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SVass · Mar 8, 2004, 02:56 PM

I have a new G4 powerbook with a DVD burner and made a backup data DVD that can be read by the powerbook. My old AGP desktop G4 with 9.2.2 can NOT read the data from that DVD. It can show DVD movies and read Apple made DVDs such as ILife and the powerbook Software Install DVD. How can I burn a DVD that can be read by the desktop? What format does the DVD use? Sam

awaspaas · Mar 10, 2004, 01:53 AM

Does that DVD work in other computers? Are you using decent DVD-R discs?

larkost · Mar 10, 2004, 08:15 AM

One big thing you have not mentioned is if you are using Toast. Toast can produce a whole number of formats, and some of them fall into the non-standard camp (and are not readable by macs without the toast extensions).

The other question to ask: are you burning on DVD-R or DVD-RW media?

SVass · Mar 10, 2004, 10:33 AM

I used the finder on the new powerbook. OS X 10.3.2

The data dvd can be read on the original G4 powerbook and on an ibook using 9.2.2, just not on my old AGP G4 desktop! sam

larkost · Mar 10, 2004, 12:39 PM

Ahh... the G4 has a DVD-RAM drive... yes? these do not read DVD-R or -RW.

You can tell if it is a DVD-RAM in the (Apple) System Profiler. It also works sort of like a slot-loading drive, but has a door. (this applies only to the DVD-RAM drives that Apple used).

SVass · Mar 10, 2004, 01:24 PM

The device is a

DVD ROM drive
Driver version 1.4.1
Vendor Hitachi
product ID DVD-ROM GD-3000

I guess you must be right. Apple never said that it won't read some dvds. Thanks. If I buy an external drive, what kind should I get?

SuperHard · Mar 11, 2004, 10:26 PM

I burned three DVD data disks by making a Disc Image and burning each one using Disc Utility on my G4 Powerbook, 1.25 Ghz. The DVD's burned and even successfully completed the verification process. However, other macs could not "mount" the DVD's. They could see them, but not mount. The three macs I tried were a powerbook G4, 550mhz running 10.3, a G4 dp 450Mhz with both the internal drive and an external Lacie CDRW drive running 10.2, and a brand new G4 iMac 17inch running 10.3. I didn't think to try an OS 9.x computer. The discs were only readable on the powerbook on which they were originally burned.

The discs were rated at 2X, I think the DVD-R burner in these powerbook's is a 2X burner. The option to change the burning speed is grayed out in the disc utility window, so I couldn't try burning at 1X to see if that allowed the other computers to mount the discs. Why?

SVass · Mar 12, 2004, 09:27 AM

As was suggested to me, run Apple System Profile. Record the brand and type of DVD Rom device in each Mac. Then using Google search for information about your particular device. Many older DVD readers apparently can NOT read the -R format used by Apple. It appears that more can read the newer +R format. It is possible that Toast can record data DVDs in this +R format. Sam

SuperHard · Mar 12, 2004, 02:12 PM

SVass thanks but I don't understand your point. Are you suggesting that DVD's I burned on a new Apple superdrive can't be read by older Apple DVD drives, even a Mac that is only 1 year older? "+"R shouldn't even be an issue here,right?

SVass · Mar 12, 2004, 06:11 PM

YES, I am suggesting that some older macs can NOT read some dvd data disc formats. Apple should tell us which systems can read which formats.

spork · 08:57 AM

Hello all,
any special tricks for recording DVD-RAM using toast 6? Can anybody clue me in about the correct procedure?. Will I be able to record and change files without erasing the disc or will it be similar to a DVD-+RW? I would like to make an alterable backup with using this kind of DVD-RAM?
thanks in advance