[workerbee]

If I remember correctly, the DVD-R drive in my PowerBook G4 1.67 was advertised as being "8x speed". Toast recognizes it as such, and offers me to burn my data at 8x speed.

Now I really wonder why, when Toast tells me that it will take "6:43" to burn a DVD-R (on TDK 16x media), it actually takes 16 minutes to do so... before Toast starts to a) diddle on "Writing Lead-out..." and then do it's forced checking of files (spanned DVDs in Mac-only format, no encryption nor compression)

Ahh well, Toast obviously just crashed on me while I was writing this (10 minutes of writing lead out) anyway...

Maybe this is why Apple went back to a 4x DVD-R drive for the MBP, because it doesn't make any difference?

[ghettochild]

did you try the SD firmware update?

http://www.apple.com/support/downloa...updatev20.html

[workerbee]

Originally Posted by ghettochild

did you try the SD firmware update?

Thanks ghettochild - my drive is a UJ-845 model, and the firmware update is "not required", so it's not that.

But I see you have a last-gen PowerBook yourself - how long does burning a full DVD take on your system take, if I may ask?

[Velocity211]

Originally Posted by workerbee

Thanks ghettochild - my drive is a UJ-845 model, and the firmware update is "not required", so it's not that.

But I see you have a last-gen PowerBook yourself - how long does burning a full DVD take on your system take, if I may ask?

I have the last-gen Powerbook and it has the UJ-846 model. What's the difference?

[workerbee]

Originally Posted by Velocity211

What's the difference?

I have no idea.
Especially since, as I've just found out, I actually have the 846, too (oops).
But the Firmware update still says "No devices were found that require this firmware update."

(And it still burns at almost exactly half the speed Toast is saying it does).

[rjt1000]

Hi,

The G4 PBs have had several different OEM superdrives, including the Matshita UJ-825, UJ-835, UJ-845 and UJ-846.

All of these suffer from the slow burning DVD issue, whereby the newest media only burns at slow speeds in these drives.

Apple has released a firmware update for the UJ-835 which supposedly solves this problem, but there is no firmware update available for the other drives.

This macfixit article gives more information on the topic, including which models have the UJ-835 and will benefit from the firmware update: http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?...60602074126456

In another thread, I have asked users who have found current DVD-R media that burns at the drive max speed in the UJ-825 to post their experience http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-notebooks/299084/pb-12-1-33-superdrive-matshita/

rjt1000

[pcummins]

From memory the slot-load DVD burners are all Z-CLV so when they mean 8x they mean "up to" 8x. What that really means is it burns at about 5.5x across the disc (11+ mins). 4x goes at about that speed across the disc (the Z-CLV means there's a short section where it isn't 4x). It sounds like Toast is doing a quick calculation and the drive is only recognising your media as 4x, hence the 4x burn (before crashing) whereas Toast is probably reading the info off the disc and claiming it can do 8x.

This is the firmware in the drive having an issue with trusting what the disc is claiming it can do, it's kind of annoying that Apple only released an updater for the 835 and not the 825/84x series burners. (I had a UJ-825, but I removed it in favour of a faster burner, the DVR-K05).

I'd recommend sticking to 4x discs as I don't consider the "up to" 8x worth straining your system over (ie, higher chances of disc burn failures if the HDD can't keep up on the last bit of the disc). You could probably hunt around the Internet to find 8x media that will work as a test and decide which one you'd like to use, but I prefer 4x (cheaper, and I can live with the extra 4 mins on a burn...)