#283281 - 15/06/2006 23:00
Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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I've been trying to put a large AVI file onto a CDR, using the Disk Utility in Mac OS X on my PowerPC-based Mac Mini. I'm having trouble.
I create a disk image on the desktop. I drag my AVI file into the disk image, so far so good. Then I go into disk utility, select the disk image, and hit "burn".
The drive immediately spins up to about 10 billion RPM and sounds like a buzz saw. The system completely freezes up for about ten minutes while the drive makes this awful noise. Eventually, it ejects the disc and complains that it couldn't burn the disc, and the system unfreezes.
I've successfully used this drive to burn audio CDs with iTunes, so I know the drive works.
BUT... it only works if I tell iTunes (in preferences/advanced/burning) to burn at 4x.
I think the problem is that this drive (and the disk utility) tries to burn the disc at the maximum possible speed unless I tell it otherwise. But I don't see an option in the disk utility to do that. Only iTunes seems to give me the option to slow down the burn.
Does anyone have any ideas or help?
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#283282 - 15/06/2006 23:24
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
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My usual method:
Slide CD in
Tell it to "Open Finder" (perhaps counterintuitive here)
Go to the finder window, on the left you'll see "Untitled CD"
Click on "Untitiled CD" and drag-and-drop stuff into it.
Click the nuclear radiation sybol next to "Untitled CD". At this point it should let you select the burn speed.
All that being said, I've used disk utility to burn iso's plenty of times and never had a problem with it.
Matthew
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#283283 - 16/06/2006 04:28
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Maybe the disk image is too big? My first time making a disk image with the Disk Utility, it turned a 2 mb file into a 10 mb disk image. I think I clicked the 'New' button within the Disk Utility to make the image.
But it works fine if I goto File >> New Image From Folder >> Choose a folder >> and Choose compressed image.
I'm not on my Mac right now, so I might have some of the verbiage wrong.
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#283284 - 16/06/2006 15:35
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: matthew_k]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
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Quote:
My usual method:
Slide CD in
Tell it to "Open Finder" (perhaps counterintuitive here)
Go to the finder window, on the left you'll see "Untitled CD"
Click on "Untitiled CD" and drag-and-drop stuff into it.
Click the nuclear radiation sybol next to "Untitled CD". At this point it should let you select the burn speed.
All that being said, I've used disk utility to burn iso's plenty of times and never had a problem with it.
Matthew
In my experience, doing what Tony did will result in a CD that can only be read by other Macs. Matthew_k's steps there should result in a CD-ROM that can be read by any machine.
_________________________
Cheers,
Andy M
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#283285 - 16/06/2006 16:15
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: andym]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quote:
In my experience, doing what Tony did will result in a CD that can only be read by other Macs. Matthew_k's steps there should result in a CD-ROM that can be read by any machine.
I think this is one of those cases where it is too intuitive for people with Windows experience. Windows CD burning has always involved a program of some sorts, so Disk Utility seems the way to go. But the implementation Apple went with (and Microsoft in XP) was to just make it so that you put in a blank CD and drag files to it. This does produce a normal ISO CD under OS X every time I have used it with no issues. Thankfully now that CDs are cheep, the packet writing idea of being able to add files later in a not so standard way seems to have died off.
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#283286 - 16/06/2006 17:08
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
Windows CD burning has always involved a program of some sorts, so Disk Utility seems the way to go. But the implementation Apple went with (and Microsoft in XP) was to just make it so that you put in a blank CD and drag files to it.
No, that wasn't my problem.
I completely and utterly expected that, when I insert a blank CD, I should be able to drag files to it on a mac. That's they way they're supposed to work. It's the way I wanted it to work.
So why didn't I do that? Why did I go fishing for disk utility? Not because I'm a lowly PC user, no no.
The only reason that I ran Disk Utility was because the DRAGGING FILES TO THE CD THINGY DID NOT WORK ON MY MAC. Every time I would insert a blank CD, the icon for the CD would not appear anywhere. Not on the desktop, not in Finder.
That's the only reason I went looking in the Disk Utility.
Anyhoo, I found out why, but it still doesn't solve my problem completely. Here's the deal:
STEP 1:
Go into system preferences, CDs.
"When a blank CD is inserted...."
Change it from "Run iTunes" to "Run Finder"
Voila, now I get the icon on the desktop that I can drag files to. (Thanks everyone for pointing out that I needed to actually tell it to run finder.)
STEP 2:
Now I can drag files to it.
I press burn.
YAY! It now offers me a burn speed option. I can't go down to 4x, but I can select 8x at least. It works! It burns the disc! No billion-RPM, no chainsaw noises, no locked-up mac.
BUT THEN...
STEP 3:
After it's done burning the disc it goes into a VERIFY mode. UH OH.
Billion RPM, chainsaw noises, locked up mac. Only this time, it's locked up so hard that it won't come out of it. Not even the power button works. I have to literally pull the power supply.
There's something wrong with my mac's drive, or there is some configuration parameter that's telling my mac that I have a billion-RPM drive and the drive just doesn't work at that speed. Any time the mac tries to spin that drive really fast, it locks up.
What can I do to tell the mac to slow the fuck down with that drive?
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#283287 - 16/06/2006 17:32
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Hm. May be a moot point.
Remember how I said it locked up so hard that I needed to pull the power cord?
Well, after I plug the power cord back in, the mac won't boot. Sits there at the spinnythingy screen for like, forever. Then goes to a blank blue screen with a mouse pointer that won't move. Forever. Still not booting. Just sitting there.
Now what.
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#283288 - 16/06/2006 17:32
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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What's the warranty on these things?
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#283289 - 16/06/2006 17:45
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
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One year, take it to your closest apple store, or ship it off.
Apple's warantys are severly lagging. Dell will come to you and fix a laptop that you dropped out the window (accidentally) if you buy their best warranty. You can't buy that coverage from apple, no matter how much you'd pay. They lost 8k in monitor sales over that point from us. Dell's market share may be larger, but apple could alwas impliment a FedEx overnight both ways with one day turnaround solution.
Matthew
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#283290 - 16/06/2006 18:27
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 07/01/2005
Posts: 893
Loc: Sector ZZ9pZa
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Quote:
After it's done burning the disc it goes into a VERIFY mode. UH OH.
What blank discs are you using? I am not blaming them for your issues, if your Mac can't handle them it should be able to be sensible about it instead of locking up.
But I am just curious what they were. Did you try different brands?
On a side note, you could pop in the Apple OS X DVD that came with your Mini and see whether it will run the Hardware Test (see the instructions printed on the disc for the magic key combo to run it). This may tell you how dead your Mac is.
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#283291 - 16/06/2006 18:54
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: sein]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
What blank discs are you using?
Memorex.
Quote:
Did you try different brands?
I've burned audio CDs, using blanks of several different brands, and they all worked fine as long as I slowed the drive down using the option in iTunes to do so.
Quote:
On a side note, you could pop in the Apple OS X DVD that came with your Mini and see whether it will run the Hardware Test
Excellent idea. I shall do so. Hope the secret key combination works with wireless keyboards, too.
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#283292 - 16/06/2006 18:55
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: matthew_k]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
One year, take it to your closest apple store, or ship it off.
Excellent. I'm still within my warranty. Thanks. 
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#283293 - 16/06/2006 18:56
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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http://www.apple.com/support/It has a serial number form on the right hand side towards the bottom. Plug it in there and it will tell you the warranty status. If it is slightly outside the window, i'd let them know how long this issue has existed. It seems the drive or something has been bad for a while, and you were working around it by lowering the burn speed. In all my time of owning a mac with a CD burner (2002), I have never had a burn process lock the system. Even when the burner did go out in my old G4 Cube, it would just report some error on the attempt and move on.
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#283294 - 16/06/2006 19:02
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
It seems the drive or something has been bad for a while, and you were working around it by lowering the burn speed.
Yup. From day one.
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#283295 - 16/06/2006 19:13
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: sein]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
On a side note, you could pop in the Apple OS X DVD that came with your Mini and see whether it will run the Hardware Test
Oh wait. Irony time.
Remember how I said I needed to pull the power when it locked up in the middle of verifying the CD-R?
Remember how I said that now, after doing so, it doesn't boot?
Remember how macintoshes don't have eject buttons on their CD drives, and you have to drag an icon to get them to eject?
Do the math.
Suggestions welcome.
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#283296 - 16/06/2006 19:17
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
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Apply power while holding down the eject key. It might work.
Matthew
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#283297 - 16/06/2006 19:18
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 15/02/2002
Posts: 1049
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I don't have a current Mac, but every one I have had in the past has a tiny little paper-clip sized hole inside of which is the CD eject button. Come to think of it, I think a newer one may have used a keyboard combination to eject the CD.
There is a way to do it. I don't remember which model you have or I'd google it myself.
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#283298 - 16/06/2006 19:25
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: TigerJimmy]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
every one I have had in the past has a tiny little paper-clip sized hole inside of which is the CD eject button
Minis do not.
Quote:
Apply power while holding down the eject key. It might work.
It doesn't seem to be even getting as far as the bluetooth features working. It's not finding the wireless mouse. So I'm not expecting it to see the wireless keyboard. I'll need that if I want to do the diagnostics, so I'm crossing my fingers about that.
Anyway... plugging in a USB mouse, and holding down the mouse button while powering it up, worked. The disc ejected. Yay. On to the next step.
Interestingly, it seems to be a perfectly good disc. The burn worked.
More fiddling. Report later.
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#283299 - 16/06/2006 19:39
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 07/01/2005
Posts: 893
Loc: Sector ZZ9pZa
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Quote:
Anyway... plugging in a USB mouse, and holding down the mouse button while powering it up, worked.
Just to clarify in case this is useful to others, but this is the standard way to get around this problem on Macs. Holding down a mouse button when you power up will eject whatever disc is in there.
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#283300 - 16/06/2006 19:49
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14493
Loc: Canada
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Press/hold the Option key while powering on, and wait for the boot options to appear.
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#283301 - 16/06/2006 20:10
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
Press/hold the Option key while powering on, and wait for the boot options to appear.
Doing this with a wired USB mouse works. I can insert the OSX install disc and hit refresh, and it gives me the option to boot from the hardware test.
Hardware test, both quick and extended, pass. Including Mass Storage test, which I was sure would fail. Passes with flying colors. Everything seems to work, except... the system JUST WILL NOT BOOT.
Symptoms: Sits at spinny thingy for long time. Then goes to blue screen with a mouse pointer. Mouse pointer moves around if I've got the USB mouse plugged in. Not the wireless mouse. Sits at blue screen forever.
Any other secret key handshakes I can do? What's the secret handshake for safe mode booting?
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#283302 - 16/06/2006 21:09
Re: Burning CDRs in Mac OS X
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Ah. SHIFT is the secret handshake for safe mode bootng, and that worked.
After a safe mode boot and a reboot, the mini works fine now.
Gah.
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