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DVD burning with external drive?

adk

adk

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Does firewire have a high enough transfer speed to burn DVDs with an external drive? Also, can anybody with lightscribe comment on whether or not it's worth the extra $$ over a regular drive?
 
Yes FireWire has at least enough bandwidth to support burning DVDs from an external burner, as does USB2, though you'll get better performance from FireWire.

Can't comment on Lightscribe as I don't have it.
 
I've burned quite a few DVD's on my external firewire drive with no problems.

I can't comment on the LightScribe players...concept is nice but I haven't tried it yet.
 
I have an external DVD burner with LightScribe (LaCie). The burner is fast and works fine. I think the Lightscribe is nice and the disks look great but most of the time when I shop for disks the LightsScribe disks are not stocked and when they are they are a bit expensive. I think they were about $10 for a pack of 10 CDs the last time I bought them. I can get plain CDs much cheaper in bulk. Don't remember how much the LightScribe compatible DVDs cost. My opinion of LightScribe is that it's a great idea but it's a bit expensive and not in enough widespread use to make it worthwhile. Get the best DVD burner you can and if it happens to have LightScribe buy it. Just don't buy it because it has LightScribe.
 
I would say you should make sure it's double layer so you can burn the newer 8.5 GB DVD's. Also, check the format. Some will burn DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, ect. I'm guessing that the latest burners will work with most any format so that may not be an issue. My LaCie burns pretty much any format. I can't give any recomendation on specific brands since this is the only external DVD burner I've ever owned but I like LaCie.
 
Hi, I bought the LaCie external and I enjoy it very much. The model is the Porsche line and it came with Mac software. I chose this since it had everything I wanted at the time and the drive itself is a Nec3500. I also can say updates for the drive have been released on what seems like a good basis (OSX/drive...drivers).
This has been a solid burner for me as I'm going on 200 burns with it. It's worked well with my iMac and iBook and the iLife apps. As others have said just try to get the best drive that you can afford, or try LaCie and look at the refurb area (some of these are still new just trying to sell leftovers of certain models).
Enjoy whatever burner you get and many happy burns 😀
 
Not to beat a dead horse but I'd say lightscribe is not worth it at this time.

I don't see lightscribe as a mature technology. The media are expensive and the results, while nice, are simple and not really worth the cost (in my mind). I prefer to go the traditional route, purchasing standard DVDs at good prices (I've found them as cheap as $0.16 a piece) and then using a label which I create on my own. Looks better and costs less overall.

That is, of course, my take. Once lightscribe begins to work with color I might consider it, or I will wait for a technology to come along that has the ability to do so.
 
With a G3 or G4 iBook?

Artful Dodger said:
...I bought the LaCie external and I enjoy it very much. The model is the Porsche line and it came with Mac software...

This has been a solid burner for me as I'm going on 200 burns with it. It's worked well with my iMac and iBook and the iLife apps.
Click to expand...

Was this with a G3 iBook?

Or does anyone else know: Will an external burner work with a G3?

(For the record, I'm driving an 800 Mhz G3 with 640 MB RAM and 0 HD space remaining... Must find an external burner soon...)
 
Sorry for the long days before this reply...it's a G4 iBook but my friend has one running off his G3 700 iBook and not one blank as of yet (he's on 375 burns) 🙂
 
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