Quetion on burning/CD drives...
- Thread starter shekter
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No, but make sure that the external drive that you choose has a firewire connection. I have a LaCie external drive with a firewire connection that can burn dual layered discs. I'm not too sure that I'd recommend it though as it's a replacement. The first one clonked out amazingly enough right before the warranty expired!
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If the external disk drives are designed for USB connection only, you CANNOT use firewire.
If your eMac has firewire on it, and only USB 1.1, You NEED an external firewire drive (you can get some that have both firewire and usb connectors on them)
Firewire and USB are two separate technologies.
You should be able to boot up from your internal drive that will read CD's - just not write to them. It is not necessary to write to a CD during a boot up process from CD.
You should also be able to boot up from an external firewire disk drive via Command-Option-Shift-Delete. This bypasses the internal hard drive on boot up and seeks a different startup volume such as a CD or external disk drive, so it should work.
If your eMac has firewire on it, and only USB 1.1, You NEED an external firewire drive (you can get some that have both firewire and usb connectors on them)
Firewire and USB are two separate technologies.
You should be able to boot up from your internal drive that will read CD's - just not write to them. It is not necessary to write to a CD during a boot up process from CD.
You should also be able to boot up from an external firewire disk drive via Command-Option-Shift-Delete. This bypasses the internal hard drive on boot up and seeks a different startup volume such as a CD or external disk drive, so it should work.
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Exactly, that's why I recommended getting an external drive with Firewire if he wanted to take the external drive route. For some reason I thought that his drive wasn't reading CD's either but looking back at his original post this wasn't the case. His drive was having a problem writing to disc which is understandable because it wasn't designed to do so. By all means, he should be able to boot up from this drive. Thanks for the correction!
Well, I've been looking around, and have come to learn that Staples and the otherstores I checked mainly sell external drives for PCs, not Macs.
So I resorted to ebay...
And I think I found something, but I wanted to get a judgement call from you guys before I made any purchases...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Macpower-Hot-Bu...ryZ51039QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It says it has USB 1.1, 2.0, Firewire hookups. Is that all that matters whe looking for an external drive? I believe Mac OS X works with this particular drive...
I've also been told that DVD readers and burners are backwards compatable with CD-R and CD-RW. Is that true at all times or does it depend on the circumstances? Because this particular drive makes mention of only DVDs...
So I resorted to ebay...
And I think I found something, but I wanted to get a judgement call from you guys before I made any purchases...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Macpower-Hot-Bu...ryZ51039QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It says it has USB 1.1, 2.0, Firewire hookups. Is that all that matters whe looking for an external drive? I believe Mac OS X works with this particular drive...
I've also been told that DVD readers and burners are backwards compatable with CD-R and CD-RW. Is that true at all times or does it depend on the circumstances? Because this particular drive makes mention of only DVDs...
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Hello, That drive should work on your Mac. In fact, a lot of people rant and rave about the Pioneer DVR-112D-BK. Actually, the drive itself is an internal drive that's placed in an external case. I'm a bit leery of the drive being used and the case being made with plastic but this could be a good buy nevertheless. Here's another option for you. The guy that posted this is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to drives. I believe that he repairs Macs for a living. In fact, I just got done ordering two Pioneer DVR-112D-BK's and one case. Here's the link-
http://www.ripdifferent.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=3803
I've looked at the link you provided, and I've decided that I'd be better off with that one. The drive in your link is the same I found, in new condition, which would probably be better in the long run. Thanks for the help. : )
And will I have to worry about the Firewire ports on my Mac being compatable with the drive's Firewire? And it should work with OS X 10.2.8 once I go through with the PatchBurn downloading?
And will I have to worry about the Firewire ports on my Mac being compatable with the drive's Firewire? And it should work with OS X 10.2.8 once I go through with the PatchBurn downloading?
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Everything should work. The only disadvantage to this is that you have to order the case and the burner and put them together yourself but it seems easy. Rexer even shows you how to do this in his post. I'm looking forward to checking this out. Everything should arrive by next week.
I'd say that at least half of those guys on that forum have used this case and burner and they loved it. Not to mention that these dudes KNOW how to rip and burn. You might even consider joining their forum and supporting the developer. We're running quite low on DVD rippers for the Mac platform.
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Any external drive should work. I bought mine from Aldi ( a very budget store in the UK) and it worked straight out of the box.
Of course you won't be able to load Nero on which is usually supplied for rw drives, and is for Windows, but you can use any mac third party burner such as Dragon Burn or Toast or even Finder.
Of course you won't be able to load Nero on which is usually supplied for rw drives, and is for Windows, but you can use any mac third party burner such as Dragon Burn or Toast or even Finder.
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Exactly, that's why I recommended getting an external drive with Firewire if he wanted to take the external drive route. For some reason I thought that his drive wasn't reading CD's either but looking back at his original post this wasn't the case. His drive was having a problem writing to disc which is understandable because it wasn't designed to do so. By all means, he should be able to boot up from this drive. Thanks for the correction!
I wasn't correcting you, but rather just perhaps read the question differently, so was clarifying in relation to how I had understood the question
:biggrin:
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I wasn't correcting you, but rather just perhaps read the question differently, so was clarifying in relation to how I had understood the question
In that case I'll take that as an inadvertent correction.
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Cool, looks like we're going to end up putting these suckers together at the same time.
The drive arrived last week I believe, and I put it together without a hitch. I downloaded PatchBurn so that my mac would register the existance of the drive.
The good thing is that it does allow me to burn programs and music and so on whether it's hooked up to my mac or my windows computer.
And now... the hitch. When I burn using the windows, nothing happens on the mac, and vice versa when I burn on the mac and check on the windows compuer.
Is that the way things normally play out with the burning process, or do I need to download other programs on to my mac to make everything work beautifully?
The good thing is that it does allow me to burn programs and music and so on whether it's hooked up to my mac or my windows computer.
And now... the hitch. When I burn using the windows, nothing happens on the mac, and vice versa when I burn on the mac and check on the windows compuer.
Is that the way things normally play out with the burning process, or do I need to download other programs on to my mac to make everything work beautifully?
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I just got done putting mine together as well. What a great deal! Anyway, what are you trying to burn? It sounds like you have the drive hooked up to your Mac & PC.
My main goal was to burn Creative Suite, but once it's on the disk, it doesn't register on any CD. And I also wanted to see if I would be able to burn audio CDs.
The only reason why I was checking on my dad's Windows computer was to see if my Mac was being weird or I was being an idiot. It's main purpose is to burn for my mac.
The only reason why I was checking on my dad's Windows computer was to see if my Mac was being weird or I was being an idiot. It's main purpose is to burn for my mac.
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So, you were able to burn Creative Suite on a cd but the cd's icon didn't show up on your desktop when you inserted the cd in to your drive? If that's the case, go to your Finder's preferences and under the General tab make sure that all of the boxes are ticked under the show these items on your Desktop heading.
I have the tabs set to the proper locations in the Preferences tab. When I put any CD in the external (blank or full), it doesn't show up on the desktop. When using the drive built into the mac, blank CDs don't show up, but previously blank CDs do.
Also, I'm trying to burn audio CDs using iTunes, but it tells me it can't find the proper burning software/program. If anyone can give any pointers, tha'd be wonderful.
Also, I'm trying to burn audio CDs using iTunes, but it tells me it can't find the proper burning software/program. If anyone can give any pointers, tha'd be wonderful.
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Hello Shekter, first things first. Does the name of your external drive appear in the System Profiler under Disc Burning?
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As far as iTunes is concerned. Go to iTunes Preferences. When the iTunes Preferences window pops up, click on the "Advanced" tab and then click the "Burning" button. Click the little arrows in the box that's next to where it says "CD Burner", select the name of your external drive and then click on the OK button at the bottom of the window.