Burning DVD on a Mac

[bluewhaleCA]

This will sound dumb, but Apple support's' tech couldn't answer it with certainty thus I'm turning to the experts.

I'm old school DOS/Win. Some *nix. Mac's starting 5 years ago. I chose to go mainstream with a full blown iMac two years ago as my primary home system, but really didn't use it that much until I found myself out of a job two months ago. I'm taking a few months off and catching up on soooooooo very many things: one of them is getting to know my iMac better.

I've found that most often when I put a blank DVD into the slot the iMac chews on it for 15 seconds then spits it back out. Brand does not matter, nor does + or - media type. I HAVE had limited success burning ISO files to disk from an XP virtual machine running on Fusion... between the Apple tech and myself we came up with this surmise:

Does OS X spit the blank disks back out because I do not have an application ready with files to write to that disk already set up and waiting for the blank disk to be inserted?

 

[bluewhaleCA]

oh: and is there an app built into OS X that will burn ISO and IMG files to disk for me?

 

[drlex]

No; a Mac with a DVD drive ought to receive unformatted DVD-Rs (or DVD+Rs) and mount them on the desktop as a blank DVD. You may have a faulty drive.

Justification: I have an iMac (C2D, Snow Leopard) which will not "recognise" any manufactured DVDs (films, TV series etc), but will happily burn and play DVD-Rs. By connecting and using an external SuperDrive, I can mount & play all DVDs.

soi là, soi carré

 

[spamjim]

While hardware issues are more likely, it is possible that this is a software error, especially if a VM like Fusion is installed. The systems might be fighting over ownership of the drive.

I don't mean to illustrate a trend but I've owned 2 iMacs and both optical drives died. Drives can be replaced but an external drive is always useful to have on hand.

 

[bluewhaleCA]

Yeah, I've tried it with VMWare's Fusion not running and the results are the same. I'm leaning toward a hardware problem, especially as I've seen so many threads over the years on Macs with optical drive problems. However as the tech couldn't advise me as to what was normal.....

I'll call again and request a replacement part be sent out. Hope they'll do that as I no longer have the strength to lug this beast 3 blocks to the Apple store downtown. ( never any parking nearby )

 

[spamjim]

I've no experience with Fusion but the other VMs that I use can affect the host system even when no guest system is running. To rule this out as an issue, see if you can boot from your system install DVD. That will bypass the system hard drive and any monkey business that might be on it. It is a painless test. You can quit the DVD installer before doing a reinstallation. If the DVD installer boots up, then you likely have a software issue on the system hard drive.

 

[fisheromacse]

I have had a similar problem with my macbook's drive.

I was nearly certain it was hardware, not software, but since i am a pauper and had no money for a replacement or external drive...

I backed up everything using TimeMachine and reinstalled OS X and the problem went away.

Before the reinstall, I was using VMWare Fusion v2 and since the reinstall, I upgraded to v3, and have not had any problems since then.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[bluewhaleCA]

> Your mileage may vary.

hmmmm.. I'm using the latest version of Fusion 3, but still...

And Spamjim's point: I wouldn't think that a VM program that was completely off would affect anything, but then I've seen Zone Alarm interfere with communications even when turned off... I know the reasons for that problem but still.

Sigh: time for more troubleshooting. That's the problem. As an IT person you always put your own stuff to LAST, then are to tired to work on it thus putting it off.

grumble grumble grumble

 

[drlex]

What does Disk Utility (Applications>Utilities) report for the drive?

soi là, soi carré

 

[bluewhaleCA]

drlex: Well, this time it stated I'd inserted a blank disk and asked me what I wanted to do with it. But this was the first time I've seen that message.

I did use the same media that I've had more problems with than not, the Sony. As I said a couple of days ago... I need to reboot, turn everything off that I can, try this a dozen times. IF I can find my orig OS X disc perhaps try what spamjim suggested.

But as most of you know, time counts. I've half a dozen other systems here with... well no. The other Mac also has a bad optical drive. However I've still got half a dozen various Win systems I can use. It's just that I'm making this iMac my system of choice. BY my choice.

Which makes it worth the time to trouble shoot.

Thanks to all for your thoughts!

 

[pentode]

I had a similar problem with optical drive on my HP laptop. I was completely convinced it was a hardware problem and so was HP tech support who issued me an RMA for warranty return/repair.

Before mailing it back, I decide to try booting a Linux Live CD. It worked fine.

So..... I kept going back to earlier restore points until I find one where the drive worked. It's been fine ever since.

You might try a Live CD, just to see if it works.