Superdrive Problems

I have a 2GHZ G5 Tower, OSX 10.4.8 with built in Superdrive (specs below) that is starting to cause me a few problems. It will read and write cd's, will write DVD's but can only read factory dvd's and not the ones I've written.

I burn them using Toast 6.1.1 and after burning and verification they will mount but once ejected they will not be readable by this computer. I have tried them in other computers and they are fine plus dvd's that it used to read are now unreadable.

What this means is any data that I need has to be copied to another machine then copied across the network which is very time consuming and frustrating. Is there anything I can do other than buy a new Superdrive?

PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D:

Model: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-106D
Revision: A606
Serial Number: CIDL137631WL
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal

Please don't be offended if this is a really stupid suggestion/question. But you are using the right type of DVDs aren't you? Not getting DVD-R and DVD+R mixed up?

I'd rarely say this, but I recommend the Apple branded DVD Rs - I have heard of numerous people having issues with generic brands in the manner you're describing.

I don't think so as burnt dvds I used to be able to mount are no longer seen and get spat out. BTW I'm using TDK DVD-R discs.

Dalton29 said:

I don't think so as burnt dvds I used to be able to mount are no longer seen and get spat out. BTW I'm using TDK DVD-R discs.

Click to expand...

If something was out of alignment or you had a spindle issue, I would not expect the machine to be able to write the discs if it couldn't read them.

If you tried burning a DVD on another machine and reading it on the faulty one?

You can get a new DVD burner for like $25-30. You may as well go ahead and do that.

Zoolook said:

If something was out of alignment or you had a spindle issue, I would not expect the machine to be able to write the discs if it couldn't read them.

If you tried burning a DVD on another machine and reading it on the faulty one?

Click to expand...

Yeah, I've tried this. It won't read any burnt dvds but will read factory ones such as the OSX or iLife install discs. It will however read burnt cds.

Try burning them with OS X's Disk Utility and seeing if that makes a difference.

I just found this tip on MacOSXHints.com that seems to suggest that I am not the only one suffering a non-mounting Superdrive. It would appear that one of the more recent updates has 'broken' the drive but using a utility called Patchburn fixes the issue. As one reply mentioned "I wonder how many Superdrives will be replaced because of this glitch"?

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20061103105911200
http://www.patchburn.de/

As an update to this issue, my Superdrive is no longer reading burnt dvds again. I have tried re-installing patchburn but this no longer seems to get it to work. It would appear that I need to replace the Superdrive. Does anyone have any recommendations on a faster internal drive or one that can write dual layer discs (would I need specialist software for this)?

I've just got an LG DVD8900 and, using Patchburn, it works fantastically well