So, I thought I’d post something here about trying to RIP DVD (or CD) and having intermittent failures or device not found.
We are the proud owners of HUNDREDS of DVD’s that we’ve collected over the years. I decided to begin transferring some (if not all) of the collection to our KODI streaming media player. The REAL impetus was during the holiday. I was searching for Xmas movies (that we had on DVD stored in a closet) on Netflix, Amazon and few of the other streaming services to which we subscribe. Every one of them wanted me to rent / buy / ship a dvd to my home. Ugghh. I already own them. So, I dug out a very nice, but unused Blu-Ray player that was also stored in a closet. Hooked it all up and we were off. (side note – I COMPLETELY forgot that DVD’s have menus that you have to go through to play the movie)
So, I bought an inexpensive USB 3 DVD player for ripping my collection (Novapolt USB 3.0 Ultra Slim External DVD CD Drive)
I connected it to my 27″ iMac, downloaded HandBrake and began ripping DVD’s. That’s were the trouble began. Some worked, some failed part way, some just churned and drive was clicking. I also noticed that some of the other external drives on my system were “improperly ejected”.
I did some googling and most results were related to windows and latest drivers, etc. That is what I would have done if I was at work and having these issues. But, it’s OSX. No drivers needed.
But, I was pondering it and realized that I had an external USB hub that is highly rated, works like a charm, but it’s getting its power from the USB bus.
So, on a whim, I ordered another USB hub that has more ports and is powered. I was running out of ports anyway.
That fixed all my issues. I think we (including me, the IT nerd and expert of 20+ years) sometimes forget the little things. I believe the additional power draw of the newly added DVD drive was killing the USB hub and impacting my other devices. A powered hub is what was needed. So simple, right in front of me, but it took me long enough to realize it.
I hope this helps someone else.