SuperDrive slow burning solution

Question

Level 2

434 points

SuperDrive slow burning solution

Hi all. After days of researching and blog hunting, I finally realized that Apple's got an online iMac G5 webchat help (DUH) ( http://www.apple.com/support/imac/) and that the technicians are working on this slow burning problem.

Apparently when you upgrade (archive and transfer user data) to a new OS (ie: Panther to Tiger) some of the files in the main Preference folder becomes corrupted, because if you create a new user and restart your computer under that new user and run Disk Utility, you will find that your SuperDrive's maximum burn speeds are restored. So Apple has assertained that the slow burn is a software issue, not hardware.

So what Apple got me to do was to reboot my computer back under the original user account name, then go to the Library folder and take out the original Preferences folder (./Library/Preferences) and place it on your desktop..DON'T TRASH IT. Then restart your computer. Once rebooted, launch Disk Utility and try to burn something with both DVD and CD mediums, and you'll see that their burning speeds will be restored to factory specs (in my case it would be 4X DVD and 16X CD). Quit out of Disk Utility. Drag all the contents of the original Preference folder on your desktop into the newly created Preference folder (./Library/Preference) WITHOUT REPLACING THE NEW FILES. Restart, and everything seems to be fine. Hope this helps.

Posted on Sep 22, 2005 8:01 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 23, 2005 2:42 AM in response to Wayne Chin

Did you try Toast or Dragon Burn? I seem to be having the same issue with some blank media. The maximum speed allowed by Dragon Burn is 2x. I'll try and do what they asked you. I'll reply later.

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Answer 2

Sep 23, 2005 5:23 AM in response to Wayne Chin

Nah! Didn't work. It was a lot of stuffing around anyway. I tested the same media on a different drive connected to the iMac and I could burn at 8X so the superdrive does not like the media. Is there a list of compatible media for the superdrive anywhere?

Cheers.

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Answer 3

Wayne Chin Author

Level 2

434 points

Sep 23, 2005 9:24 AM in response to Aussie Apple

Did you try creating a new user, logging in as that user and run Disk Utility there? Seems to be working here, although your superdrive may be different than mine.

I've tried several external dvd burners, the best ones I think are Lacie 16X DL Drives and Pioneer DVR-109 drive...although the Pioneer usually comes as an internal drive (which is good if you have a G5 Tower) otherwise you can purchase an external casing and plug it in through firewire or USB 2.

OH, and don't forget to run PatchBurn to make it fully capatible with iLife and all the pro apps (find it at versiontracker.com)

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Answer 4

Sep 23, 2005 9:43 PM in response to Wayne Chin

My drive is a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845: Firmware Revision: DBN9. I'm using Dragon Burn and when I copy a DVD it copies at 2x. I tried the same procedure using an external firewire burner and it burns at 8x. The external burner is unsupported by Apple but I can still play and burn DVDs. I tried using Toast 6 to copy the DVD but the burn failed. I make an image of the DVD data on the hard drive before I burn it.

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Answer 5

Wayne Chin Author

Level 2

434 points

Sep 23, 2005 10:08 PM in response to Aussie Apple

I think what you're talking about is slightly off the topic of the original posted message. I posted information regarding a solution to the slow DVD burning found in many slot-loaded optical drives found on the iMac, Powerbooks and SuperDrive equipped Mac Mini's. The information I posted is information that I received directly from an Apple Tech Specialist whom I followed intricately to help resolve the slow burning issue. By following those instructions, the original burning specifications should be restored.

I don't believe this information is applicable to unsupported external DVD burners. But if you want to make it usable with all burning softwares, run a program called Patchburn. In the company's own words, "PatchBurn is a tool to patch existing CD/DVD-drivers (under Mac-OS X 10.2.x) or to generate and install new device profiles (under Mac-OS 10.3.x and later)It allows many, otherwise unsupported burners to be used directly with Mac-OS X, iTunes and DiscBurner."

http://www.patchburn.de

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Answer 6

Heng Ju

Level 1

5 points

Sep 23, 2005 11:57 PM in response to Wayne Chin

I had same issue. After trying several brands (Maxwell +R and -R, Memeorex), only Verbatim DVD-R 8X does result in 8X speed.

So I guess the low burning speed is from the media compatibility. It seems DVD media is not as standardized as CD media.

Wish the information helps.

If you find other brand which works well with iMac G5's MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845, please share with us.

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Answer 7

Atwill

Level 1

15 points

Oct 21, 2005 6:49 AM in response to Wayne Chin

Wayne:

I also need to try this solution and need a couple of clarifications. When I choose burn from the finder window for a DVD, the max option I get is 2X. I recently had to do a reinstall of Tiger with Migration from a clone and I wonder if something got cheesed somewhere like you indicate.

Do you remove the Preferences folder under your User Library or from the main Library at the root. Also, do you move the Preferences folder or the contents to the desktop (leaving an empty Preferences folder).

Were there any issues with a restart that had no preferences? That sort of scares me.

Thanks for your help

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Answer 8

Oct 21, 2005 11:33 AM in response to Heng Ju

Agreed Heng Ju

Good quality copies to.

Ya pays ya money........................

Steve

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Answer 9

Wayne Chin Author

Level 2

434 points

Oct 21, 2005 11:50 AM in response to Atwill

Don't worry...just pull the entire preference folder from the root Library folder. When you restart, OS X will create a new Preference folder. Some things will change, like desktop settings. But nothing much else will be affected. That's why you keep your original Preference folder on your desktop, because after you restart, you put all the content of your original Preference folder back into the newly created one, WITHOUT overwriting the new content of the new Preference folder (in other words, select all in the original preference folder and place it into the new one, when prompted if you want to replace existing files, choose NOT to, but the rest of the original content will be restored) Restart again, and everything should be fine, including a faster burn speed from Disk Utilities.

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Answer 10

RmACK

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2005 8:43 PM in response to Wayne Chin

Thanks for the help.
I tried what you suggested and moved my root library preferences to my desktop. However after restarting, I could still only choose 1x or 2x in toast or disk utility. Gutted.

I've now put the prefs back and reconfigured my network settings which disappeared. I'm fairly sure my drive burnt 4x pre-tiger but can't remember. I blamed it on the cheap princo disks but now I'm using 8x Imation!!!!

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Answer 11

RmACK

Level 1

0 points

Oct 22, 2005 4:21 PM in response to RmACK

Having visited the stationary store and paid exhorbitent prices, I have had success with 8x verbatim DVD+R and 8x TDK DVD-R burning at the 4x that my drive is supposed to be capable of. However highly reputeable Imation 8x discs will only go to 2x. As I understand it (I may be wrong so don't quote me on this!) but i think the problem that I am experiencing is that the firmware in my drive does not recognise many brands of disc and so defaults to 2x. If this is the case, there should be a firmware update which has more media added to the list. I understand pioneer do this but Matshita pass the responsibility on to apple. Let's hope there's an update!!!

My order of 50 Imations hasn't shipped yet so hopefully can be changed to verbatim 🙂 and also on the bright side, my iMac G5 was supposed to be -R, -rw only but it does +R & +RW as well. Go to terminal and type "drutil info" and it is listed there but system profiler only says -r, -rw. I have successfully used +rw discs! So it's not all bad but would have been more convenient had I known which media to use. I have just carried out an actual burn and it took 14mins +lead in/out for a 3.9GB TDK disc. Definitley faster than the 25mins it was taking with the Imations!

My recommendation: For iMac G5 with UJ-825, I haven't tried Apple discs but they really should work. My tests show that Verbatim & TDK go at the right speed whilst Princo and Imation do not.

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