2x DVD write speed with Toast Titanium 7

Using Sony media, I'm achieving 8x speed using Toast. However...

I'm down to about 5 Sony discs and bought Maxell (because they were on sale at one of the office supply superstores) so I'm anxious to see how they work (or not).

I am experiencing some problems with Toast. Sometimes it just freezes and stops responding.

Also, as I've never used double layered media before, I bought a "3 pack" to give them a shot on back-up. Verbatim. Anything I should know about using this media with Toast? Am I better off just creating a burn folder? These things were pricey and I'd hate to have them become coasters. I also note that they tout a 2.4x speed but advert "Up to 6x Speed with compatible High Speed DVD+R DL Drives.

Anyone having problems with Toast (other than the speed - a problem I am not experiencing)? Anyone have any experience using DL media?

Thanks

that was for UJ835E, current intel imacs (at least mine has the newest panasonic UJ846).

man, after being so use to nero on pc, toast really stinks. wish i hadn't bought it. may have to try discblaze. wish mac's could multisession dvd's. how ridiculous.

What is it that you don't like about Toast? Other than the freeze problems I've had with my Intel iMac - the majority of problems seem drive related (or system software, DVD writer ROM code, etc.).

I ask because I've bought many burn apps yet keep coming back to Toast.

i'm comparing toast to nero. nero is just more flexible, imo, and you don't need something like mactheripper.

Folks,

I just looked at the Roxio website and I see NO indication that Toast 7 is a Universal application. If that is the case and it is running in Rosetta emulation, I am certain that is your problem with the slower speed. If the program is running slower in emulation, it is not going to burn the discs at their full speed.

Open your System Info utility and click on applications. Look at Toast in the type column and see if it sees PPC or Universal. If it says PPC, that is your issue. Roxio needs to Universalize their software.

Just a thought.

Yep, just checked and Roxio has announced that they will make it Universal, but it is not yet. Try SimplyBurns for OS X. It is listed in the OS X 3rd party section and is Universal. See if it gives you better burn speeds.

Folks,

I just looked at the Roxio website and I see NO
indication that Toast 7 is a Universal application.
If that is the case and it is running in Rosetta
emulation, I am certain that is your problem with
the slower speed. If the program is running slower
in emulation, it is not going to burn the discs at
their full speed.

Open your System Info utility and click on
applications. Look at Toast in the type column and
see if it sees PPC or Universal. If it says PPC,
that is your issue. Roxio needs to Universalize
their software.

Just a thought.

No, it's not an Universal binary but that has nothing at all to do with the read/write speeds at which it writes discs. If you look at Activity Monitor, for instance, you'll see that Toast just isn't very processor intensive - a nice chunk of RAM and a speedy drive are FAR, FAR, FAR (did I emphasize that enough?) more important to Toast than eking out every Hertz of processor speed. Some apps are processor hogs and a switch to Universal binary for, as an example, Photoshop and its associated plug-ins will realize a tremendous speed increase (just as we've seen some noticeable speed increases in some rendering apps and the like - those which love to grab as much of the processors as possible (and why apps that benefit from multiple processors take advantage of those capabilities).

Toast, however, is not among those apps. It will be nice when it's an UB (although likely twice its present size - just one of the trade-offs of UBs at this time) and it will certainly launch faster and scroll down lists of data to be backed up more quickly... but just as the UB o Safari launches faster but doesn't allow you to access the Internet at greater speeds, don't expect Toast to write discs any more quickly. It's the rather minor things that aren't really 'perceived' as fast that Toast will likely sped up (and they could re-write, perhaps, to use RAM more efficiently, etc., so that SOME tasks seem noticeably speedier but I want to STRESS AGAIN that you shouldn't expect any faster read-write speeds. Most disc burners currently have a maximum rpm speed which allow a safe burn speed of around 16x (though a few are now claiming 18x) and while that may change in the future, I certainly want to trust a laser burning puny little pits into dyes any faster at this point! (Remember that those clean "bit pits" in commercial CDs and DVDs are pressed metal - we consumers make do with lasers burning dyes (sloppily).

So, my fellow MacHeads, don't expect an UB of Toast to speed up your drives or burn times... if you're having problems now, get those problems fixed now!

I'm not saying to not have the systems checked. There may be something wrong.

While, in theory, the Rosetta emulation shouldn't affect the burning, it may affect the burn speed some in the case of the buffer underrun due to CPU lagging. There could be memory thrashing from Rosetta to the finder to Toast during the burn which would create multiple bottlenecks during the burn.

Who knows who's right on this until we see UB's of Toast or Dragon Burn. In the meantime, it would be prudent to have the systems checked while still under warranty.

Toast, however, is not among those apps. It will be
nice when it's an UB (although likely twice its
present size - just one of the trade-offs of UBs at
this time) and it will certainly launch faster and
scroll down lists of data to be backed up more
quickly... but just as the UB o Safari launches
faster but doesn't allow you to access the Internet
at greater speeds, don't expect Toast to write discs
any more quickly. It's the rather minor things that
aren't really 'perceived' as fast that Toast will
likely sped up (and they could re-write, perhaps, to
use RAM more efficiently, etc., so that SOME tasks
seem noticeably speedier but I want to STRESS AGAIN
that you shouldn't expect any faster read-write
speeds. Most disc burners currently have a maximum
rpm speed which allow a safe burn speed of around 16x
(though a few are now claiming 18x) and while that
may change in the future, I certainly want to trust a
laser burning puny little pits into dyes any faster
at this point! (Remember that those clean "bit pits"
in commercial CDs and DVDs are pressed metal - we
consumers make do with lasers burning dyes
(sloppily).

So, my fellow MacHeads, don't expect an UB of Toast
to speed up your drives or burn times... if you're
having problems now, get those problems fixed now!

Correct... except in the case of Toast video features... video encoding and decoding are processor intensive... so if you are creating DVDs with Toast, or DivX discs, or exporting video with Toast, you may see a speed boost when version 7 becomes universal.

Ah, yes! Those are features that I generally utilize long before a project hits Toast but, for those who use those Toast features, a UB that takes full advantage of multiple processors will likely see much greater increase in speed. I've never even used the feature that allows the compression of a DL DVD onto a standard DVD but I would imagine that the compression is, as in other applications that use various compression algorithms, very, very processor intensive. So I can understand, now, what you mean when you say that with some Toast tasks "you may see a speed boost when version 7 becomes universal".

You know, I now own 4 copies of Toast 7 and I've yet to read the pdf manual. One day I must print it and read it (while I realize that no longer including manuals increases the price of software, it's a break even for me )or perhaps an even greater expense) - I would much rather have a printed manual in front of me with an application open rather than switching back and forth between an application and Acrobat. In fact, it's likely far more expensive to print an inkjet copy of a manual than it would be to pay an extra $10 or so for a manual printed to ship with software.

Umm, sorry about that last rant... just realizing that I might have taken advantage of some of Toasts more advance features had I read the manual to actually find its full capabilities.

Actually, Roxio includes a printed Getting Started Guide in the boxed versions of Toast 7 that's the same as the PDF version and very similar to what's in Toast Help. I'm not with Roxio but I do know the universal version is in progress.

All of mine are OEM - from LaCie - and all I received was the Toast disc (in a nice cardboard cover, mind you - with the serial number printed on back) and the only manuals in pdf format, I relly should print them - or at least take a look.