Riodass external CD drive

[Milestones]

Has anyone used this for ripping, burning, and even listening to CDs?  I just received this today, and I can't get it to function at all.  My previous CD drive (LG) worked fine on my old HP computer and my current Apple Mac.  This one...just a problem.  I tried a host of troubleshooting trips and no luck.  There were a lot of good reviews on this, so I am surprised. 

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks.

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

9% of Amazon reviews are 1 star, with most of them saying that the drive arrived dead.

I worked in the electronics industry for over 40 years and I've been told that a lot of companies (our customers) that were making cheap electronics like this external CD drive, use the consumer for "final test". It's cheaper to have you return it for a new one than it is to test it themselves.

I would send it back and get a replacement or a credit.

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B07DLRG9VH/ref=acr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=one_star&reviewerType=all_reviews#reviews-filter-bar

A little while back, I got a new tower PC with a shit laptop-sized optical drive, so I bought an external case, this one:

https://www.amazon.com/External-Enclosure-Generation-Aluminum-NST-540S3-BK/dp/B09SS74KCN/a4b666

And then I bought a highly-rated internal drive. I researched it quite a bit and eventually bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G9FRFT7?

And yes, I know that Plextor is no longer a company, just a licensed name, but this drive had decent reviews at the time.

 

[Stompin at the Savoy]

Did you find the latest drivers for the product (company website probably) and install them? After you've done that, does the drive show up when you plug it in?  For ex on a pc you should see it in File Explorer.

I recently bought a Dell PC tower which did not have a built in cd player so I bought an external usb player from Dell for about $50.  Works fine so far.

Edited 20 hours ago by Stompin at the Savoy

[Kevin Bresnahan]

An optical drive should plug & play in Windows - no driver should be needed. Besides, it sounds like it is being plugged into a Mac in this case.

One thing to consider... this drive draws power through the USB-A connection. If you're plugging this into the Thunderbolt/USB-C port on the Mac with an adapter or port replicator, it might not be getting power. Check the specs on the adapter.

[Milestones]

It is an Apple computer.  The setup requires an adapter on the CD drive cord.

 

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

25 minutes ago, Milestones said:

It is an Apple computer.  The setup requires an adapter on the CD drive cord.

Does the adapter pass power as well as data? Not all adapters do it.apable 

Maybe I should ask what does happen with your external drive... Does is light up/power on? Does the tray open and close? Does the disc spin up? Have you tried plugging it into different Thunderbolt ports on the Mac? Are all of the Thunderbolt ports capable of providing DC power? My car only has one USB-C port that provides power. The other two are data only.

FWIW, Apple products tend to do stupid shit to force you to buy their accessories. I would not be surprised in the least if Apple did something so that you can only use one of their external drives. They're done it with other peripherals in the past.

[Milestones]

I have to open the drawer with a paper clip, there is no light, disc does not spin.

I'm done with it.

 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

19 minutes ago, Milestones said:

I have to open the drawer with a paper clip, there is no light, disc does not spin.

I'm done with it.

That means there's no power. It could be DOA or it could be that the port is not supplying any power.

Have you tried plugging in some other peripheral that gets its juice from the port (like an external hard drive)? Does it work?