Burning DVDs to read on a PC?

[Euan]

Hi,

First, sorry if this is in the wrong place. Secondly, I am posting this on behalf of my g/f.

Now the problem... she has a Powerbook at home with a superdrive. She has burnt DVDs (not using iDVD) that contain Photoshop files (Photoshop 6).

She wants to access these DVDs (on a PC) at work to get the Photoshop files (she's got photoshop CS at work).

When she puts the DVD in the PC it will not read the DVD... is there any specific reason why this wouldn't work? Should she use iDVD and use specific settings?

I don't have a Mac (yet!) so it's harder for me to help her.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks
Euan

 

[DeSnousa]

First of all iDVD is not for that kind of purpose, it's used to create movies.

Is your g/f using finder to create the DVD?

Edit: This may help

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh1120.html

 

[Euan]

Is your g/f using finder to create the DVD?

Have asked her, will let you know when I hear from here.

Edit: This may help http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh1120.html

Thanks, have emailed her the link. I don't know if thats what she does at the moment.

EDIT: She uses OSX 10.2.8 - don't know if this makes a difference.

 

[DeSnousa]

EDIT: She uses OSX 10.2.8 - don't know if this makes a difference.

It will not matter, burning has been supported for quite a while. That link is the same for burning any thing, whether for mac or windows. So if your g/f has been using Finder already there is something else to it.

 

[Euan]

So if your g/f has been using Finder already there is something else to it.

Thanks.

 

[spinne1]

One solution is to have her burn data DVDs within Toast and make sure to select the hybrid PC/Mac option. Also, is she burning double layer DVDs or single layer? If she were burning double layer, maybe the PC drive would have trouble reading it (but it seems all DVD drives should be able to read double layer--but some drives may be finicky).

 

[Euan]

One solution is to have her burn data DVDs within Toast and make sure to select the hybrid PC/Mac option. Also, is she burning double layer DVDs or single layer? If she were burning double layer, maybe the PC drive would have trouble reading it (but it seems all DVD drives should be able to read double layer--but some drives may be finicky).

Hi spinne1, thanks for the reply. I'm waiting to hear how she burnt here DVDs before to see if she did it through Finder (which should create it as a hybrid format).

 

[Euan]

I found this page... http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61342

If you have a computer that can burn DVD-R discs, inserting a DVD-R disc in Mac OS X 10.2 provides the additional option to open iDVD. With Mac OS X 10.2.8 or earlier, DVD-R discs burned in the Finder are Mac OS Extended format (HFS Plus), not hybrid. With Mac OS X 10.3 or later, they are hybrid.

Does this mean that she won't be able to use Finder to burn in hybrid format? Could she use iDVD to burn in hybrid format?

Thanks for your help.

 

[DeSnousa]

I found this page... http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61342


Does this mean that she won't be able to use Finder to burn in hybrid format? Could she use iDVD to burn in hybrid format?

Thanks for your help.

There's the problem, like i said above iDVD is used for creating a DVD based menu system for your movies.

I did a simple search for an app and came up with this:

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/BurnX-Free.shtml

I can't recommend the app as I have not used it, but it looks goo and is compatible with 10.2.

 

[Euan]

There's the problem

Yep, looks like that could be it.

I did a simple search for an app and came up with this:

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/BurnX-Free.shtml

I can't recommend the app as I have not used it, but it looks goo and is compatible with 10.2.

Thanks, I had a look at it. Looks like it should burn CDs ok.

Anyone know any other similar programs that would burn CDs but also DVDs?

 

[DeSnousa]

I think it should be fine with a DVD disk, its like Finder, you create a burn folder and insert the disk and burn away. When the disk is inserted, seeing its a data CD it acts just like a CD but with more space. If that makes any sense.

Just give the app a go, if not here's another app which is a trail:

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/Dragon-Burn.shtml

Or if your g/f knows a bit she can create a .dmg and use terminal to convert it to .iso.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050819185219196

 

[cube]

DiscBlaze is pretty cool.
However if you burn to DVD-RAM you can't add stuff to it later. For this, it's better to use Disk Utility (to format) and just drag files to the disc in the Finder.

 

[DeSnousa]

Okay i just found this:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/win/13831

Its for the windows box and allows mac formatted disks to be read.

The best solution is to buy Tiger (10.4), its a great update and i believe 10.2 is starting to get outdated.

 

[cube]

I don't find Tiger to be great. I think it's better to get a cheap burning program.

 

[Josh]

What I usually do when burning DVD's of any kind - be it a movie, or files, etc - since I don't have a SuperDrive on my iBook, is this:

If it is a DVD movie created in iMovie/iDVD:
1) Open the completed project in iDVD, and save the project as an image.

2)Transfer the new image file to a computer with a DVD burner via network, email, etc (sometimes you can get an image small enough to burn on a CD, and can transfer the file to a capable computer that way - even DVD movies, as an image is an image, regardless of contents).

3)Burn the image to a DVD on the new computer. On a Mac, open Disk Utility, drag the image to the left panel, and click 'Burn'. All done

---------------------------
If it is several random files, sometimes of differing file types, I do this:

1)Select them all, right (ctrl) click, and 'Create Archive'...this will zip all the files into on package.

2)Transfer the zip file to another computer, same as step 2 above.

3)Unzip the contents on the new machine, and burn them to DVD. If on a Mac, I open the blank DVD in finder, drag the files, and click burn.

 

[Euan]

Folks, thanks for all the feedback. I'll take a look at all the different applications tonight and see what feedback each software has.

At least there are a few software options which should all do the job.

 

[Euan]

I think it should be fine with a DVD disk, its like Finder, you create a burn folder and insert the disk and burn away. When the disk is inserted, seeing its a data CD it acts just like a CD but with more space. If that makes any sense.

If BurnX works with DVDs then I think that will be the solution given it's free!

Will let you know the outcome.

 

[faintember]

The best solution is to buy Tiger (10.4), its a great update and i believe 10.2 is starting to get outdated.

DeSnousa is right on the money again. I went from 10.2.? to 10.4 and the difference is amazing. Everything seems to be faster, more streamlined, and of course the added functionality of Tiger.

 

[Euan]

DeSnousa is right on the money again. I went from 10.2.? to 10.4 and the difference is amazing. Everything seems to be faster, more streamlined, and of course the added functionality of Tiger.

I suspect her plan is to upgrade soon but her main objective at the moment is to get work from her PB onto a PC... I think if she needs to buy software to burn then it would be best upgrading to 10.4 and using Finder to do the job instead.