Restrictions on external DVD burners and HDDs?

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Level 1

25 points

Restrictions on external DVD burners and HDDs?

Hello, I REAALLY want to buy a mac mini - my incessantly crashing Windows machine has a new 160GB drive (internal) and a new Sony DRU720A DVD burner - what I'd like to do is buy a couple of 5.25" enclosures with USB 2.0 or Firewire connections and connect them as externals to the Mini...

are there any complications using a Sony dvd burner with a mac mini? HDD issues to be aware of?

Thanx in advance - help me get back to happy computing!
ferd

Posted on Aug 22, 2005 3:13 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 22, 2005 4:12 PM in response to ferd berfel

Welcome to the Apple Discussions!

The best site to do a search would be the Accelerate Your Mac Drive Compatibility Database. There you can search for both they types of drives you have and any enclosure you might be thinking of using. The database contains user reviews of their experience with different hardware. Unfortunately, a quick check reveals no reviews of that model DVD burner yet.

-Doug

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Answer 2

ferd berfel Author

Level 1

25 points

Aug 22, 2005 8:26 PM in response to ferd berfel

Thanks so much for your response. I misspoke (miswrote?) - I actually have the sony dru-710a, though looking at the link you sent, there was no entry for that one either.

any gut feelings on general compatibility - on either sony dvd burners, or on hard drives? should I just bite the bullet and get a super drive?

thanks again.
ferd

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Answer 3

Aug 22, 2005 8:50 PM in response to ferd berfel

I would guess that there will be no issues at all with your hard drive. Those are pretty standard pieces of hardware that are supported by both hard drive enclosures and Mac OS X. A DVD burner may be a different story though. It will have to be supported by Mac OS X whether it's an internal drive or in an external enclosure. However, there is a third party utility you may be able to use to create a driver for your DVD burner. Check out the Patch Burn utility. I've never used it, so I can't comment on it's compatibility, but it seems like it might help you if the drivers aren't already built-in.

-Doug

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Answer 4

Aug 23, 2005 7:08 AM in response to ferd berfel

hi Ferd
I use an external Lacie Dual layer DVD writer on firewire with no problems. I use the PatchBurn software with no problems the only thing I cannot do is play DVD movies in DVD player as external drives are not supported so i use VLC instead which plays the DVD fine.

Paul

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Answer 5

Will-Hi

Level 5

4,307 points

Aug 23, 2005 8:43 AM in response to Paul Johnson5

Paul, you are saying that external drives are not supported by DVD Player ? I mean, obviously you are, but do you know why ?

In this case, does anyone know another app that will play DVDs from external drives, other than VLC (it seems kind of "unfinished" to me) ?

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Answer 6

Aug 23, 2005 9:46 AM in response to Paul Johnson5

Paul, my own experience, in Tiger, all DVD drives are supported, not just the ones Apple include.

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Answer 7

Aug 23, 2005 10:30 AM in response to ferd berfel

The reason I say this is when i upgraded from Panther to Tiger I had bought an external DVD drive, I installed tiger and DVD Player was not installed because it does not support the external drive. Ican use the drive with other apps (ie iPhoto, iDVD etc) but not DVD Player.
If anyone can tell me how to use DVD Player with the external drive I would be delighted.

Paul

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Answer 8

Aug 23, 2005 10:59 AM in response to Paul Johnson5

send me an email to blackevilweredragon@gmail.com

and i will work this out...

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Answer 9

Aug 23, 2005 11:07 AM in response to Transgenic X5-655

I would be nice if you shared this information with everyone, since it may be pertinent to the original poster as well as others searching for a topic like this. I'd have to try it when I'm home, but can't you use the "Open TS_Video Folder" or "Open DVD Media" option and then manually navigate to the disk in the external drive?

-Doug

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Answer 10

Aug 23, 2005 11:11 AM in response to Douglas McLaughlin

I would share information, but i can't attach files on this forum, and now saying that will possibly get this post removed... you could do that if you manually navigated to the folder, but Paul don't even have the DVD Player app, it didn't install...

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Answer 11

Will-Hi

Level 5

4,307 points

Aug 23, 2005 11:13 AM in response to Douglas McLaughlin

Yes, I think sharing the info with us would be a good thing, especially since I will be getting an external FireWire DVD-RW soon.

Although it may be more practical to solve the issue by mail and then post the solution (if there is any) it will prevent other knowledgeable users from helping, too.

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Answer 12

Aug 23, 2005 11:26 AM in response to Will-Hi

how do I share a file here? I need to send a file to Paul as his problem is different, but you can't attach files here..

all I am doing is sharing a file that for some reason didn't install on Pauls Mac..

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Answer 13

ferd berfel Author

Level 1

25 points

Aug 24, 2005 5:35 PM in response to ferd berfel

I want to thank everyone for their input - I'm getting the feeling that Tiger "most likely" will not have any problems with 160GB drive removed from my windows machine and put into an external enclosure, and "most likely" won't have problems with a Windows version Sony DRU710a dvd burner put into an external enclosure.

I guess I'm still shaky about whether or not to just bite the bullet and get the superdrive included in a mac mini, or take heart in the fact that there does exist a Mac version of the DRU710a (saw one at macmall), meaning that mine most likely would work.

again, thanx to one and all!
ferd

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Answer 14

Aug 24, 2005 5:41 PM in response to ferd berfel

Just some tips to save you grief in the long run:

a. if you reformat that windows drive when you bring it over to the mac, please take the time to zero out all data on the drive. its a one time process that can save you grief down the road.

b. if your DVDRW drive isn't natively supported by Tiger, the NEC 3520A is, and I've heard the NEC 3540 is as well, then try the free patchburn for Tiger here:

http://www.patchburn.de/download.html

c. don't use USB or USB2, use FireWire at all costs, if at all possible.

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Answer 15

Aug 24, 2005 9:09 PM in response to ferd berfel

Hello ferd,

I am new to the Mac (20+ years on Windows and developer for 10 of those years) and I was in the same boat as you concerning the DVD Burner. I have the DRU-710A (was in my Dell 8250) and I bought a cheap (price-wise at least as I have had no trouble with it thus far) Bytecc 5.25 USB2/FW enclosure.

I originally used PatchBurn and things worked fine. I then removed it when I upgraded to iDVD 5 (** I believe as I don't recall exactly why, but something must have prompted me to do so). But I know the DVD/Enclosure worked with PatchBurn installed.

I have had no problems burning DVDs. The only thing I have not done is a Dual Layer burn... I figure that is where I am going to run into problems.

Good Luck and go for a Mac! I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience thus far. I have create DVD movies from my Sony TRV480 and slideshows from iPhoto taken on my Kodack DC4800. Essentially right out of the box... no additional software purchases required!!!

Now if Quicken for Mac would just move toward it's Windoze bretheren's feature set, I would be completely content!! But that's another thread for another forum.

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