Ubuntu won't recognize DVD drive
In a shell (Ctrl+Alt+T to open one) type:
sudo lshw -C disk
This should show you all disk devices including DVD/CDROM drives. They will be noted with their logical names included.
lshw should be installed, but sudo apt-get install lshw will install it if it's not.
Although the question is 2 years old at this time, this answer is provided for completeness.
In my experience, this was a hardware issue. Physically changing the SATA port on the motherboard to which the DVD drive was connected solved this issue, namely, an Ubuntu release upgrade causing a previously working DVD drive to fail to be recognized in the new installation. I do not presently know if this is due to Ubuntu not recognizing the device properly due to some bug, or if it's a fault in my motherboard.
More detail: I recently upgraded (to 16.04 from 14.04) and faced a similar problem: a previously working DVD drive stopped working. The DVD SATA cable happened to be connected to the SATA05 port on my motherboard. This worked fine in 14.04. After upgrading, it stopped working, and I fixed the problem by:
- shutting down my machine (don't forget to unplug it and then tap the power button once to discharge components, preventing electrostatic shock to yourself and damage to your machine)
- physically moving the DVD SATA cable to a different SATA port, preferably with a lower number (SATA01 in my case), if one is available.
- rebooting (don't forget to re-plug in the power cable)
- Enter the BIOS setup (usually by tapping F2 or F1 during boot on most PCs. Look at the screen during boot and it may make a recommendation, or Google it on another machine, referencing your computer brand & model, if you can't figure out the key on your own) and make sure the new SATA port that you just used for the DVD drive is enabled or "on."
After this procedure, my DVD drive worked perfectly in the new installation, including being automatically mounted and visible in the desktop environment.
Note: upgrading from a LTS release to a non-LTS release, such as from 12.04 LTS to 13.04, as the OP did, instead of going between LTS releases, carries a higher risk of bugs and associated troubleshooting.