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jimnjack

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 18, 2003
5
0
I'm writing for my daughter who has an IMac 15" flat panel 80 GIG HD, 512 Ram, Superdrive. We are having no luck burning her Illustrator files to a CD-RW. She drags the files to the CD-RW Icon which pops up after she inserts the CD-RW. Drags the Icon to the BURN icon and after a few seconds the drive pops open during the BURN with Error Code 3 (Illegal Instruction Error)?????? She has the computer away at school. I'm trying to find a fix from a distance. She can burn Audio CD's with no problem. I'm a PC mom, so not so MAC knowledgeable. On PC we use Easy CD Creator to burn audio OR Data to disks. Is iTunes similar? Can she change some settings and try burning Data to a CD in iTunes?
 

psycho bob

macrumors 6502a
Oct 25, 2003
639
6
Leeds, England
the iTunes route is a no go. I assume she's using 10.2.x so there are 2 ways to burn data to a CD. May I suggest she first tries burning a new CD-RW. It could be the disc at fault. The disc hasn't been formatted using the disc utility application has it? Never format CD's using disc utility use the option in disc copy to erase the disc. The only solution I've found for repairing a CD formatted in disc utility is to reformat it using a 3rd party application (in my case on a pc, I used NERO) although disc copy may work the same way (using the erase command...)never tried I don't think. If she still can't burn then try turn the files into a disc image using disc copy. Put the files into a folder, open disc copy and drag the folder to the open windon then follow the instructions.Once the image is created use the option on one of disc copies menus to burn the image to disc. Hope this helps.
 

jimnjack

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 18, 2003
5
0
Do you have to format the CD-RWs?

She bought a 5-pack of Memorex CD-RW's at Wal-mart. Do these disks need to be formatted? I've read that a format window would open up and she should pick the Standard Format, but no window opens for formatting. Just the CD icon appears on her desktop. I just can't believe all 5 are bad, (same thing happens to all of them) but she is going to try just using a regular CD-R and see what happens. Being a PC mom, I don't understand this "turning the files into a Disk Image". What is a disk image? I believe when we tried to drag her Illustrator files into Disk Copy to make a disk image (being the other way didn't work), the disk copy program said it couldn't read the .XXX file extension of her Illustrator files. The files needed to be .XXX a certain kind of extension. Thanks for any explanation.
 

psycho bob

macrumors 6502a
Oct 25, 2003
639
6
Leeds, England
as far as I'm aware no shop bought CD needs to be formatted. It may remove errors on the disk to do so just make sure it is done by disk copy NOT disk utility. Dragging files directly onto the disk copy window won't work they need to be placed into a folder first. A disk image is essentially a virtual disk created on another disk in this case the hard drive. They come in compressed or uncompressed form. When you download software or updates, from apple for example, they come in the form of disk images. When you double click on these the mac opens them like a disk, hence the reason a disk drive icon appears on the macs desktop. Although not the most straight forward method it can be useful for trouble shooting and when mastered archiving and transferring files. Entire CD's can be turned into disk images and left on the computer thus avoiding the need to carry software which you may otherwise require around with you.
I agree it is highly unlikely all the disks are bad they are from a good maker and in my entire life I have only ever encountered one corrupt CD.
Something that did come to mind as a reason you may have encountered this problem is that using the disk burning feature incorporated in the finder does not
allow for the creation of multisession CD's has any data been written to this disk before. If so format it via disk copy. For future reference disk copy allows for the creation of multisession CD's.
It is possible the drive itself is the problem but it is not likely to be the case as it seems to be recognising disks and I assume reads pre written ones ok.
 

crazzyeddie

macrumors 68030
Dec 7, 2002
2,792
1
Florida, USA
If they show up on the desktop then you do not need to format them. See if she can burn some other type of files to the CD-RW other than Illustrator files. Maybe try burning some downloaded items.
 

psycho bob

macrumors 6502a
Oct 25, 2003
639
6
Leeds, England
also the extension that disk copy looks for when you drop files onto its window without putting them into a folder first is .dmg this is the extension for a disk image. To open an image you can double click it or drop it on said window.
 

candan9019

macrumors regular
I heard someone mention that Memorex cd-r/rw's don't work that well on macs, although I have dvd-rw's from them and they work. You could try disks from someone else or get Toast 6, which is Easy CD Creators equivilant on the mac. It may work better.
 

jimnjack

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 18, 2003
5
0
The Folder you are talking about

This folder you say to drag the files into before using DIsk Copy; does she just create a new folder on her desktop and then drag the files the folder and then the folder into Disk Copy? That would be one step we never did before, maybe that's our problem.

In answer to your other questions, yes she is running OS X 10.2.x. She has had no other data on these disks. We have tried erasing one just in case but there was nothing on it.

Also, I didn't think you would have to format any of these store bought CD-rw's anymore. We have never formatted any of these anyway. They are as they were bought.

I'm first going to have her just try copying a word document of some kind onto a regular CD-r. Just to see if she can burn data. Then we'll move on to using Disk Copy with your instructions. If all fails, we'll look into getting that Toast 6 software possibly. Thanks for everyones ideas. PC Mom & Mac Daughter
 

rainman::|:|

macrumors 603
Feb 2, 2002
5,438
2
iowa
give her these instructions. it's worth a shot.

open "disk utility" in the Utilities folder of the Applications folder. Select the hard drive (with OS X on it, if there are multiple)(NOT the CD), then click the "first aid" tab. Click "repair disk permissions". let it run. then retry burning.

pnw
 

psycho bob

macrumors 6502a
Oct 25, 2003
639
6
Leeds, England
yep create a folder on the desktop or where ever you she prefers and just drag and drop the files into it. Let us know if all goes well however you sort it!
 

amnesiac1984

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2002
760
0
Europe
Re: link

Originally posted by gidget
I was trying to figure out how to burn onto a Mac myself. Sorry to say, but all of you guys confused me.

For anyone who stumbles into this thread, lost as I was, I found a great link to burn on Mac without any software except for Mac's default software: Disk copy.

http://www.user-groups.net/resources/burning/cd-rw.html

that is a guide on how to burn multi-session disks. The process of burning CD-R is normally much simpler. Just didn't want to confuse the issue.
 
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