Optical Drive: Disappears After Computer Sleep

Created on: May 11, 2013
Last updated: August 25, 2015

OS X will treat the optical drive as if it were a hard drive when going into Sleep mode; afterward the optical drive may no longer be visible. The workaround to this behavior is to disable hard disk sleep. 

1. Open the Apple Menu and choose "System Prefernces..."

2. Click the Energy Saver icon.

3. Uncheck the option to "Put hard disks to sleep when possible."

4. Close the System Preferences and restart your computer. This should solve the optical drive's sleep related issues.