Burning DVD for data problems

Failed verification or not does the disk read OK? I don't verify anything since it takes too long and failed verification doesn't mean that the burn went awry either. They might be just fine.

You need to try alternate media as well. Buy a few single disks , especially Verbatim which are the gold standard.

NB I use Toast vs. the IMHO, inadequate and kludgy finder burning stuff.

You don't need Tiger but why are you two upgrades behind in panther?

I find that Toast in addition to all the video options which I use extensively, is much easier to use to burn CD's and DVD's for data and any other reason, including mac only , PC and Mac hybrid, etc., You also know before burning if it will fit which you don't have in OS X.

Toast has 6 data settings, 4 audio CD settings, 4 Video settings and 4 disc copy settings.

The last Panther was 10.3.9 vs. your 10.3.7. Use the combo updater.

Cheap disks often give bad results. Verbatim in spools are not much more than cheap ones anyway. At least start with decent media and see if results improve.

Ricktoronto:

i You need to try alternate media as well. Buy a few single disks , especially Verbatim which are the gold standard.

I thought Taiyo Yuden (relabelled as many brands) was considered the gold standard for recordable optical media. Basically look for media marked "made in Japan", including those sold by Apple, FujiFilm, Maxell, etc. Most brands will have multiple sources, but AFAIK Taiyo Yuden is the only company currently manufacturing in Japan

Having the same DVR player, and having experienced the same problems, I doubt the problem is the media (though the media is sometimes an issue).

Check the firmware of the drive you have using Apple's system profiler (under the Apple in the menu bar up top). If the firmware is anthing less than 1.33 (mine was 1.2), it probably needs to be updated. The original firmware that came with this drive was defective and can waste disks and ruin the drive.

If it is an Apple supplied Superdrive (e.g.originally came with the computer), Apple has an updater listed to download ( I do not recall where on Apple's website it is though). If it is a separate firewire drive, or an internal third party drive, your options are more limited. Pioneer only made an offical updater for OS 9, and it does not install under Classic. If you can boot into OS 9 (e.g. you have an older Mac), you can try to install the update that way. If it is an internal drive you can install the firmware on a Window's computer by installing the drive on a PC, and updating it that way.

Neither of those options worked for me. I used an unsupported, use at your own risk, third party updater which updated my drive's firmware to 1.4. You can find this firmware at:

http://www.macetvideo.com/flashpioneerosx/flashpioneerosx.html

Note the site is in French. You can use Google to translate it for you. The update worked for me, but again beware changing firmware on hardware is very serious business, and this update is unsupported. On the other hand, your drive might be useless if you do not take the risk. Again it worked for me.

Toast is not freeware and is located at ... http://www.roxio.com

If you have problems with any update .... download and install the 10.3.9 combo file.. at .... http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/index1.html

george

I had iffy results with write speed to Taiyo Yuden for CD's. And they were a bit costly for DVD's. There is quite a neat online dealer here in Canada that sells nearly all of them , and you can buy just one of each of many to find the best.

For sure in the DVD-DL world the only one that works for me is Verbatim. Ridata/Ritek were $10 coasters.

I can burn Verbatim DVD-R 4X at 8X and 8X at 16X so they must know how to make good media. And far easier to find in stores than the Japanese media.

But you make a good point, they are well made and beat other brands and non-name hands down.

That updater may have been from an era (what is the date of the update?) where there were mainly 1X. I suspect they mean 2X or faster. it is probably a good idea to update.

You have a DVR-104 drive. That is an old Pioneer drive, Currently, I am not by my drive, but I believe its best burn speed is probably 2X, tops 4X. In other words, it is slow. If you have the original firmware, which you likely do, it is defective.

If you have a DCR 104 that was Apple supplied, I would download the most recent firmware that Apple provides. If you have a third party DVR-104 I would still update the firmware. From your post, I cannot tell what type of DVD 104 drive you are using. That is just a generic name for a Pioneer drive that many different companies, including Apple, used in their products.

For instance, I have a Pioneer DVR 104 firewire drive made by LaCie, not a Apple supplied DVR 104 Superdrive. Like I said, I was having the same painful and costly problems you discribe. Recently, I downloaded and updated the firmware. Since then, I have sucessfuly burned DVDs. I used the French supplied third party firmware update provided in my last post.

Even if this is not your problem, your DVR player should still have the latest firmware availalbe so that is excluded as the source of your problem. I doubt it is the disks because I was using various disks and having the same types of problems.

Just my two-cents.

PS

I appoligize I reread your post and I see that you are using an Apple Superdrive. I would probably use the update Apple provides to update the firmware on the DVR 104. My guess is it will solve the problem. I notice that the more I upgrade my OS (I am using Tiger now), the worse the problem has become. Or maybe it is just the DVD's on the market are just faster now. Whatever the case, I would update the firmware.

One final post, this Apple page might be of help to you:

http://www.apple.com/hardware/superdrive/