External DVD Not Recognized

Question

External DVD Not Recognized

I have a Sony DWQ28A Dual Layer DVD burner that I have put up as an external drive attaching to a Firewire hub. Tne Mini does not recognize the burner at all. I have tried Disk Utility and there is no drive showing.

I have heard that Patchburn may be a fix but I have also heard that it works and then it doesn't. I have also seen that Toast Lite 6 should be used with this burner in Mac 10.X environments but I am hesitant to go there when the burner is not being recognized at all.

I would rather ask questions beofre I start downlaoding stuff that is not going to do the job.

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sep 14, 2005 8:39 AM

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Answer 1

Will-Hi

Level 5

4,307 points

Sep 14, 2005 8:44 AM in response to Michelle Hogan

Well, Tiger had no problem recognizing my external LaCie. Before trying Patchburn I would try to connect the burner directly to your computer (w/out the hub) and see if it is recognized.

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Answer 2

Sep 14, 2005 8:55 AM in response to Will-Hi

Thank you Will. I have now done that with my iPod as well so that it can charge up. Funny, it is a powered hub.

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Answer 3

Will-Hi

Level 5

4,307 points

Sep 14, 2005 9:02 AM in response to Michelle Hogan

So you mean that your burner is now recognized ?

I've had issues with my iPod and my USB 2.0 hub, which is powered and will charge the iPod, but iTunes will not recognize the iPod (although some sort of communication must happen since iTunes hangs) unless I plug it to the back of the Mini, so I tend to be more suspicious about hubs now 🙂

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Answer 4

Sep 14, 2005 9:39 AM in response to Will-Hi

Hi Will,

No, I have not tried it yet as I am at work ( an evil non-Mac environment) but will do so when I get home tonight. I will keep you advised.

BTW, now that I am getting my iPod to charge thru USB 2.0 attached direct to the iPod, I plan on using PodUtil to strip songs off of it. I have not done that as yet but expect to soon.

Cheers!

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Answer 5

Will-Hi

Level 5

4,307 points

Sep 14, 2005 10:19 AM in response to Michelle Hogan

OK. Good luck, and keep us posted please !

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Answer 6

Sep 15, 2005 8:38 AM in response to Michelle Hogan

I just got a reply from tech support at Sony concerning my problems with my DRX530UL burner (external DVD burner did not respond properly). They say that it is not supported for Mac at all.

They listed two drives that are supported for 10.2 and up: the DRX720UL/T and the DRX710UL/T. Note: the /T means Mac compatible! The drives with the same model numbers and no /T are NOT Mac compatible!

The 710 has a slower sustained and burst data rate, (16MB/s vs 21, and 66mbps vs 480mbs), and the 720 comes with Nero and Toast Lite.

Both drives do DVD-R/-RW, DVD R/+RW/+RDL/RWDL, etc etc.

My burner is several years old, and at $180usd, I can afford to upgrade to DL support.

I guess the moral of the story is that if Sony doesn't say it's Mac-compatible, it's pot luck.

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Answer 7

Sep 15, 2005 9:14 AM in response to Iain McCracken

Well, that is not going to sell a lot of Sony DVD burners is it Iain?

Mine was only $80.00 as I bought it recentoy on eBay. I do have a PC that I can use it on but I had expected that using it on the Mac would make "MORE SENSE".

I will just go and cry for a while. (just kidding).

Thank you for the information.

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Answer 8

Will-Hi

Level 5

4,307 points

Sep 15, 2005 10:17 AM in response to Michelle Hogan

So, Michelle, is your drive still not recognized ?

If plugging it directly to your Mac doesn't work, then you could try Patchburn (I think there are more recent versions of it, like Patchburn 2 or 3, but don't take my word for it), and if it still doesn't work, well, I pretty happy with my LaCie and would recommend it( the enclosure is LaCie, the drive inside is a NEC ND-3540A, which seems to be their higher-end product).

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Answer 9

Sep 15, 2005 11:02 AM in response to Will-Hi

Hi Will,

Actually, I did not get home till it was too late for tech stuff. Just as well it seems. I have also called Sony and they have referred me to the vendor on eBay. It seems that the DWQ28A was mass produced by Sony for another vendor, so they say.

Rather than putz about with it, I will contact the seller and see what he can come up with.

I will keep this thread posted.

Than You Will.

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Answer 10

Jayson

Level 2

244 points

Sep 16, 2005 1:31 AM in response to Michelle Hogan

not the best option but you could run virtual PC and make it work. I have to use it to make some of the sony products I own work with my mac. If only sony would partner with Mac., Bill Gates would **** a brick, and I would be so happy.

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Answer 11

Will-Hi

Level 5

4,307 points

Sep 16, 2005 11:06 AM in response to Jayson

Well, Sony's CEO was present during one of Steve Jobs' keynotes, I guess it's just that not all their products are Mac-compatible.

I certainly wouldn't get VPC to make a drive work, getting a new one is much less expensive ! (And it may slow down the application responsible for burning - since it won't be running natively - thus slowing the project a lot : it takes me 40 minutes to extract a 4.5 GB VIDEO_TS, what if I had to do this under VPC, would it take, let's say, three hours ??)

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