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zeebe · Feb 16, 2006, 02:58 PM

Hello, I have a 1GHz G4 iMac with 1GB of RAM. It has the stock superdrive installed, below are the specs from Pioneer:

Writes 4X, 2X and 1X speeds for DVD-R (General 650nm discs only) &
2X or 1X for DVD-RW
Writes to CD-R/RW standard and high-speed media
Rewrites DVD-RW discs at 1x speeds more than 1,000 times
Read speeds up to 6X for DVD (single layer), 24X for CD-R/RW and
16X for CD-Audio Extraction

I have been trying to use DVD-RWs I purchased from Target, but none of them seem to be working. I insert the disc and they get kicked back out after about 30 secs. First I tried Immation DVD-RW. I am not sure what the speeds of these are. I took them back and got TDK DVD-RW. They are 4X and compatible with 2X. Does this mean my superdrive will not read these as they are not 1X?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I am confused with all of the lingo when it comes to writing and rewriting with these things!

*** - On a side note, does anyone know of a good inexpensive Dual Layer DVD writer I could put in?
Thanks

Stephen Hanasew · Feb 16, 2006, 03:22 PM

Hey There,
If you go to the Apple in the left hand corner of your menu and click on About this Mac, bring up the System Profiler, then go to Disc Burning, it'll show you the media that is supported by your drive. I've been having the same problem with my 1.25 GHz iMac w/ 2GB of ram. I've tried different media and have had the same problem. I don't know about you, but I've also had booting problems recently. I have DVD install discs and my drive has been very finicky lately about booting from them. I'm going to put in a call to Apple support on this because I had the same problem about a year, year and a half ago and ended up replacing the DVD drive. If it's still covered, I'm replacing mine..... actually....... I'm replacing it either way because I NEED the drive.

zeebe · Feb 16, 2006, 03:54 PM

i didn't know about the media thing which is nice, but it only tells me that I can use DVD-R-RW, nothing about speeds of the discs. thanks though! I should have mentioned that I can use DVD-RW that are 1x-2x, I have some sony ones that work great!

Stephen Hanasew · Feb 16, 2006, 04:22 PM

Hey,
Burn speed has alot to do with it also. If you burn it at the lowest possible speed, the better the results. Patience is a virtue you know!

zeebe · Feb 16, 2006, 04:32 PM

I understand that, I don't think you understand my problem. I believe the SPEED of the DISC is the problem, as my burner says (info above from Pioneer) that it can only do DVD-RW at 1X and I am trying 4X discs. I am wondering if these discs will work or not. I understand the concept of speed. What the problem is, is my computer is kicking out discs that are above my burners speed limit. I always thought though, that was a maximum, not a minimum requirement (ie, you can use discs that are rated as high as you want, they should work in any burner, so I should be able to use a 64X disc, it will just burn it at 1X), or am I mistaken.

Stephen Hanasew · Feb 16, 2006, 04:55 PM

Sorry,
I believe you are correct as far as that being a max, not minimum. This is the drive I have:
Model: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D
Revision: A612

I've been having the same problems. I seen that it's not so much the burn speed as it is the make of the media itself, for some reason these drives are really picky.