Which DVD-R's can burn in a TiBook

[RossDarker]

Look at the picture of the two DVD's:


I am only able to burn the type of DVD (that I have tried), that is on the left.
The type on the left burns fine in toast with no errors.

Although, the DVD on the right hand side doesn't go well.
This is the error I get in toast when I try to burn to that DVD (the one on the right)

followed by:


And initialising from the Finder freezes the System.

Any way to tell the difference between the two DVD's? The problem is I have no clue where they came from, they were just there in a drawer.

You see I am going to get some DVD-R's soon, as I have run out (of the ones I can burn in the Ti), do you think https://www.amazon.co.uk/Verbatim-43548-4-7GB-DVD-R-Silver/dp/B0009U6V90/
will burn alright?

Here is a snip from the System Profiler:
Internal ATA 0
      ID = 0
            DVD-R/CD-RW
               Driver version:   1.4.8
               Mac OS partitions:   0
               Removable media:   Yes
               Vendor:   MATSHITA
               Revision number:   D0CB
               Product ID:   DVD-R   UJ-815 
               Apple disc burning:   Supported

[IIO]

how do you know that it is not eventually an old "+R" ? they were the worst.

but i also have media errors with DVDs sometimes (and i am using proper drives, not 15 years old ones). compared to CDs, which almost always work (1298 of 1300 in my case, one of the faillures was a scratched medium) they seem to be less reliable.

there is another isssue with DVDs and that is that sometimes toast report the validation would have failed. but in most cases it is not true!
so if you get a "validation failed" error, always check the disc again with the "compare" function of toast. when comparing the files gives 0 errors and the disc also mounts properly after re-insertion, it´ll be ok!

p.s.
i just ordered mitsubishi branded bluray disks from japan for around 0.80 USD, and the last CDs i bought were wrong prints for USD 0.30 per piece. with DVDs i am not so brave, i buy certain brands only no matter the price.

[FdB]

Hey Ross,

Might be a consequence of standard, single layer DVD (4.7 GB) versus the *dual layer DVD (8.5 GB)?

*“can only be created using DVD+R DL and Super Multi drives”

Specs for the MATSHITA DVD-R note that it can read the dual layer DVDs but no mention of writing to the dual layer DVD discs.

[RossDarker]

Don't think it is a DVD+R because a friend gave me one once, and only the Mac Pro could read it, PowerBook would spit it out after inserting and trying to figure out what it was. With this disk on the right, it does show up and Mac OS 9 and X understand it as a blank disc, but always get an error when I burn, in OS 9 or even X.

It's not DL, because if I try burn Leopard DVD to it from the Mac Pro, it says not enough space on the disk.

[FdB]

Well, if you can burn to them on the Mac Pro at 4.7 GB
and then read them on the Pro AND the Ti…you won’t
need to use them as mini-Frisbees or drink coasters.

And yes, the Amazon Verbatim DVD-Rs should be fine
for the Matshita (specs below).

[RossDarker]

Thanks. And yes I can burn them in the Mac Pro, and they read in all Macs I have that have optical drives. (including the ti)

[RossDarker]

I've had no luck, with these new DVD-R, but I don't think it's that - Pretty sure it's the Super Drive now. From OS X, I get these errors:

& from disk utility:


I have followed up with some threads about this and loads say compressed air works. I've used a whole can in different places of the drive with no luck. Ran a Maxell lease cleaner dvd about 20 times, reset PMU, but can't  get anywhere. Still get these errors. I can Read CDs and DVDs, and currently read DVD, with no write. I get the error in OS 9 after it begins "writing line-in" and is OS X right after it starts "Writing Track".

Any other ideas, or do you think I have to replace the super drive?

[devils_advisor]

as stupid as it sounds have you replaced the ide cable? remember that bus where the burner is on is not the fastest so you dont have to go over board but i would try anything before i remove that burner. could be powering issues or a faulty cable, jumper wrong. i mean it appears like there is no real reading issue unless the media is messed up.

[RossDarker]

Only thing to do with ATA recently on this machine was replacing the Hard Drive. I have not replaced any cables.

[devils_advisor]

if you have a replacement cable give it a try it might be pinched or something and that could give you the issues. otherwise you might be better of getting another drive or external firewire drive.

[macStuff]

 havent read the thread but i have made comments here on how optical media has changed in the time since 2002/2003
and on the topic of the slight differences in dvd+R vs dvd-R
DVD+R is a more recent revision that was not around when the tibooks were made as far as i know (fact check?)
DVD-R is the older version, but even still, there are some slight physical changes in size + format since the old DVD-R vs new DVD-Rs
at least thats what i remember from memory off the top

[RossDarker]

Is there any way to tell the difference? Also had a look inside the tibook and the cables seem to be fine. It has as mentioned burned a DVD before.

[devils_advisor]

the quality hasnt changed to the better either. its a mass production at the end and we pay for it.

[macStuff]

maybe u need a new CD/DVD drive but every possible replacement will be 20+ yeras old so u would need NOS (New Old Stock)
why not just get a usb cd/dvd drive and be done with it?
this is why i centralize all my files on my Nas4free file server and use AFP between all my diff macs
and just burn discs on a 2006+ mac, keeping in mind you are using a machine that is 16 years old

[RossDarker]

I suppose I could get a FW400 burner, or a USB Superdrive for my intel iMac.

Do you know of any good fw400 burners?

[devils_advisor]

stick with brands that are apple approved/tested by people. i think lite-on are working or known to work for example.

[IIO]

in my experience sony are loud and hot running. i have a dozen of LG, IDE, latest or second latest generation (which you can tell from specs like "24x DVD, 12x DVD-DL, 10xDVD-RAM" and the like). they all will be good and work with any media and any app you think of, no matter if 8 centimeter disks, 800 mb CDs or DVD-DL.

if you want to go one step further (and invest more than 2 dollars) you can also use SATA burners and get bigger buffers and eventually M-Disc DVD writing capabilities. i can confirm what diehard was telling me: using SATA adapters in old firewire cases is almost troublefree for optical drives.

[macStuff]

for what its worth i usually use my 2008 imac to burn discs or my 2010 mbp laptop
or any of my desktop g3/g4 machines that have a modern DVD drive installed

[RossDarker]

Well, I just managed to burn a DVD-R (Verbatim) in this tibook, at 2x, double the default speed.

I downloaded a firmware update (unofficial), found at http://superdrive.cynikal.net/files/uj815updates/firmware_uj815_D101.dmg
(it's an OS X app)

When it finished and restarted, I went to disk utility, and it said I can burn the DVD at 2x speed, so I went ahead and burned, and it worked!
Before update:

After update:


So then I went and rebooted to OS 9 to see if it worked, and got the same error I used to, the firmware still showed under System Profiler, and 2x is still an option:



But couldn't burn, tried through toast, disk copy, dvd studio pro....

So restarted to OS X to see if it worked there still... and it didn't, got the error once more, and tried burn again, no luck.

What do you guys think?

[devils_advisor]

try a different drive. preferably external usb/firewire or get a internal replacement if you wanna open the machine.


btw did you look at the listed stuff under media?