[welldonep]

Hello. This is my first posting. I recently purchashed a Que Firewire cd writer and am having difficulties getting it to mount. Toast (4.0.2) does not recognize it. The system does recognize it. Anyone having the same problem? I have had many tech support calls on the issue with QPS without positive results. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! Peter

My Que! 24/4/4 Firewire drive was a little tempermental at first with my iMac DVSE, but after using it a few times, I've had no problems getting it to mount. When I did have problems at first, what worked best was to turn on the drive, unplug the firewire cable from the drive and then plug it back in, and then turn on the computer. It's been a while since I had to do this, but I think that's the process that was most successful. It doesn't make sense to me that the problem would just go away, but after three or four uses, I've never had to unplug the firewire cable again, and now it doesn't seem to matter if the drive or computer is turned on first.

[welldonep]

Thanks much for assistance/time! I will try your suggestion . . . at this point I will try anything! I fear that if Toast will not recognize a drive that the System is seeing, then I would have this problem with any Firewire drive I get! Are you aware of any other software other than Toast that might work? Peter

[Paulos]

i am thinking of getting the same drive for my g4. tennisguy, besides the original mounting problems, are you happy with the drive? did toast come with it? any recommendations?

thanks.

[welldonep]

I can't really say if you should buy this drive . . . I have yet to be able to use it! I would love to, but that has yet to happen! I'm trying to decide whether or not to return it for the USB drive. Some of the comments posted about USB drives in general make me want to steer clear of them! Although I don't have many choices . . . I'm simply hoping that I can find a drive that works with my system, period. If you should come across a drive that works well with a DV SE, please do share! I have a Hewlett Packard 8110i at work and it has never failed . . . installed easily, and has not had one single error! I do not take a stance in the MAC v. PC wars, but that's a great piece of equipment! Peter

[This message has been edited by welldonep (edited 04-14-2000).]

[This message has been edited by welldonep (edited 04-14-2000).]

[cejones]

I bought a EZQuest Boa 8/4/32 Firewire CD burner for my Imac DV and have had no problems. I've burned audio and data at 8 speed with no coasters...
www.blol.com sells the drive for around $379

[slimshady023]

Hello! This is my very first posting as well. I was having the same problem with my Que! drive when I first received it (today!), but now have the computer identifying the drive and burning great.

Simply, the Que! drive wasn't responding with the extensions given on the CD ("Firewire support" and "Firewire enabler" versions 2.2). The latest OS 9 update comes with versions 2.3.3 of each, and when installed, Toast recognizes the drive.

After updating, the big "X" will still be plastered across the Toast extension, and, no media -- audio or Mac CDs will be recognized. That is, until you have Toast "search" for the drive (right there in the main screen). Then click "mount CD-ROM" in the "Recorder" menu, and you should be on your way.

I read your discussion after placing an order with Macconnection the other day -- which had me doubting the purchase (though I was secretly hoping it was limited to the 4x model -- which it wasn't!). However, now that I've gotten it to burn several CDs at maximum (8x) without fault or coasters, I would recommend this drive to anyone.

Good Luck!

Paulos,

I'm very happy with the drive. Even in the beginning, the problems that I had were solved by various combinations of unplugging and replugging cables and restarting. Now, for whatever reason, the drive is totally problem free and works very well. It came with everything that I needed. As far as I know, all QPS drives come with Toast. In the nearly three months that I've had the drive, I've only burned one coaster, and that wasn't the drive's fault. I was making a backup copy from a CD, and the DVD drive in my iMac began reading CDs very very slowly. It wouldn't read the data fast enough to send it to the CD writer. This was fixed by upgrading the DVD drive firmware.

welldonep,

I checked my iMac DV SE, and here's what I have: Mac OS 9.0, Mac OS ROM 3.1.1, Toast 4.0.1.1, FireWire Support and FireWire Enabler extentions both version 2.2.2. Everything works fine. Perhaps if you're running a newer system (i.e. 9.0.4), either it or the Toast 4.0.2 is causing the problem. Maybe someone who is running the same versions of the software that you're running can comment on whether or not things are working for them.

As for the USB drives, stay away from them. Since you have firewire capability, take advantage of it. The older USB drives won't work with the dual USB bus iMac DVs and G4s, anyway. Even if you find one that works, the best you can hope for with USB is 4x recording (2x for audio), and even that probably won't be reliable.

I have the QueFire 8x4x32 and would recommend this drive to anyone who has a firewire Mac. I have an iMac DVSE running OS 9.0.4 with OEM Toast 4.0.1.1. I got the drive from Egghead for $379 in about 3 weeks.

The drive has worked great in the 2 or 3 weeks I have had it. I have burned about 20 CD-R's at 8x with zero coasters. I don't even bother to simulate a burn anymore before the actual burn. It takes about 9 minutes to burn 80 minutes of audio ( I'm using memorex 700mg 80min CDRs). The Mac has never failed to recognize the drive (although the red X shows up on the Toast extention at startup). The system profiler sees the drive as well as taost. Disks don't mount automatically when you insert them into the FireDrive but if you use Recorder + Mount CDROM from the Toast Menubar, the disk will show up on the desktop.

If you have a firewire Mac, the Que FireDrive is a great choice. Very fast and flawless.

kEn

[slimshady023]

Hey all! Just wanted to write in support of Ken and say that the 8x 4x 32 Firewire Que! is an excellent choice for a CD Burner. I have a Powermac G4 running system 9.0.4 and using Toast Deluxe 4.0.2 to burn CDs.

Thusfar, I have burned 12 CD-Rs in three days of having the burner, (4 macintosh CDs, 8 audio CDs, and 1 hybrid). All have burned at the maximum 8x speed using (ironically) Memorex 700meg 800min. I haven't used *simulation* mode prior to burns, so burning time is the actual 9 minutes promulgated. And best of all, I have had no coasters whatsoever.

I bought my drive for $399 from Macconnection.com, and received the order the following morning (they had it in stock). Great service! Great drive! Drive is superfast!

If you're in looking for a firewire burner, Que! Fire is an excellent drive to consider.

[welldonep]

Hello again! Per some suggestions/responses posted, I tried updating to OS 9.0.4, as well as updating Toast to 4.0.2. --- Toast still does not recognize the drive! In the system profiler, the drive is present, as well as the new extension 2.3.3 for Firewire Enabler/Support. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated . . . I'm getting desperate at this point! Much Thanks to all who have responded!

Hi All, I just received a 4x4x24 Firewire Que! last week. I am having the same "issues" that others are having. I've updated the Apple Firewire extensions to 2.2.3 and can only get the drive to mount by force using Toast. The Toast extension shows the red X through it. One curious thing regarding the cd-r's I made a year ago on my old Mac before the G3, one shows the correct disc contents (25 folders), the other only shows 2 of 69 folders! Both are fine in the internal DVD.

welldonep,

I had the problem once the first time I tried the Que! drive. At the time I thought I had done something wrong with the install so I deleted Toast and re-installed using a different install. The second install worked fine.

Now, I don't remember if the second install was "Universal" or "PowerPC". I know it was the opposite of the first install attempt. Have you tried another install using the alternate install button? (ie. "PowerPC" if you tried "Universal" or "Universal" if you tried "PowerPC") Maybe you already tried this but, if not, I hope it works. Otherwise, the drive may be bad.

Also, when inserting a CD into the Que drive, they don't automatically mount on the desktop. You need to mount them using Toast.

kEn

[slimshady023]

Hey Welldonep! One final, final suggestion ... try downloading this:

ftp://ftp.adaptec.digisle.net/cd_recording_software/aol/plextor-qps-tdk_8x.hqx

Put the expanded file in the same folder as the Toast appllication, and it may read your burner. I, too, am using Toast 4.0.2 Deluxe and have the file placed in my Toast folder.

Hope this does the trick for you. Good Luck! : )

[slimshady023]

Welldonep! Just posted a suggestion, but realized one other thing. My final, final suggestion: (hey, I'm feeling a lot like Regis Philbin!)

After downloading the update and putting it in the Toast folder, make sure your drive is on before opening Toast. If you open Toast, turn on the drive, then "search" for it -- it's like a lost puppy that won't find its owner. Just make sure it's on, then you won't even have to search for the drive when you open Toast.

Hope this helps -
see-ya

[welldonep]

slimshady023,

I have indeed tried your suggestion . . . I'm sad to say, this did not work! Per other posted suggestions, I have now updated to OS 9.0.4., (along with the DVD 2.2), and am running (or should I say, *trying* to run) Toast 4.0.2. ---- at this point, it seems somewhat clear that Toast may never recognize this drive! When I ask Toast to 'search' for the drive, nothing happens! When looking at the Recorder menu, 'mount cd-rom' is not available and/or "greyed out"! It's baffling! I'm going to try a friends Firewire drive to see if Toast will recognize it. Your time and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Cheers!




[This message has been edited by welldonep (edited 04-18-2000).]

[slimshady023]

Hey Welldonep,

Best of luck with the latest burner. I tried a quick test-run with Toast, seeing if putting the firewire cord in the second slot would do anything -- it's like one of those brain-tweezers that you just can't get a handle on. Just thought I'd try to help since I had the same problems, hate waiting on computer representatives that know little, and because I had the time (It's spring break here at San Jose city college).

The bad news is, none of the few tests I tried would get Toast not to recognize the drive (on a more promising note, that's really great news for me!). If you really think QPS is crap right now and are going to return it -- I've heard that Boa is a pretty good drive, though it has a few-seconds worth of static between burned audio songs (I did a lot of research before purchasing the Que!). Sony has a new Spressa out that burns at 10x speed, though it uses the Discribe software...
hold on a minute... *brainstorm* - you said that your computer is identifying the drive, yet Toast isn't. Might you try Charismac's Discribe software if the computer is identifying the drive?

..hmmm.. whatever. It's still a lot of trouble, probably too much trouble considering all the stuff you've already downloaded. I have had nothing but good things since the initial setup with the 8x Que!. It still hasn't produced a coaster, which is surprising because I bought the cheapest CD recordable material available at Fry's. And, it hasn't caused any instability problems with my computer, while burning at maximum speed.

Even if QPS has left a really bad taste in your mouth, I would suggest the 8x model to even my best friend. But, I hope things work out okay with your drive. Best of luck -- : )

[welldonep]

slimshady23,

Once again, thanks for your time/suggestions! The latest is . . . I borrowed a firwire drive from a friend just to see if Toast would recognize it . . . Toast recognized it at first launch! It recognized the drive as a Yamahah crw 4416E . . . I researched this drive, and found that it is an internal SCSI drive housed in a firewire box! I haven't had the chance to burn a cd yet, but will try this evening! It's nice to be able to try out a drive! I hope it works out . . . then my problem will be where I can find one. A few people have suggested the BOA drive you suggested, so I will check into that as well. I must say, it's nice of people to give some of their time to help others out . . . it is appreciated! Cheers from San Francisco!
Oh, one last question . . . when you say " a few seconds of static between tracks" . . . do you mean 'space', or actual static? Sorry if this is a silly question . . . just trying to clarify!

[This message has been edited by welldonep (edited 04-19-2000).]

[slimshady023]

Hey again! I actually read from several macnn users that Boa firewire drives had several seconds of actual static between songs (not space!), sounding similar to a bad radio station signal (not Alice @ 97.3 -- for all you San Franciscans. That station's the greatest!) If you're recording audio, that interference can get really really annoying. However, besides that one complaint, many users have glowing remarks about its performance. (I have no personal use with this drive, so maybe someone with a Boa can confirm/deny it from their experience.)

I was actually considering getting a Boa, but the static complaint turned me sour. In all actuality, I was waiting for a Macworld review before buying a burner -- but after several issues, just turned to this forum for people's personal experience. I haven't heard much about the Yamaha's either, though I know that this summer they should be coming out with some 8x precision burners that should cost around $300.

It's too bad your experience with QPS was so crappy. I've burned several more CD's with the 8x (backing up the computer) and still haven't burned a defect. I'm completely floored, mainly because the Que! ram cache is a mere 2MB, whereas most of the other drives come with a standard 4MBs. But, there haven't been any compromise in performance. If you're daring -- and feel like giving QPS another chance -- you might want to try the 8x. But then again...

Also, the Sony Spressas are coming way down in price now, and supposedly have mixed reviews among users. People either love i t or hate it depending on how they respond to the packaged Discribe software. If you don't mind the software, you may want to consider this one.

Anyway, hope this helps you in choosing the next great one! See-ya! : )

welldonep,

I suggest returning the busted 4x QueFire drive and getting another one, maybe upgrade to the 8x unit. The QPS QueFire is, in my opinion, the best firewire CD burner available at this time. The drive works great, it's fast, it's cheaper and as a bonus it even looks great with the graphite and ice case.

The BOA drive does have a 2 second static burst AT THE END OF audio CDs. Not between each track as a poster suggested. The Sony drive comes with Charismac Describe which is quite inferior to Toast. I don't know that Sony/Adaptec has certified Toast for the Supressa so you'd probably be on your own getting it working or if there were problems. The Sony drive comes in a boxy beige case. The BOA comes in a boxy ice case (i think).

Hang in there, go for the QueFire, when you get a working unit, you'll be happy you did.

Hope this helps,
kEn

[Kbee]

I have an qps 4x4x24, and I love it. But alas I too have had problem with it and being recognized, and here's what I've found. If you are going to use Toast Deluxe it had better be 4.02, the drive refuse to work under MacOS 8.6, but functions perfectly on the same machine (iMac DV), and the drive is finicky about sawtooth based machines. I've found that for some reason in particular it especially despises sawtooth 350. It often requires a couple restarts before the machine recognizes the drive. It also produces a wait at startup if the drive is on with most but not all G4's. I've read at Go2Mac that they found the drive is more easily recognized if powered on after startup, however, I've discovered quite the opposite. On my B&W 350, toast will not see the drive unless it's on before startup.Besides all of these issues, I love the drive, an I find it fast. It even survived being dropped down a flight of stairs. (I don't recommend that one.) But I do recommend the Que!Fire.

Kbee

[Kbee]

I have an qps 4x4x24, and I love it. But alas I too have had problem with it and being recognized, and here's what I've found. If you are going to use Toast Deluxe it had better be 4.02, the drive refuse to work under MacOS 8.6, but functions perfectly on the same machine (iMac DV), and the drive is finicky about sawtooth based machines. I've found that for some reason in particular it especially despises sawtooth 350. It often requires a couple restarts before the machine recognizes the drive. It also produces a wait at startup if the drive is on with most but not all G4's. I've read at Go2Mac that they found the drive is more easily recognized if powered on after startup, however, I've discovered quite the opposite. On my B&W 350, toast will not see the drive unless it's on before startup.Besides all of these issues, I love the drive, an I find it fast. It even survived being dropped down a flight of stairs. (I don't recommend that one.) But I do recommend the Que!Fire.

Kbee

Last night I *solved* the problem of my QUE! 4/4/24 not mounting to the desk top. After going to the Mitsumi (who make the actual drive) home page, I learned the drive is actually a ATAPI Enhanced IDE Interface unit, that QUE! fashioned a Firewire interface for. The B/W G3 already uses this interface for the internal DVD drive and has an "extra" IDE and power connector in place. I popped the CD-RW out of it's plastic case, and with a "nip and a tuck" to the G3, it slid right in under the DVD! I changed the jumper on the back of the CD-RW from Master to Slave, and it booted right up! Since the motherboard is set up for only one audio input I still cannot listen to audio from the CD-RW, but a simple switch between sources will solve that as well. I get a "wrong driver" message when I launch Toast, but that doesn't seem to be a problem. I was curious whether I could do a drag and drop to copy from one CD to another, but unformatted media NEVER mounts to the desktop regardless of type.

gbar-
you might try something called "direct cd", i think it's also from adaptec. it claims to be let you treat cd-rws as drives, w/o having to go through toast. i haven't used it personally, though, because my burner isn't supported (que! usb 4x2x8)
good luck!
-ster

I too have a 4x4x24 Fire drive that refuses to be seen by Toast, despite numerous updates to the OS, Toast, and my firewire drivers. Under system profiler, I only get garbage in the firewire bus, but it reads "CD-ROM" as being in _SCSI_ ID 1. Seeing as this is an iMac DVSE w/ OS 9.0.4 and 192 megs of RAM, I was surprised that a SCSI chain was seen at all. When I first set up Toast, it saw the drive, but as SCSI ID 1, and successfully burned a disc. When I hooked the drive back up more recently, I had the problem described above. Any ideas here?

- Shane

[welldonep]

Well . . . after two weeks of hell trying to get my Que! Fire 4X4X24 drive to work, I decided to return it . . . and, because I lost my mind in the process, as well as the lack of other options, I ordered another Que! Firewire 8X4X32 from Egghead for $369 . . . I guess that's a pretty good deal . . . especially if it works! I hope I don't need to bother anyone with further issues! Much thanks to all who responded to my first posting, offering suggestions and info! Cheers!

welldonep, Too bad you started off with a bad drive. The QueFire 8x4x32 is an excellent choice. I have been very pleased with mine. Egghead charged me $379 a little over a month ago. The idiots at MacMall are trying to get $319 for a 4x4x24 Que drive!!! You are getting a great deal. It took Egghead 3 weeks to send me my drive. Hope you don't have to wait too long.

kEn

[welldonep]

kEn,

Yes I know . . . that is what I paid for my 4X4X24 ($358 with tax). The total for the 8X drive from Egghead was $401! They are in stock, so I hope it doesn't take 3 weeks to get it! I had ordered the 4X from Macmall late November . . . after waiting almost 4 months to get it, it was considerably disappointing that I could not get it to work! I dearly hope this 8X drive works out . . . if not, I think I'm going to have to wait a while to see what happen in the world of cdrw's! Cheers!

[cejones]

I own the Boa 8X Firewire CD burner and have had no problems. I have no idea what some people are talking about as to some static noise between audio tracks. It just doesn't happen.. I've burned a ton of audio CDs with no problems and they all sound great. Data, Audio, ISO 9660, Playstation, hybrid discs all burn fine at 8 speed. I no longer run in simulation mode since I haven't coastered any discs.

Have you heard anyone posting about having major problems with the Boa? No. Yet everyone complains about the Que drive. Dump QPS.

cejones, I have also burned zero coasters out of 20-30 discs with the QueFire drive. I used simulation once or twice but have given that up as the burns are always successful. I have Zero complaints with the Que. There have been some bad drives sent out judging by posts in this and other threads. At this point, I think that's because Que is selling a whole lot more drives than ezquest. Also, about a month ago there were several posts here on MacNN that complained about the ezquest putting a 2 second static burst AT THE END of audio CDs, not between tracks. One poster said that when he brought this up with ezquest support, they just said "too bad". If welldonep gets another bad Que drive, then I agee with you, dump Que and try the ezquest. But for now the Que is worth another try. After all, your first choice was the QueFire but they were so hard to come by that you switched to the BOA. I remember how upset you were when Egghead lied to you when I got my drive in three weeks after you had been waiting for months. Can't say I blame you, I came close to doing the same thing after 4 months of waiting for a QueFire. But for the most part, it seems like both the QueFire and BOA drives work fine for most people.

kEn

[blizaine]

Yeah, my 8x QPS has been perfect as well, no coasters after about.... I have no idea how many burns ... a lot though. I would definitely recommend this drive. Besides the fact that it is simply the best looking drive available.

[welldonep]

Hi all . . . I'm back with good news!!! The Que! 8X4X32 drive I ordered on Friday to replace the non-mounting 4X4X24 came in today! And, it mounted at first launch of Toast . . . this put a smile on my face indeed! I burned a test disc at 4X . . . and it went smoothly! Thanks to all for your time, suggestions, support, and opinions! I have a feeling I can get back to work now! Oh, and a plug for my band . . . if you care to take a listen, my band - - - Starlet has a few mp3's posted on mp3.com. It's a bit like the Cowboys Junkies . . . spacey, country-esque music with good old fashioned songs of sad! Until next electronic communication . . . . P.

[Elderloc]

Firewire Que 12x drive?? Has any one here heard of the possiblity of a firewire 12x Que drive in the near future?

[GORDYmac]

Man I'm so pumped! My 4x4x24 will be here in a couple of hours. I have been following this topic and all of welldonep's trials (it's been better than a soap opera). I'm glad to see that welldonep has found happiness in the end.

You know, I have been reading all over the web about this drive, and this has to be the most concise reference on the subject. Thanks to all that have contributed.

welldone,

Why 4x? Why not go for broke and burn at 8x and save 9 minutes of time to do something else? Enjoy the 8x4x32 QueFire drive!

kEn

GORDYmac,

Let me know how you fare with your 4x4x24, OK? It seems to be the pattern that those are alot more troublesome than the 8x4x32s. I myself have a 4x4x24 that I have been unsuccessful with as far as mounting and getting my machine to recognise it.

I've taken notes here though, and plan on trying everyone's suggestions this weekend. Wish me luck, and good luck to you too!

[welldonep]

janemad,

I of course wish you the very best in luck with getting your 4X4X24 . . . been there, done that!! I highly suggest what was suggested to me, return the 4X4X24, and pick up the 8X4X32 . . . I believe you'll be much happier in the end! In some ways, I'm somewhat glad it worked out the way it did for me! Although I lost much time to troubleshooting . . . I learned a lot, and got myself a drive that I think I'll be happier with in the long run! Especially, If I can successfully burn audio at 8X!! That would be worth the diffrence in price in itself! Many others have also added that it's also the best looking . . . which I guess stands for something! I do not wish the difficulties I had on anyone . . . you will be doing yourself a great favor. Cheers!

I have a feeling I'll be jumping on the 8x4x32 train soon, but I think I need to give this one another shot. I waited 3 months for this thing! I even had my little graphite panels set up on my desk waiting to be filled... OK, a little dramatic.

I'd also love to save a little money by sticking with the 4x4x24, but from what I'm hearing about Egghead's prices, it may not be that much of a difference.

Thanks!
Jane

[GORDYmac]

IT WORKS PERFECTLY!!!

I simply popped in the cd, installed Toast 4.011, put the QUEfire Ext in the Extensions folder and restarted. I burned my first CD on restart.

I didn't opt for the 8x version because I didn't think it was worth it for my purposes. I will use it to archive pics and backup. I also got the graphite panels. It looks great beside my DV SE.

Oh yea, one more thing... IT'S ALL TRANSLUCENT. NO BEIGE AT ALL!!!

I can now highly recommend this drive to all.

GORDYmac,

Ya mean even the FRONT panel is ice On mine, the case is the clear ice color and it came with the sculpted graphite side panels but the front panel is ugly beige. The only beige on my entire desktop. Yuck

kEn

[GORDYmac]

Let me put it this way, it looks just like the box. Translucent all over. Oh yea, I've burned 2 CD's thus far, the

BTW, does anyone know if Toast is scriptable? I'd like to write a script to mount the drive when needed, and an AppleScript would handle this perfectly.

GREAT to hear it!
It gives me hope. I think I'm going to try and wipe everything and reinstall. Another buddy of mine did that and had luck.

On a cosmetic note, the graphite panels rock! I realize the 8x4x32 COMES in graphite, but this way I just LOOK like a big spender! So nice next to the G4... now they just have to make a graphite cover for my hideous Bondi Epson printer.

GORDYmac, Yup, Toast supports AppleScript. I haven't tried it yet but there is documentation of supported commands and sample scripts on the Que installation disk. One of the samples scripts might be a mount script.

kEn