I recently had a Lacie DVD-R burner installed in my mac @ home. After burning some files onto a DVDR cd I took it to my office mac. But for some reason it doesn't read this cd. Any suggestions?
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Reading a DVD-R CD
- Thread starter BigAlDiver
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ftaok
macrumors 604
Not to be condecending, but does your work Mac have a DVD drive? By the sounds of your message, it seems as if you're unclear on the differences between DVDs and CDs.
I'm assuming that your home Mac has a DVD burner. If your work Mac only has a CD drive (or CD-RW), you won't be able to read DVDs burned at home.
I'm assuming that your home Mac has a DVD burner. If your work Mac only has a CD drive (or CD-RW), you won't be able to read DVDs burned at home.
Well, ftaok, if you think I'm too stupid to know....
Just kidding!!
Yea, it does have a DVD drive for movies. The work mac has a reg CD-RW burner, but not DVD-R burner. Sorry if I was unclear. I'm just wondering if some type of software is needed to read the DVD data on the DVD-R cd.
I was on the Lacie's website and it doesn't refer to anything on it's FAQ's.
I'm not too familiar with DVD-R burners and the compatibility of the DVD-R cds with other OS systems including PC. Just wondering if there was some process I wasn't aware of. If anyone can help or offer a solution, I would appreciate it.
And thanks, ftaok.
Just kidding!!
Yea, it does have a DVD drive for movies. The work mac has a reg CD-RW burner, but not DVD-R burner. Sorry if I was unclear. I'm just wondering if some type of software is needed to read the DVD data on the DVD-R cd.
I was on the Lacie's website and it doesn't refer to anything on it's FAQ's.
I'm not too familiar with DVD-R burners and the compatibility of the DVD-R cds with other OS systems including PC. Just wondering if there was some process I wasn't aware of. If anyone can help or offer a solution, I would appreciate it.
And thanks, ftaok.
ftaok
macrumors 604
Big Al
Not all DVD drives can read DVD-R. Especially if it's an older drive. By all means, check to see if the work Mac has the latest drivers and such.
BTW, when referring to DVDs, there is no need to add "cd". By referring to them this way, I thought you were confused. DVDs are just DVDs. Not DVD cd.
Hope you can figure out your problems.
Al, it's still not clear what drive is in your machine at work. To be as clear as possible, DVD is not the same as CD. The only similarity they have is that the discs are the same size and shape.
You say the computer at work has a CDRW drive. A CDRW drive will not be able to read any DVD. Period. It can only read and write to CDs.
If you have what apple calls a "combo drive", then it will be able to read most DVDs as well as read and write CDs. I say a combo drive can read most DVDs because there are many DVD formats and it may not be able to read every format and even within the same format, some brands of media aren't as reliable as others.
If your work computer only has a CDRW drive, there's no point in continuing to try to use DVDs with it.
If your work computer has a combo drive, try creating your DVD on a different type of media. Since you say you have a new LaCie, I assume it's the multi-format burner that's capable of writing to four of the five types of DVD media. There's DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM. The + and - are different. The current line of LaCie drives can write to and read from all of those but DVD-RAM.
You say the computer at work has a CDRW drive. A CDRW drive will not be able to read any DVD. Period. It can only read and write to CDs.
If you have what apple calls a "combo drive", then it will be able to read most DVDs as well as read and write CDs. I say a combo drive can read most DVDs because there are many DVD formats and it may not be able to read every format and even within the same format, some brands of media aren't as reliable as others.
If your work computer only has a CDRW drive, there's no point in continuing to try to use DVDs with it.
If your work computer has a combo drive, try creating your DVD on a different type of media. Since you say you have a new LaCie, I assume it's the multi-format burner that's capable of writing to four of the five types of DVD media. There's DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM. The + and - are different. The current line of LaCie drives can write to and read from all of those but DVD-RAM.
If you have what apple calls a "combo drive", then it will be able to read most DVDs as well as read and write CDs.
Jtown, it appears I have a combo drive. But if what you say is correct, then I will have to conform my Lacie to the proper writing format.
Since my work mac has the capabilities of burning regular cd's as well as play Dvd movies, what would be the proper format to burn the 4.7GB DVD-R for it to read the data files from home mac? Or is it a particular DVD that I must use to burn on?
Jtown, it appears I have a combo drive. But if what you say is correct, then I will have to conform my Lacie to the proper writing format.
Since my work mac has the capabilities of burning regular cd's as well as play Dvd movies, what would be the proper format to burn the 4.7GB DVD-R for it to read the data files from home mac? Or is it a particular DVD that I must use to burn on?
How much data? If it is less than 650 or 700MB why not use a CD-R? If it is more then that, then it would make sense to use DVD media. If you need to use DVD media, check to see if you are burning using R as that has the greatest possibility of compatibility. Also make sure the session gets closed as well.
It's pretty much close to 2 GB. Pretty big...
I will make sure it's burning as -R, Lanbrown.
Hey, thanks, alot guys. I'll let you know tomorrow if it was a successful burn or if I should be flogged.
Al
http://sharkdivermag.com
That sounds like a combo drive. As for picking the type of DVD you create, that's determined by the meda, not any settings you can control in the program used to make the DVD. If you put in a blank DVD-R, you'll make a DVD-R. If you put in a blank DVD+R, you'll create a DVD+R. Same with DVD-RW and DVD+RW.
Sure would be nice if the "standards" hadn't split like that. It really slowed down acceptance of DVD writers. Multi-format burners are a fairly recent phenomenon. Wasn't long ago that Sony was the only company selling one and they were $400. I didn't want to pay that much but I also didn't want to pay $200 for a single-format drive and find out that I made the wrong choice.
In just the last few months, it seems like all of the manufacturers finally decided that there's nothing to do about it but make multi-format burners. Now they're finally affordable with $100 single-format burners and $130 multi-format untis. Probably would have happened a year ago without the +/- issue and now we'll probably see +/- debates until the Next Big Thing comes along and replaces DVD.
Sure would be nice if the "standards" hadn't split like that. It really slowed down acceptance of DVD writers. Multi-format burners are a fairly recent phenomenon. Wasn't long ago that Sony was the only company selling one and they were $400. I didn't want to pay that much but I also didn't want to pay $200 for a single-format drive and find out that I made the wrong choice.
In just the last few months, it seems like all of the manufacturers finally decided that there's nothing to do about it but make multi-format burners. Now they're finally affordable with $100 single-format burners and $130 multi-format untis. Probably would have happened a year ago without the +/- issue and now we'll probably see +/- debates until the Next Big Thing comes along and replaces DVD.