Can't burn dual layer DVD's

Correct me if I am wrong, but the drives that come with macs are not dual layer burners? I think that costs more money.

Hmmm . . . then I don't see why it wouldn't do it. Is something wrong with the disc or the software?

Am at a loss as well. I'm attempting to burn 5.2 GB to a DVD+R DL disk (Memorex) and get the same message: "The disk inserted does not have enough free space."

I've tried burning the disk image on following machines and configs:

1st Gen intel iMac (has DVD+R DL write support) / 10.6.2
MacBook Pro (has DVD+R DL write support) / 10.5.8
Unibody MacBook (has DVD+R DL write support) / 10.5.8

Same results with each configuration. Note, this is my first attempt at burning a DL DVD, however, from everything I've read, it should just work.

Hmm . . . maybe you should call apple? Maybe they have an answer that we don't.

Hmm . . . well at least you have a copy of Leopard as a backup. I guess you can leave it at that. My machines can' burn dual-layer discs so I can't back up my Snow Leopard disks. But at least I barely use it and have it stored in the same spot. Oh well . . .

I tried memorex DL. iDVD went through 6 hours of encoding, multiplexing, and then nothing. Tried twice. Apple Tech support told me to try Verbatim (Can you believe Apple tech saying that!). I will try. If not, I will have to figure out my alternatives!

Is there a an exact spec of DVDs and brands Apple can handle? Or is it just the luck of the draw?

Memorex does not have a good track record on these discussion boards; both the iMac and MB/MBP super drives (there may be different brands, but they are the same laptop type drive in all of them) are extremely finicky at best. Mine like Verbatim and that is what I use most of the time; I've also had good luck with Imation, but my local stores no longer carry that brand.

If you have an external burner, use that instead - easier and more robust and it's tray-loading (that's what I do).

Message was edited by: Barbara Daniels1

This is because Apple has totally messed up. After installing Leopard the dvd burner on my iMac 24 just stopped working all together. My BRAND NEW iMac 27 (i7) for $4K can not burn DL). The solution is that I have a cheap external burner which burns everything (not bluray, though). For 100 bucks you will save yourself a huge amount of frustration.

I can not get my iMac to burn a DL disk. My Mac contains a superdrive that can burn dual layer disks but I get the following error "Multiplexer Error - there was an error during formatting". I have tried both Memorex & Verbatim DVD+R DL media. What is the brand and model of the external burner that uou have that works for you?

This is a genuine problem. I bet that if you tried to read a burned (that is, not manufactured) Dual Layer disc (either +R DL or -R DL) you would not be able to do that either; my iMac simply refuses to read the disc, which has to be force-ejected at startup.

I work in the CD/DVD manufacturing industry (and have for nearly 10 years) and we are getting complaints from customers that they cannot read our DL burned media, either +R DL or -R DL. However, only people with Macs have this problem. I have confirmed the DVDs play on every PC in our office, and also several set-top units, but none of our three Macs work. To dispel the whole "your media is junk" theory, I have tried several brands, including verbatim, ritek, and CMC magnetics (Hotan). I have also also tested the burned media in our $5,500 CD/DVD analyzer and it conforms to respective book standards and does not have any POFs and very low if any PIFs.

As a last resort, I hooked up an external IDE Pioneer 118 via a FireWire bridgeboard (a drive actually removed from a PC that played the DVDs just fine) to an office iMac. Unlike the internal Matsushita drive, this drive will read the Discs, but MacOS refuses to mount them!

This has to be some kind of problem with MacOS or the hardware. Either Apple has engineered it to not work with non-manufactured Dual Layer discs, or there is some big mistake here. Searching google and these forums reveals all sorts of similar issues.

Come on Apple respond to this post!!!!

You make some very interesting points; unfortunately, this is a user to user forum and you will not get a response from Apple. Instead, you might want to repeat your post at the Apple feedback site:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Great work! Proves my point earlier: Buy an external drive to DL or fire up windows on your mac, drop the bootcamp driver and dowload the manufacturer's version.