting and ejecting a disc several times to correct the issue.
Try other discs to see if the issue can be isolated to a single disc, or type of disc, as opposed to the drive itself. If a disc is weighted unevenly, such as discs that have a labels or stickers, it can cause additional noise and vibration when spinning up in the drive.
Reset the System Management Controller (SMC).
Vibrations due to the optical drive being in use may be exacerbated by using the system on a surface that is not hard and level. Make sure all the plastic feet on your notebook computer are present as this could create an uneven surface.
Be aware that the drive should only operate horizontally, and noise may increase if you try to use it at an angle. Picking up or moving the machine while a disc is being read may result in the disc becoming unbalanced. Any damage sustained to the drive or the disc as a result of operating it in this manner is not covered by the products warranty.
While a certain amount of noise and vibration is expected, if you believe the noise or the vibrations being generated by the drive are not normal, please contact Apple, contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or make an appointment with an Apple Retail Store for additional troubleshooting, evaluation, or service options.
Scratched discsMac External Cd Drive Not Recognized ForgottenIf media is getting scratched after being used in the drive, contact Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or make an appointment with an Apple Retail Store for additional troubleshooting, evaluation, or service.
Learn moreYou can use a SuperDrive with Mac mini (late 2009) and later, MacBook Pro with Retina Display, MacBook Air, iMac (Late 2012) and later, and Mac Pro (Late 2013) computers. Note that there is no eject button on these models to eject a disc. In order to eject you can Control-click or right-click the disc icon and choose Eject from the menu that appears. You can also drag the disc icon to the trash.
For computers that did not ship with an optical drive and do not have the Apple USB SuperDrive, you can use CD or DVD sharing to access a CD or DVD in another computer's optical drive.
See the compatibility list for Mac computers and the Apple USB SuperDrive or the MacBook Air SuperDrive.