Mac Mini + Toast7 + External DVD/RW

Hi folks.

I am not exactly a switcher - more of an 'adder' actually.

Anyway I have this IcyBox 5.25" external case with a Samsung DVD/RW drive.

Thing is most of the times I try to burn a DVD I get a nice coaster.
Do you guys know anything about this kind of stuff? Like some incompatibility problems between Macs and PC DVD/RW drives.

Is there some kind of drive I shouldn't have problems with?


Whenever a recording starts it can only get past ~10% unless I do it in 2x speed.
Anything above will cause Toast's progress bar and timer to freeze in place.

At that speed it won't burn most discs (~90%) correctly.
Anywhere above: not a chance.
Most of the time it will burn 2x or 4x Sony DVD+RW or TDK DVD-RW 8x discs correctly at 2x or 4x but it has yet to succesfully complete a recording on a non±RW disc.

How is it connected to the Mac? USB / Firewire? I had a DVD burner drive I pulled from my old PC, it was internal and now it is external hooked up via USB, I use Toast 7 and have yet to have a coaster with a bad DVD, and I've made a lot of them as well.
If you are using USB, make sure you are using the USB on the back of the Mini, as it's USB2.0, persay you have a Mac Keyboard, the USB ports on the keyboard are USB1.1

Hope this helps you out.

I do have an Apple Keyboard (like the feel...) but only the mouse is connected to it.
The DVD drive is connected to the one FireWire port on the back.
I also have an external 3.5" case with an 80 gig HDD that is connected on the back to a usb port.

I also tried the opposite (HDD on firewire, DVD/RW on usb) to burn stuff from the external disc but that is completely out of the question.

I have also tried chaining them as firewire. If the disk goes first the DVD/RW won't burn one **** disc right. If the hard drive follows the DVD/RW stuff from the HDD (external) won't be burnt onto a DVD. However, burning from the mini's internal drive (which is the original that came with it) seems to do better as I get far less coasters on that setup.

The coasters are produced either buy Toast freezing or giving me a Buffer Underrun error message.

Thx for the re:

OK to close the issue I think i finally got things right.

I had a faulty IDE cable in the case and also a malfunctioning drive. Ouch!

Anyways, I got angry and threw the drive outta the window. I live on the 6th floor though so the cops promptly showed up with those christmas trees they drive. The blue LEDs on top reminded me of my room [where I have about 8 devices with blue LEDs].
So I explain them I got agitated due to computer problems and they let me go [seeing how that's understandable]. Next to the cop station is a nice little computer shop. I go in and buy a new drive. All of a sudden I can burn stuff at 16x and surf with Safari.

I changed the cable of course. It had to be very short so I improvised with a pair of scissors at the expense of an extra IDE cable I had lying around so now I still have a cable (well sorta) lying around and a cable working for me in the case.

Thaaaaat's all folks.

OT, but how did you build your own external dvd burner? i'm in the market for one, and I think doing this will be cheaper. Are there tutorials on the web (I can't find them)?

munch said:

OT, but how did you build your own external dvd burner? i'm in the market for one, and I think doing this will be cheaper. Are there tutorials on the web (I can't find them)?

Click to expand...

buy an internal dvd burner, and an external 5.25" case, cheaper than many external dvd burners out there

hondagus87 said:

buy an internal dvd burner, and an external 5.25" case, cheaper than many external dvd burners out there

Click to expand...

I think I'm going to try that. I was looking at the external Sony burner, but this would probably save me about $60.

munch said:

I think I'm going to try that. I was looking at the external Sony burner, but this would probably save me about $60.

Click to expand...

Same here. I bought an Aopen DL DVD Burner for around $45, and this would save me a whole lot (seeing how the Burner is in my windows box =P).

Danke

I don't know why I've never done this, i do it for external Hard Drives all the time.

So, can I buy any internal dvd burner and use it with my ibook? I think i'm going to pull the trigger on a dvd burner in the next few days and i'm looking for the best options. The NEC one looks good, but i'm not sure if it works with apples.

I made my own, pioneer 110 inside an external case, I use it with my mini and toast 7, plug and play.

Here's a link to compatability
http://forums.xlr8yourmac.com/drivedb/search.drivedb.lasso

and patchburn helps as well

Alright, i've got a question for everyone, but it deals with external DVD burners, or really making an external dvd burner. I want to stay under a hundred on this, but i've decided that i will be willing to shell out the extra cash if i have too. Here is the external burner that i was looking at before i heard you could make your own:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131266

It looks slick as ****, but i want to go a bit cheaper if i can.

Here is what i've been thinking about getting instead. First, this burner:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

and this enclosure:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817145654

Will this work? Now, I guess i should say that i want a dvd burner to burn my dvd's (and my friends ) can i say that? The cons of the second option is that it doesn't come with any software (shouldn't be a problem ) can i say that? The sony one comes with toast lite.

Ok, you see there are a couple of things that confuse, however. I do not want this to be my main burner. My ibook has a combo drive that i want to remain as my primary cd burner. Will there be a conflict between the drives? Can i designate one as the DVD burner and one as the CD burner? I'm assuming that patchburn will take care of the burner being compatible.

So, which option do you guys recommend me going with. You are dealing with a novice, but i'm not afraid of trying to make this drive. So, just let me know what you would do if you were in my shoes.

If you plan to burn your CD/DVDs with iTunes or the finder then option two would be okay. If you add the Toast application to the mix the cost factor changes. Then buying the external burner would be cheaper, since in most case it comes with a version of Toast.