Cannot Burn to CD RW on New iMac

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Hi there, I searched for a thread on this topic but couldn't find anything so I hope someone here can offer me some advice.

I bought a new iMac just over a month ago, I'm completely new to mac so have been getting used to it over the last couple of weeks.

This evening I've been trying to burn some photos onto a CD RW so I can take them to be printed but have not been able to do so. Every CD I put in I am told that I can "read only" under permissions and there's no way to change it that I can see. I have tried several different CDs, including ones that were never used before.

I've been googling around to see what I might be doing wrong and I came across information about some software called Disk Utility that if I'm correct is for burning files to CD? I'm not sure?

However it seems that Disk Utility is missing from my iMac, I've tried searching with Help, Finder, the little Magnifying Glass on the top right of the screen and going to the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. I've also searched on the installation CDs that came with the mac but it's not on there (I previously used one of these CDs to install X11).

I'm using OS version 10.6.2 and like I said it's brand new, shop bought so there should be no problems.

I don't know if I'm looking for the wrong solution to my problem or if Disk Utility should be available at all on this computer so decided to ask for some help here! Tomorrow I'm going to head out and buy some new CD RWs to see if that is the problem, and I really hope it's that simple!

Any advice would be appreciated :)
 
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Your Mac's Specs
2012 MBP i7 2.7 GHz 15" Matte - 16 GB RAM - 120 GB Intel SSD - 500 GB DataDoubler Mac OS 10.9
How are you trying to burn the images?
The easy way to do this is to make a Burn Folder (command+shift+n). Copy in the files, press the burn button and insert the disk when prompted.

Or you can use Burn that has some more options.
Burn - Home
 
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I've already tried the burn folder method, and the drag and drop method, I've also tried using "Save As" from Photoshop Elements, but it keeps telling me I need to insert a blank CD but when I do that it tells me my blank CD is 'read only' even though the CD has never been used before and shouldn't have any permissions on it. I've tried it with several CDs with the same results.

I read that you can reformat CD RWs with Disk Utility but it seems to be missing from my mac as i explained in my first post.

Thanks to the link to Burn, I'll give that a try, but it's a bit worrying that Disk Utility isn't there. The only things in my Utilities folder are 2 folders called "Adobe Installers" and "Adobe Utilities" and X11 which I already installed so I could use GIMP.
 
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OK so Burn allowed me to put the photos on the disk, so thanks very much for that information. I'll take them to the print shop today and hopefully won't have any problems getting them to print!

Do you think I should be worried about what I said in my previous post about missing utilities?
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Back to my old 2.2GHz C2D MB after selling my MBP and wondering what my next Mac will be :)
So let me get this straight.
You have an admin account which you are logged into, and if you go to Applications, Utilities, there is only "Adobe Installers" and "Adobe Utilities" and X11, and it looks nothing like this:
 
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Exactly 6string, I am logged into the admin account and my utilities folder looks like this:

4881753234_3be8a05332_o.png
 
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Oh and I forgot to mention that when browsing through help on the mac yesterday and was given the option to open Disk Utility or go to Disk Utility an error message popped up saying that it was not installed.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Back to my old 2.2GHz C2D MB after selling my MBP and wondering what my next Mac will be :)
Ok, something has gone astray. It appears, that somehow (being new to Macs), you have accidentally moved, deleted, or renamed items which in turn has made a mess of things (you certainly aren't the first to do this).
I won't point you towards 3rd party software, which at a cost, could retrieve specific items off your install discs, because there could be a bunch of things missing, and we don't know what we want to retrieve.
I would strongly suggest backing up all your important files, and performing a clean install.
 
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I had a horrible feeling that you were going to say that :(

I don't know how on earth I could have deleted the stuff that's missing, I'm a very cautious user, especially with being so new to macs! But however it happened doesn't matter I guess, what's important is fixing it.

Would you be able to point me to a link that will show me how to do a fresh install?

I have a ton of photo files, including plenty of RAW files so backing up will take me some time and lots of CDs.

I can't write to my external hard drive from the mac either, I used it all the time with my old laptop so I'm not sure whats wrong. I'll just have to stock up on CDs and get working :\
 
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chas_m

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Hold on.

1. For future reference, CD-RWs are a very impractical way to go. Buy yourself a cheap 4GB (or higher) USB thumb drive. Should cost $20-40 bucks.

2. Trying to back up all your stuff onto CD-Rs is simply NUTS. Reformat your external hard drive and use it, or buy a new one.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Back to my old 2.2GHz C2D MB after selling my MBP and wondering what my next Mac will be :)
Sounds like your external HD is in NTFS format, which is why you can't write to it.
If you data on the external HD, create a folder on your Mac desktop, and drag it all there, or even better, buy a new External HD just for your Mac, which you can pick up around the $50-$100 range for a decent WD one.
You will want to format your new external HD too as per the following steps.

With your external HD mounted, pop in your install disc, and reboot holding down the C key.
Select language, and go to the next screen.
In the menu bar, select utilities>disk utilites.
Now, select the external HD, click erase tab, format as Mac OS Extended (journaled) and name it, then click erase.
The reason I am not suggesting FAT32 format, is that your file size transfer will be limited in size, which you don't want.
Now, once you have it formatted, you can quit utilities, reboot your Mac, and backup using time machine.
To do this, go to >system preferences>time Machine>select disk(ext HD)>use for backup.
Off memory, time machine will then ask you if you want to backup now, and if not, you can right click on the ext HD and click backup now.
This will take a while as it is your first backup.
Once it is finished, you can then reboot from your install disc holding C again.

Clean Install:
-Boot from the install disc holding C while booting.
-Select language and click continue.
-Select utilities>disk utility in the menu bar.
-Select the HD at the top of the list on the left.
-Click erase tab.
-Format Mac Os Extended (Journaled).
-Name Macintosh HD.
-Click erase.
-Quit disk utility, and continue with installation.

Once the installation is complete, you will be prompted to restore from your time machine backup.
I would not do this. I would test the system first, and once you can see that everything is there ie disk utility, etc, then you can go to Applications>Utilities>Migration Assistant, and transfer all you files from there.
After all this, you should be back up and running :)
 
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Thank you so much 6string for all your time and effort in helping me :)

I'm at work at the moment so only had a brief look through your post but I gather that you mean for me to back up all my files externally, do a clean install, then test that everything looks ok before putting all the files back onto the mac.

It sounds complicated for someone like me who doesn't know too much, but I'm sure I can manage it!

I have lots of data on my old external HD and I'm not sure I can afford a new one at the moment as money is tight but I'll look into it as it seems it will be essential.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks to you to chas_m for the tip on backing up a thumb drive, I really think I'll need something a lot bigger like another external HD as with all the RAW files I have I'll need lots of room!
 
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chas_m

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Thanks to you to chas_m for the tip on backing up a thumb drive, I really think I'll need something a lot bigger like another external HD as with all the RAW files I have I'll need lots of room!

Sorry if I confused you, I was referring to taking your photos to the photo-printing place on that part of my post. It's much more practical to use a USB thumb drive for that purpose than it is a CD-RW.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Back to my old 2.2GHz C2D MB after selling my MBP and wondering what my next Mac will be :)
It may all sound a bit daunting, but it really isn't that difficult.
Just take in nice and slow, when you are feeling relaxed, with a cup of tea or coffee by your side, and follow the instructions note for note.... And if at any step you get stuck or are unsure, don't just wing it, but post back and ask if the need be.
I'm sure that you will find that it is all a lot simpler than it seems, and in no time, you will be helping others in similar situations :)

As for an external HD as a backup, it is almost as crucial as having a jerry can and a spare tyre when driving long distance out in the middle of nowhere!
 

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