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CD/DVD external drive not recognized by Ubuntu 20.04

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Fausto Arinos Barbuto

My new computer came without a CD/DVD drive and I have tons of stuff backed up on CDs and DVDs. Besides, my wife still likes these out-of-favour kind of media to store family photos, etc. I then bought and external CD/DVD drive which I connect to my desktop via an USB port. But the system does not recognize it. It seems mechanically fine, as I can open its tray, insert the medium, close the tray and then it starts to spin as if it were trying to recognize the CD or DVD. But it keeps spinning, the green LED blinks and yet the drive never mounts. It usually makes a bit of a noise while trying to read the disc. df does not list the device when it's connected.

If I execute dmesg | grep sr0 I get lots of lines similar to the one below:

[39101.416765] sr 4:0:0:0: [sr0] scsi3-mmc drive: 24x/24x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
[39101.443807] sr 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0

Is it possible that I burned the drive somehow? Or does it need a special driver or program to get started? The device has no brand mark on it, not even that ubiquitous "Made in China" written on its case, and hence I can't find any info on the product (manual, etc). It has though a plug for connecting an external power source to it (not supplied along with the drive), and I wonder if an external supply of power isn't what's missing. That shouldn't be the case, as it spins and therefore power doesn't seem to be a problem. Looks like "mission impossible". Any ideas?

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user535733 avatar
cn flag
user535733
It may seem silly, but hot-plugging never worked for me either. I had to reboot with my USB-DVD drive connected, and then is was recognized by Ubuntu immediately. No special driver or software. Just rebooted with it connected.
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in flag
matigo
If it’s a bus-powered optical drive with a USB-A connector, you may need to plug it into a powered hub or get one of those double-ended USB cables that can draw power from two USB ports.
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guiverc avatar
cn flag
guiverc
Was the *disc* closed? If it was written to but kept open (ie. part of the file-system exists only on the box that wrote the data to the drive), the *disc* will only be readable on the system that wrote it (as it has the missing data inside it's cache). I'm rarely using DVD/CD media these days, but I've still had to replace 2x drives in the last ~25 months as the drives are now rather old (ie. I seem to be replacing drives about every 5-8 times I use them as they're getting old & failing...)
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heynnema avatar
ru flag
heynnema
It sounds like the laser is having trouble reading the disc. It may be dusty. If this is a tray drive, carefully clean the laser lens with a Q-tip. If it's a slot drive, blow out the drive with some compressed air.
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br flag
Fausto Arinos Barbuto
@guiverc Yes, the discs I tried were closed. I have no open discs.
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br flag
Fausto Arinos Barbuto
@user535733 I tried that, but it didn't work. Maybe the drive is irreversibly damaged.
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