All iPads iPad Air 3 - external DVD Drive

[Jamesd123]

Hi

I have an Apple Superdrive, I was wondering if there was a way I could use the superdrive on my Ipad to watch DVD's through the iPad, could I get a lightning to USB and connect it that way?

I have looked online and through the forum and can't find an answer,

Thanks

 

[ericwn]

I don’t think iOS or iPadOS supports this functionality and have never heard of a DVD player. Maybe with a powered hub you could get the drive to spin and then use something like vlc for the playback?

 

[sparksd]

Hi

I have an Apple Superdrive, I was wondering if there was a way I could use the superdrive on my Ipad to watch DVD's through the iPad, could I get a lightning to USB and connect it that way?

I have looked online and through the forum and can't find an answer,

Thanks

No, DVD drives require drivers specific to host devices, which do not include iPads. I would guess that Apple would view DVD drives as ancient technology not worthy of support.

 

[AutomaticApple]

Hi

I have an Apple Superdrive, I was wondering if there was a way I could use the superdrive on my Ipad to watch DVD's through the iPad, could I get a lightning to USB and connect it that way?

I have looked online and through the forum and can't find an answer,

Thanks

It won't work. Even if you use a powered hub, it probably won't work.

 

[Jamesd123]

Ok thanks for the help guys.

 

[pmmacd]

I got a camera reader the other day, have to do something to just read from a thumb drive. Hope it works. Didn’t on my iPad Air 2 but got new iPad Air 3
I’ll let you guys know

 

[rui no onna]

I got a camera reader the other day, have to do something to just read from a thumb drive. Hope it works. Didn’t on my iPad Air 2 but got new iPad Air 3
I’ll let you guys know

Did you get the USB3 version? I had to plug it in to power so it would work properly with my e-ink reader (uses USB mass storage protocol). That was unexpected considering the reader has its own battery.

 

[EugW]

I could not get my iPad Pro 10.5 with USB 3 to Lightning camera adapter to recognize my DVD drive even for data discs, presumably because it’s the wrong file format. Not FAT32 on a CD-R, etc.

 

[sparksd]

I could not get my iPad Pro 10.5 with USB 3 to Lightning camera adapter to recognize my DVD drive even for data discs, presumably because it’s the wrong file format. Not FAT32 on a CD-R, etc.

It's not just file format, it's the interface with the hardware device - drivers or built-in OS support is required, neither of which iOS has.

 

[EugW]

It's not just file format, it's the interface with the hardware device - drivers or built-in OS support is required, neither of which iOS has.

iPads work fine with Zip drives

Edit:

So, I just looked this up. The first USB Zip drives appeared on Amazon in 2002. However they were becoming defunct by about 15 years ago, long before the first iPad was even released.

Yet, these floppy disk drives work fine in iPadOS 13 in 2019, with all the drivers built in. Why? Presumably cuz they’re just standard USB drive devices, and support FAT. I would not at all be surprised to find USB DVD drives working too if you could get a disk with the right file format. eg. DVD-RAM.

 

[sparksd]

Yeah, I've got a very old parallel i/f Iomega in a box. I think you're right in that DVD-RAM discs might work but it's being discontinued. iOS doesn't like UDF, h/w issues aside.