Here's my problem. Even the Genius Bar techs at my local Apple Store have no answer and they tried the same thing on THEIR iMac G5s using THEIR rewritable media! The problem: Why can't my (or their) iMac G5s erase rewritable CDs or rewritable DVDs using Disk Utility? Yes, I have a superdrive (so do they) that support CD-RWs, CR+RWs, DVD-RWs, DVD+RWs, etc. My iMac G5 is not a dual core (Intel). Their's is. It doesn't matter. It won't erase these rewritable media on either of them. And I'm not using "cheap" media either, so that's not the problem. The ONLY solution that the genius bar could come up with is for rewritable CDs and it's not an Apple solution. It's a third party solution i.e. CD-Erase. It does work on rewritable CDs but not rewritable DVDs. Disk Utility is utterly useless in this regard. Has anyone else run into this problem? If it's any help, I do have the latest version of Toast (9.0.2) but so far, I can't figure out how to get it to do what I want it to do either. I'm stuck. Please help! Beat the Apple Geniuses!
iMac G5 1.8 Ghz iMac 1.8 GHz G5 17" Mac OS X (10.4.8) 1.5 GB RAM,
Mac OS X (10.4.11)
Simon (UK) wrote:
I use Toast 9 to erase my rewritable dvd's all the time. Just choose Recorder>Erase from the menu.
Simon, how do you handle i.e. erase DVD+RW DL or DVD-RW DL using Toast on a superdrive? If you never have used these disks, borrow one and try to erase it. Let me know how you make out.
Is your computer able to burn CDs and DVDs OK? Do you have an external burner to test with? I have one burner which is able to burn CDs OK, but it always fails when trying to burn a DVD. I have found the LaCie d2 burners to be pretty reliable, and I try to avoid the internal burners since that seems to be the first thing to die on a Mac.
I had no problem erasing and reusing my DVD-RW discs using Apple's Disk Utility for the longest time. Mine is the first version of the PowerPC G5's with a SuperDrive and running System version 10.4.11. Then, suddenly after the latest security update "Security Update 2008-004 (PowerPC)" I could no longer burn to or erase these discs to be reusable. Using the Disc Utility, they all showed as Read Only after erasing them in both the Quick Erase and the Long Erase. From the searching I have been doing to try to remedy this situation since I installed the update on July 8th, it does not look like I am the only one having this issue. I haven't tried it with a CD-RW yet but I know that it is not my DVD media. I get an error code of 0x8002006d when I try to burn these DVD's from the finder.
I have run a disc cleaner, tried reusing my previously performing media (several discs, not just one), tried new DVD-RW discs from different manufacturers and of varying speeds, reset PRAM, and deleted .plist files for the Utility as others have done. Nada. I have also tried various tips from others on this and other boards in a desperate attempt to return the past functionality of my drive. I lay this squarely at the feet of the software update and sincerely doubt that the drive went kapoot at the same time as seemingly hundreds of others after the security update came out. The initial post indicated that they couldn't even perform this function on a new machine at the Apple store so I'm not buying the hardware answer. Hopefully someone has the answer before I have to go buy myself a new burner. Sorry for being so verbose.
While I am thinking about it, another reason for me to believe this is a software problem, is that when I initially bought this machine, even though it had the SuperDrive, the DVD-RW was not supported. The hardware was capable of it per the manufacturer but the Apple software didn't support it. Then after a while and with an update from Apple (I can't remember if it had been firmware or software) the drive was capable of handling DVD-RW with nary a hiccup until the latest update.
Having the same problem, would love an answer. (FYI- PermanentEraser is probably great at what it was originally intended for, but it didn't do a thing to my DVD-DL RW.)