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BilltheCat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 14, 2007
243
0
Sanford FL
I have never had an apple before. I do now! (yaay!)

but that said, I have never burned a DVD either. The DVD has an impressive list of formats it will copy,burn, or record. But I dont understand the different uses at all. or even how to best do the deed.

1. what should I use to make a copy of documents, or programs, or stuff I never want to lose? music cd's for the car?

2. make a copy of my movies? which type dvd, brand is best, etc? Do I want different software to do that? or is mac software on board ok?

3. what else should I know about iMac and DVD's?

Thanks!
 

deebster

macrumors 6502
Oct 21, 2004
276
0
Olde Englande
If you are using The Finder to burn then it will create only 'Data' discs, which are good for straight up copies of documents etc to a disc.

Music discs (Audio / mp3 / 'data' formats) will be handled by iTunes.

Burning DVD movies from your own footage / projects etc is done by iDVD, but if you want to do backup copies of your own (not pirated of course etc etc) DVD movie discs you will need specialised software that can burn in the correct format (UDF). Toast Titanium 8 (just released) will do this but it's not free. There are free alternatives that may do some of what Toast does. Check http://www.macupdate.com for those ('Burn' springs to mind here).

I prefer Verbatim media for all critical stuff, but there are many many choices on this score. There's plenty of discussion on media on this forum.
 

ftaok

macrumors 603
Jan 23, 2002
6,485
1,571
East Coast
2. make a copy of my movies? which type dvd, brand is best, etc? Do I want different software to do that? or is mac software on board ok?


Thanks!
Toast 8 is a great application, but for backing up your DVDs, all you really need is Mac The Ripper and DVD Imager. For DVDs under 4.4GB, use DVD+/-R and for larger ones, use DVD+/-R DL. No need for Toast since you have a DL burner, just higher media cost.

ft
 
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