CD Burning

[swiftflo]

I have recently had problems with CD burning, in the main, multisession burning. The local authorised repairers had my imac for a total of 8 working days to try to find the problem, in the end with advice from Apple they said I was using the wrong brand of disk.
However I have noticed that when I have saved a file to documents to burn sometimes this document is in lighter print in the documents table when using Utilities>burn. It then does not burn successfully. Why is this ?.

Thanks.

 

[Fishrrman]

"in the end with advice from Apple they said I was using the wrong brand of disk."

What discs are you currently using?

I'd recommend Verbatim blanks. Never had a problem with them, on several burners and Macs...

 

[swiftflo]

"in the end with advice from Apple they said I was using the wrong brand of disk."

What discs are you currently using?

I'd recommend Verbatim blanks. Never had a problem with them, on several burners and Macs...

I was using either Tesco or TDK but now use Verbatim. That however does not alter the burning problem I have mentioned.

 

[mscriv]

Have you tried using a dedicated burning program like Toast to see if you still get the error?

Was the repair center able to successfully burn using what they deemed to be the "right kind of discs"?

 

[Kpeters213]

another thing to try would be to burn at the lowest possible speed.

 

[swiftflo]

Have you tried using a dedicated burning program like Toast to see if you still get the error?

Was the repair center able to successfully burn using what they deemed to be the "right kind of discs"?

Yes I have tried Toast but not since the repair!!!!!.

Yes the repair centre could burn using Verbatim discs & so can I.

My problem at the moment is what is happening with files that are faded out when trying to create a dmg file for burning using disk utility>documents ?.

 

[swiftflo]

another thing to try would be to burn at the lowest possible speed.

I do not think that is the problem, if you read my reply to the other posting you will hopefully see my present problem, to which I am trying to get an answer.

 

[mscriv]

Yes I have tried Toast but not since the repair!!!!!.

Yes the repair centre could burn using Verbatim discs & so can I.

My problem at the moment is what is happening with files that are faded out when trying to create a dmg file for burning using disk utility>documents ?.

I see. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I have an answer or understand why some files would not be eligible to place in a .dmg file for burning?

Some thoughts on troubleshooting:

- Is there anything common or consistent about the files that are greyed out? Are they all the same file type or from the same location on the drive etc.? Any pattern could help us better figure this out.

- Back to Toast... can you burn the greyed out files using Toast or do you see the same problem?

- Is there a specific reason you are wanting to create a .dmg file for burning as opposed to just a regular data disc? I ask because I'm wondering if there is a connection between the use of a .dmg file and the greyed out files. In my experience when you create a .dmg in disk utility you have to specify it's size and that puts constraints on what can be placed in that .dmg directory. I'm wondering if there are other restrictions or factors at play here that we are not considering.

- Have you tried using a burning folder instead of .dmg file?

Sorry I don't have a better answer for you, but hopefully some of these questions might lead to some answers.

 

[swiftflo]

I see. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I have an answer or understand why some files would not be eligible to place in a .dmg file for burning?

Some thoughts on troubleshooting:

- Is there anything common or consistent about the files that are greyed out? Are they all the same file type or from the same location on the drive etc.? Any pattern could help us better figure this out.

- Back to Toast... can you burn the greyed out files using Toast or do you see the same problem?

- Is there a specific reason you are wanting to create a .dmg file for burning as opposed to just a regular data disc? I ask because I'm wondering if there is a connection between the use of a .dmg file and the greyed out files. In my experience when you create a .dmg in disk utility you have to specify it's size and that puts constraints on what can be placed in that .dmg directory. I'm wondering if there are other restrictions or factors at play here that we are not considering.

- Have you tried using a burning folder instead of .dmg file?

Sorry I don't have a better answer for you, but hopefully some of these questions might lead to some answers.

I have not tried using Toast yet to burn files, but will try next time.
I have a burn folder, but tend to use disc Utility & dmg files to multisession discs. For example I have financial software which I backup on a regular basis & each backup is only a small amount of data, so to use the burn folder & burn to a different disc would be a considerable waste of space.
Some of the files that are greyed out are different, in fact some are jpegs.

 

[swiftflo]

I have not tried using Toast yet to burn files, but will try next time.
I have a burn folder, but tend to use disc Utility & dmg files to multisession discs. For example I have financial software which I backup on a regular basis & each backup is only a small amount of data, so to use the burn folder & burn to a different disc would be a considerable waste of space.
Some of the files that are greyed out are different, in fact some are jpegs.

I have now come to the conclusion that Disk Utility on a imac is an absolute load of crap. I had some small files on a disk and so wanted to add more to it, so used "multisession" in Disk Utility. After an hour of trying different methods of saving the files(jpeg) for burning I gave up and decided to use Roxio Toast & this worked. I cannot believe I paid over £1000 for this heap of crap.
I consider that this is the worst investment I have ever made.

 

[mscriv]

I'm sorry to hear about your frustration swiftlo. I've persnally never used multi session burning and had to reference this Apple support page to really understand what you are talking about.

Is it possible that you are making this process more complicated than it should be? I ask this because I'm still not clear on what exactly it is that you are trying to do. You mentioned regular financial file back ups and I get that, but why would you want to multisession a back up of JPEG files? Maybe using an external drive, usb stick, or other media like a CF or SD card would be a better option for incremental backups. Then if you want a dedicatd back up for further protection you could burn to disk once every 30-60 days?

 

[swiftflo]

I'm sorry to hear about your frustration swiftlo. I've persnally never used multi session burning and had to reference this Apple support page to really understand what you are talking about.

Is it possible that you are making this process more complicated than it should be? I ask this because I'm still not clear on what exactly it is that you are trying to do. You mentioned regular financial file back ups and I get that, but why would you want to multisession a back up of JPEG files? Maybe using an external drive, usb stick, or other media like a CF or SD card would be a better option for incremental backups. Then if you want a dedicatd back up for further protection you could burn to disk once every 30-60 days?

Thanks for your reply.

Regarding you asking about why jpeg files, it just so happens that they were jpegs.
I appreciate what you say about memory sticks etc, but the imac has a facility called Utility and in that there is a facility for multisession disks and if the facility is there it should be possible to use it.
Let me put it another way. When I get my utility statements - gas, electric & water, I prefer to scan them to the computer and then save to disk, each of these being only a small file and a disk will hold many off these files.
I can then destroy the paperwork. This was a very easy process with a PC. I can then name the disk "Annual Accounts 2010". Hopfully you will now see what I am trying to achieve.

 

[mscriv]

Ahh, I see said the blind man. I guess, for me personally, this still seems to be a complicated workflow. Do you have an external drive for back up or is disc the only method of external back up you use? If I was in your shoes I would just keep a folder of these records or possibly a .dmg if you need password protection and then I would put a back up copy on my external in the event that my main hard drive crashed. Then maybe once every 6 to 12 months I would back up to CD or additional archive storage.

I understand this doesn't solve your problem of disk utility not working as it should in multi session mode. If Toast allows for multi session burning then maybe that would be an adequate replacement. Otherwise all I can say is keep troubleshooting Disk Utility in an effort to understand why it won't allow certain files to be added to the disc session.

Hmmm... I really can't think of why is would exclude certain files.

- Are these files from previous sessions that worked before, but now in a subsequent session they can't be added or is it just certain new files that can't be added?

- Do the files change at random or is it consistent across multiple sessions that specific X or Y file can not be added?

- Have you considered the file could be corrupted and you just need to rescan it?

- Is this a widespread problem with lots of files being affected or is it just a random file here or there?

Again all of these questions are just attempts to help you toubleshoot the problem.