[JustinHorne]

Are there any specifi requirements? Looking to pick up a Mini to handle my workhorse stuff, leave it off the MacBook. That said, Minis with super drives are wayy more expensive than a Mini without one and a drive like this: EXTERNAL SONY DUAL LAYER 20XDVD�RW DVD/RW BURNER USB - eBay (item 190194631634 end time Jan-31-08 19:30:00 PST)

Question is, will that work on X? I've never shopped for External burners before. I'm using Toast, I assume X won't have any issues with anything?

[silver]

You'll be fine with an external, OS X along with Toast shouldn't have any problems. Do try to get a dual interface type of enclosure though as firewire is way faster than USB.

I just picked up a external Lacie D2 18x burner and love it, much faster than the superdrive.


Cheers

[mduell]

Yes, it should work just fine with OS X and Toast.

Another option is to build your own external. $30 Pioneer DVR-115D in black or beige + $20 USB enclosure + about 5 minutes to assemble it. You can even add Firewire for another couple bucks.

[JustinHorne]

I know FW is way faster, but is the speed limit on USB 2.0 enough to slow the drives burn speed down? On a 20x drive, would I get the full 20?

And thanks for the help.. Looking at the cost, and that I've built Ext HDs before, I 'll go that route.

[mduell]

USB2 has no problem keeping up with 20x DVD, some people just like Firewire or don't have any USB ports left.

[CharlesS]

I hate USB 2.0, but in all honesty it should be good enough for a DVD burner.

[ginoledesma]

Get a FW/USB enclosure so you'll at least have the flexibility to choose. The early Mac Minis only had 2 USB ports, so using the Firewire one leaves room for other gear without using a hub. The Intel based ones have 4 ports so it's a non-issue. Booting up from either should be possible as well (from what I read of user success stories).

As for getting the full 20X burn speed... Well, you need matching media as well. The best I've seen with an internal 16X SuperDrive reach was 9X (as reported by Toast). Could've been the media... but not reaching its full speed is the least of your worries.

[hookem2oo7]

i've burned DVDs with my cheapy HP external USB2 16x burner that reached 12x (again, according to Toast) with no problems.

[silver]

Yes I agree with ginoledesma, get media to match the speed you want.

I usually buy memorex media and been getting good results, very few coasters maybe 5 at the most from a 100 spindle. Also verbatim is very good also but slightly more than the memorex. A good place to check out media prices is meritline.com, pretty good prices.


Happy burning.

[JustinHorne]

Well, I've burned 4-500 various kinds of DVDs for projects and stuff, with various medias (TDK/Sony/Office Max specials) and gotten VERY few coasters... I guess I'm just lucky.

I went ahead and picked up a prebuilt 20X lightscribe drive, in USB enclosure, for $40 today. While I normally agree about the lack of USB ports, the drive and KB/mouse will be the only things plugged into the Mini, so it's not an issue.
Pretty much, the Mini will just be busy doing the things that I hate listening to the fans on the MB deal with... sure, the Mini will be slower, but without any real deadlines, I'll just be able to set up a LONG queue, and let it do it's thing. It'll be nice to not have to keep the MB tethered down while rendering or whatever...
Thanks for the input.

[silver]

JustinHorne just wondering what kind of rendering you doing?

[JustinHorne]

Originally Posted by silver 

JustinHorne just wondering what kind of rendering you doing?

I suppose rendering may have been the wrong word, it's all Image related. I do a lot of time consuming PS work... I've manages to make some macros/automator/PS actions to apply to photos that I shoot (Canon RAW files.) So, what I'll do is: go shoot, come home, apply the stuff to the applicable photos, etc. Thing it, it's like... Well, a minute or two per photo, but multiplied by at least a hundred shots, it adds up fast.

So, yeah, if I had a computer I could just set it and leave, it would make life more convinnet... It's just a pain to listen to the MB fans (LOUD) and have the rest of the compy be slow for the hour or two of work time...

Apart from that, I do a lot of movie compressing/exporting... I'm in the process of converting my DVD library through Handbrake, to be viewable on the iPod.. Again, and hour an a half per movie, mulitplied by a LOT of movies... It adds up.

Plus, whenever I'm not doing anything on it, I'll just set it up to run Folding@home... I might make it into a media server too...


On a related note... Selling my 1.25 G4 PowerMac was a big mistake.

[silver]

@JustinHorne, I hear ya(no pun intended).


Cheers

[JustinHorne]

Originally Posted by silver 

@JustinHorne, I hear ya(no pun intended).


Cheers

About selling the PowerMac?

Yeah...
Annoyingly, after getting a Mini to replace it, the net money will just BARELY be in the black. But hey, it spurred me into getting a better DVD drive, so it worked out, I suppose. The 4x average drive in the MB just isn't cutting it anymore...

[silver]

no I meant I deal with the thing with the fan when doing intensive stuff on my MBP.


Cheers

[JustinHorne]

Originally Posted by silver 

no I meant I deal with the thing with the fan when doing intensive stuff on my MBP.


Cheers

Oh, no kidding... Those fans are just plain noisy at 6300 RPM.

[blues02]

So you don't need any specific brand of burner when dealing with external stuff?

[silver]

@blues02 no any brand should just work. Although you might come across one or two that won't work with Apples iStuff(iMovie and iDVD to name a few).

In general though OS X and Apple Hardware play nice with external burners.


Cheers


Cheers

[blues02]

Thank you.