Mac: "You have inserted a disk containing no volumes that Mac OS X can read."?

Question

I'm tired and I'm at a loss. I thought this was a surmountable problem. Apparently I was wrong. Anyhoo...I've done all of the simple things. Then, I everything else I tried to find to fix it...I either didn't have, couldn't figure out or it didn't work. I know this sounds idiotic...but, as I said, I'm tired. If you think you've got the answer as to why I'm getting this message and why the Mac isn't reading either of two different blank discs that I just need to add some frickin' pictures to, let me know.

Answer 1

Let's consider what type of disks. CDs? DVDs? Mobile USB disks? Flash disks? Also, have the disks been used in a Windows computer? If using CD / DVD disks, are they re-writable disks? Were they formated on a Windows computer?

Also, what version of OS X? Have you tried the disks on any other Mac to see if the problem is with your Mac or with the disks? I bet you didn't expect a lot of questions instead of answers but thinking about these questions will get you closer to the correct answer.

If these are optical disks (CD-R / CD-RW) burned on a Windows computer? Most Windows users format using a program called "Direct CD" that makes a "Universal Disk Format" (ISO 13346) disk. It takes some important files in Mac OS to use those UDF CDs and the files are sometimes updated when you update the Mac OS. Did you run any type of updater for the Mac OS, iTunes, iDVD recently? Or did you click to agree to an automatic "Software Update" message? Install the updater again. If the update did not come from a download but was from the Software Update program, you will have a "receipt" at the pathway:
hard drive / Library / Receipts
It might have a name such as "MacOSXUpdate10.3.9.pkg" or something similar. Don't mess with any of the other receipts. Just look for the update. Write down the exact name of the update receipt. Now throw out the receipt, restart and connect to:
http://www.apple.com/support/
Search there for the name of the update and download it to your hard drive and then run that update installer.

If that doesn't fix it, boot to the OS X install CD, but DON'T reinstall. Click on the "Installer" or "Utilities" menu and open Disk Utility. DON'T repair disk permissions. Just repair disk. If it says anything at the end except "appears to be Okay", repair again. Quit Disk Utility, quit the installer and restart.