27" iMac superdrive scratching discs

I have a 27" iMac which I bought about three years ago. Most of my movie media I purchased through iTunes, so there was no problem. Recently I purchased a BluRay movie which came with a "digital copy" which required a disc AND a redemption code on iTunes. I put the disc into the computer, it whirled around for 20 secs and ejected. I reinserted the disk a second time, same result. When I turned the disk around I noticed that the surface was covered with whorls of scratches. I tried the disk on two other computers which showed that the disc was now 'unreadable." I put a cheap CD into the drive to see what would happen and it came out badly scratched as well. Is this a defect in the iMac? The computer is WAY out of warranty by this point, although I am eligable for the 1TB Seagate Hard Drive replacement. If I need to have the drive replaced what is the cost going to be? Or is there any external drive that can be suggested that I use? I would LOVE to hook up a BluRay disk drive, if possible. I am sure that it would look AMAZING on the 27" screen.
Thanks.

Apple does not support BlueRay therefore your Superdrive will not play a BlueRay DVD. If you would like to purchase a third party external DVD blue ray dvd drive and an application for BlueRay it should work.
However on the scratching it sounds like the Superdrive either has something in it or is broken and needs to be replaced. I'd recommend taking it into your local Apple Store or AASP for service. Another solution is an external drive, this would probably be less expensive. Finally if your machine is still covered by AppleCare then give them a call and they can help you get it taken care of.

Similar Messages

Imac superdrive scratching discs

My Imac late 2009 is scratching dvd's to shreds. I have no more warranty left. I have a couple of questions.
1. Do I take it to the apple store for repair
2. Does anyone know roughly how much it is going to be?
3. Does the apple store give me an estimate before repairing?

just came back from the Apple Store In Pointe Claire Montreal, my appointment was for 2pm, I was served at 2pm THAT WAS GREAT.
Now for the bad stuff. The Genius, was able to burn a cd and a 4.7 gig dvd without issue, no scratches. He said maybe I got a bad batch of discs (Verbatim DVD+R DL 8.5 gigs) and I should try to buy a new spindle first.
He believes the verbatim's are slightly thicker and it maybe the issue. He said he is going to order the replacement DVD drive for my Imac and call me when it comes in the total will be 187.95, I can decide AFTER I try a new batch of discs to see if the issue persists.
After I came out of the Apple Store I went to Best Buy and purchased a new spindle of 10 Verbatim DVD+R DL, I brought my Imac home fired it up tried to burn a disc and the same issue occurred. Scratches! on the disc.
Replace or not to Replace that is the question. I read many people have had the drive replaced and the same thing occurred. Any advice would be great, as I am unsure as what to do.
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GA11N:
Firmware Revision:     KA19
Interconnect:     ATAPI
Burn Support:     Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache:     2048 KB
Reads DVD:     Yes
CD-Write:     -R, -RW
DVD-Write:     -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies:     CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media:     To show the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose View > Refresh

SuperDrive scratching discs?

Not sure if I'm the only one experiencing this, so I'd like to get other experiences on this.
Picked up a new MacBook from the store today. I've burned a couple of discs and read a couple others, and was rather startled to see spiral scratches around the discs. Saw it on a DVD-R and a CD-RW that I've used in the drive. This is going to destroy my discs, I think!
Any other MacBook owners seeing this with their Superdrives? I'm not sure whether to take it to the Apple store and hope they'll do an on-the-spot exchange (does that ever happen?), or should I call AppleCare and send it in?
Thanks for your comments.

yes mine is scratching discs too with any movement. you can't be serious that they don't consider this a defect? first time it happened i wasn't even using the drive, i just moved the machine while one was in there. the disc became unreadable in the internal drive, luckily i have an external drive which could still read it.
i wish they offered an option with no drive, i have already bought an external dvd burner as the one that came with it is fairly worthless even when it isn't chewing my dvds. i bought this to replace my ibook which also had a worthless drive, couldn't even read the cds it burned (one main reason i bought a new macbook!).
i could also complain about their customer service, but i guess everyone already knows about that. it is upsetting because i am a loyal mac owner (on my 6th one) and always thought apple had a good product, but fear their service will take them down. seems like arrogance to me.
oh, i forgot my fix for the drive is a piece of scotch tape over the slot to remind me not to destroy any more discs (i guess another option could be to tape the computer to my desk).

Dying to buy iMac ... disc scratching issue scaring me off

Hi, tossing this question out here, also have done so in other forums. I need to replace our main desktop computer at home. It's a PC. However, I've used a Mac for about 17 years or so at work, currently a 27-inch 2.66 ghz Intel Core i5 iMac, so I have knowledge of "both universes."
I'm dying to get an iMac for home use, the 21.5-inch model (that will suit my needs at home, don't need a 27). I don't think PCs are crap, I just like Macs better and would like to totally dive into the Mac pool and be in the same universe both at home and on the job. I've been telling my wife, whose only computer experience has been with PCs and has been resistant to make the change, for years that if she ever got her hands on a Mac, she'd never go back, and she's finally amenable to trying.
I've been shopping around and had about decided on a refurb from the Apple Store ... when I came across the issue of the superdrives in iMacs scratching discs. And, on reflection, I think it's happened a few times with my iMac at work. I've brought some personal discs to put things on iTunes and later noticed scratches on the discs, and I'm quite anal about keeping discs in pristine condition.
I know I'm a Luddite in the era of "the cloud," and that probably within a decade or so recordable media like CD-Rs and DVD-Rs are going to be about like VHS. But in the here and now, in my personal computer usage at home, I still do an incredible amount of disc usage and disc burning.
I do to the point where this is scaring me off, because having the drive scratch discs really is a deal killer for me. I've read the stuff at various forums about how you have to take the discs out just a certain way, but the human reality is you're not going to do that 10 times out of 10 (plus other people, including kids, would be using this computer at one point or another and it will be impossible to guarantee that they do it right 10 out of 10 either). I've read about people taping up the slot and using a Dremel to burr the aluminum down, but I'm not inclined to do that to something I'm going to spend so much loot on. I'm also not inclined to spend that much on a computer and plug an external burner drive into it.
This is my question ... this issue apparently was very prevalent on the 2010 iMacs. I've gotten mixed information on whether it was fixed in the 2011 iMacs (most of the refurbs available at the Apple Store are 2011 models). Would I be less prone to have this issue by spending a little extra and buying a new, recent production iMac as opposed to a refurb?
I know I seem to be dwelling on an issue that might be inconsequential to some folks, given the other advantages to a Mac. But again, I use recordable media so much, and some of the things I have on recordable media that I often insert into my computer to do things with are so irreplaceable, to where really any chance of this issue happening is, as I said, a deal killer.
Thanks in advance for any help.

My late 2009 21.5 scratches discs. There's a long thread about this. The sharp rear facing metal edge of the slot seems to be responsible. Even inserting a disc with extreme care, keeping the label side as much as possible towards the front, doesn't always prevent this from happening. But maybe the current models fixed this. Don't know.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2105438?start=0&tstart=0

Scratch Disc Questions using Firewire External Drive & Imac

Hello. I've read through the existing questions regarding scratch disc and Photoshop, yet can't seem to find an answer to my questions. I would greatly appreciate any tips/advice. Here is my setup and situation:
I am running an iMac with a 2.16 intel core 2 duo processor, 3 GB memory, and running OS X version 10.6.4. I am currently using versions cs3 and cs4 of Photoshop, but plan to upgrade to cs5 soon.
The problem I am having is when running Photoshop, my computer becomes very slow. After reading about possible reasons, I came across a couple of sources (including Adobe themeselves) mentioning that the scratch disc should be a designated drive seperate from the drive containing the operating system. Since I am using an iMac that only allows for one internal drive, my only apparent option seems to be an external drive.
Many people say don't use an external drive, but if you are going to; use an eSATA or firewire. The imac does have firewire 800 capabilities. Should I consider this?
Now I'm wondering if it's a bad idea to purchase a macbook for my next computer (what I wanted to do) because it will also only have one drive, not allowing for a seperate drive for the scratch disc. Any thoughts? I've read around the net but haven't found any definitive answers.

Designer,
Photoshop benefits greatly from having a scratch disk on a separate physical drive, not on the boot disk or on another partition of the boot disk. It's almost not worth connecting via Firewire 400 because the transfer limitations don't allow much performance improvement. But using a Firewire 800 connection gives excellent performance.
Running Photoshop on a one-drive machine is a little frustrating due to the performance hit without the separate scratch drive.
Rich

Cannot eject disc from iMAC superdrive

When I insert a CD or DVD into my iMAC superdrive it is recognised and will play but then it is not displayed in the finder sidebar. consequently I cannot eject the disc. The only way to eject is to restart the machine.

1. Click on Finder or your Desktop and with Finder on the Menu Bar open Finder Preferences. Next click on the Sidebar tab in Finder Preferences and make sure that (CDs, DVDs and iPods) is checked.
2. Also check the General tab if you would like these things to also show up on your Desktop.
Lastly you should also be able to Eject CDs & DVDs using the Eject button on the Menu Bar.

IMac scratching discs.

Ok so, I've got a 27" iMac and it's scratching discs. So today I've been trying too install something and the disc is scratched to much for use. This isn't a mistake of mine, I've researched it and the around the edge of the drive, the Aluminium is sharp, so when ejected, or inserted the disc gets scratched. I'm not sure what to do now, I've got software and various other things I cannot install because the discs has been scratched so much the data cannot be read. I've now got to work out how I'm going to install various things I've bought.

Yes. I just put in a new dvd and my 2010 imac ripped it apart. NOW I realize it's the case of the computer and that ALL my other media and substantial investment was pretty much destroyed. I thought it was because I was sloppy with the discs! But CHECK THIS OUT.
I called apple support and told them and also said it was a known issue on this "support" site and the supervisor said "that's just a blog, I don't take that seriously. Just a few people complaining about some isoloted issue."! Then I say "google it" it's all over this issue. Then he said "you can find anything on the internet." Unbelievable little snot this dude was. And apple, of course, is a terrible company for not issuing a notice for people on this (and for having slave labor in china etc. etc. etc.). The apple rep said that he didn't think this was an issue that would have required apple to notify its customers!
Total jerk. As is apple "geniuses" indeed - at ripping customers off with overpriced marketing gimmiks.

Moving contents of FCE scratch disc to external Drive from an iMac Drive

Is there a way of moving the captured HDV video in the Scratch Disc for a project from an iMac hard drive to an external drive if the initial capture placed it in the iMac drive.
FCE captured my original HDV on my iMac in the FCE Document folder. I thought I had specified my external Glyph drive for the captured video but discovered after editing and saving the project to the external GLYPH that the original capture was in the FCE document folder on the iMac --where I did not want it. The project is saved on the external GLYPH. Is there a way of moving the Scratch Disc (original captured video) for this project from the iMac Hard drive to the Glyph drive (in other words, after the initial capture) without screwing up the editing I have already done.
I had created a "Media" folder on the external drive for all media to be used in this project before capturing the video but the Easy set up did not give me a scratch option and placed it in the default (iMac) drive.
This is my first time trying out FCE. Help would be appreciated.
macrobob

Is there a way of moving the captured HDV video in the Scratch Disc for a project from an iMac hard drive to an external drive if the initial capture placed it in the iMac drive.
Yes, just copy the files to the folder(s) you want them to be in.
I normally capture to my internal drive (Final Cut Express Documents > Capture Scratch folder.) After capturing, I copy the clips to a folder on one of my external drives; usually give the folder the name of the shoot. That's my simple way of organizing clips on my hard drives; and it makes backing up easier too.
After you copy the clips, you should delete the clips from their original location (I assume that is your Capture Scratch folder on your system HD). Be sure to Empty the Trash. Very important - make sure you have successfully copied all your clips to the external drive; once you empty trash, the originals are gone.
When you open your project file the next time, all your clips will be offline and you will have to go through the Reconnect Media process to re-associate your clips with your project. After successfully reconnecting media, Save your project and all should be fine.
I highly recommend reading the sections of the manual (online help) about scratch disk locations; and reconnecting media.
but the Easy set up did not give me a scratch option and placed it in the default (iMac) drive.
Scratch locations are not part of Easy Setups. You set your scratch disk location in FCE > System Settings.

SuperDrive media disc(s) .. assist .. update concluded . . .

Concluding post in relation to the earlier postings on this particular subject and thread (now officially closed by apple support) .. and to be found at SuperDrive Media Disc(s) .. Assist ... [http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=759874#759874]
APPLE DVD R DISC MEDIA TRIAL
DVD-R
8x speed
Certified for use with Apple DVD-R drives :: 4.7GB Media
Made in Japan
MAC MINI MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845C
Mac mini 1.42GHz PowerPC G4 | 512 MB DDR SDRAM
Tiger OS X 10.4.3
Finder Burn - single folder containing many sub-folders totaling about 800Mbytes and approx. 4000 files.
Burn Speed Options : 4x(faster) : 2x : 1x(more reliable) - actual Finder media disc burn dialogue descriptions
[default selection is 4x(faster) ]
We choose 1x(more reliable) ..
Observations include .. no 8x speed media disc burn available from our little Mac mini Matshita DVD-R UJ-845C burner .. and .. as this is a DVD R .. we have time .. but no going back once burned .. and we want maximum systems compatibility .. you, dear reader, already know the drama we have previously experienced with Finder burns and older Apple iMac DV SE machine DVD drive (media disc burned) read compatibilities.
The total burn was a lengthy delay before the entire routine was completed including automatic verification.
OUTCOME
This disc did not verify correctly and is unreliable. Because this disc is unreliable, discard it and try again using a new, blank disc. (Error code ) 0x80020063
Total disc burned is almost 800Mbytes and about 4000 files.
Verification was not an available option for the burn .. a Finder burn .. meaning verification was apparently automatically included as an unseen 'yes' option at media disc burn execution time.
Examining the resulting Apple DVD R media disc burned .. we discover that things are good .. biggest single files (.dmg's at about 100Mbytes expanding to 350Mbytes - e.g. OS X 10.4.3 update) are able to be copied from the burned Apple DVD R media disc back to the Mac mini hard disk again and verify 100% when opened for installation. Encouraging. Better than anything previously experienced.
iMac DV SE [ DVD MATSHITADVD-ROM SR-8184 ]
Into the Apple iMac ancient (500 MHz PowerPC G3 operating OS X 10.4.3 Tiger | 640MB SDRAM) and we are greeted with goodness .. same accessibility as the originating Mac mini machine .. satisfying.
And yes the 'problem' of multi-session burns is yet to come on the ancient iMac and if the response is any good as now .. it may not be a problem worthy of mention. At 800 Mbytes burn and 4.7 Gbytes capacity .. one could loosely forecast up to another 5 media disc burn sessions before the DVD R is full and complete.
XP MACHINE
And now into the PC machine for an XP looksee and again .. more goodness. Cross compatible files are fully accessible (an entire - own - website burned). Large files copy 100%. Better than before.
Two thumbs up for this disk and burn.
Verification failure remains a current mystery. Anyone ?
It is easy to figure how one may doubt one's media burning hardware is any good by now .. but the gathering volume of supporting entries at the relevant media burning and error message forums reveals that hardware is unlikely to be (entirely) at fault .. rather something else .. say firmware ?
Apple Media DVD R discs are manufactured in Japan (stated on the disc) and the quality difference and price premium are consistent with what others have written of the place of manufacture and the Apple media disc as well. Mostly positive.
Still .. we should like to have access to dependable RW discs from Apple too .. for reliable re-useability.
As for the subject of burn speed ...
Many forum readers are well aware of an ongoing and gradually escalating matter between Apple and this gentleman http://www.crc.id.au/page/2/ .. we have curiously followed the unfolding events to observe the outcome of the burn speed specification variation. As you know .. our Mac mini is rated at maximum DVD media disc burn 4x and fitted with a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845C which is a later edition than Mr H's UJ-835 .. however .. we are more curious to observe whether the final outcome will satisfy Mr H or not. Burn speed, primarily, and quality of burn, secondarily, on selected media by Mr H. Once the outcome is known and to Mr H's satisfaction .. then we may enquire about his satisfaction with burn quality at the chosen burn speed(s) by Mr H.
Here is an offline forum communication that we shared with another Mac mini user about disc media burn speed. As you may read .. he is entirely dissatisfied with the Mac mini media burn speed and isn't too keen on using the Apple disc burn media either ...
So...Have you found any dvd-r or +r media that burns reliably on the mini? (non apple media please).
I am completely disgusted with my new mini's pathetic superdrive that I paid way too much for.
I have purchased new & built from new parts several PC's that burn DVD after DVD on a wide variety of media reliably.
No one has even replied to my post
http://www.123macmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2773&start=0&postdays=0&postord er=asc&highlight=
Thanks
.. and at latest check .. no-one has responded to the post .. maybe no-one knows .. outside of Apple HQ .. mind you .. no-one has truly usefully responded to our post either .. we responded thusly ...
Mac Mini SuperDrive .. burn speed .. and burn .. reliability
Sometime I just can't get my head around the subject and have to step back and breathe in real deep .. which makes me kinda dizzy .. and wait until the focus is on the forest before
choosing the tree(s) to climb. This particular tree is getting taller ...
And congratulations on your Apple ownership. Small is beautiful.
Regret your coaster experiences. Frustrating and unfortunate.
What SuperDrive description is fitted in your new mac mini ?
We seem to be staring into a gaping black hole of acknowledgement .. from anyone.
PC users, windows operating system software computers, appear to have an extreme edge .. when it comes to media disc burning. i.e. successful burns.
Re-reading that lengthy post .. which doesn't fully format as intended .. has me fully believing that less is more and small is beautiful (still). Future specific posts will probably follow as a matter of personal self-committment .. to persist until the solutions are fully to hand. For now .. may we refer to your mentioned post in our next planned post please ? Solidarity of negatory outcome experience is credibility.
Three forums have we frequented and participated to learn more about the black hole .. we know as SuperDrive media disc burning .. only you have provided any feedback whatsoever .. post reader numbers grow but answers are missing in action .. absent from class.
http://www.crc.id.au/page/2/
We have thought the SuperDrive matter you have referred to in your post was of no concern to us .. but now you have us thinking again .. although model numbers differ .. (ours is a later numerical reference) the concerns appear to be similar .. or largely about performance .. we shall also refer to this domain in our planned next post. Yes, we are aware of the matter .. from another forum .. but shall now supply the link for others to weigh and hopefully dish out their two cents worth .. where a consensus could mean we are also a part of this particular action. An ideal consensus would be firmware is unsuitable .. requires immediate update .. and in particular the quality of burn is consensually unacceptable .. action could follow.
We have progressed no further with burning experimentations .. and will be using Apple media before progressing with our findings reporting. For now, we are unable to add to your ease of mind .. frankly .. unless the burning media is made in Japan .. we doubt any burn verification success is to be had. And we cannot find any burning media made in Japan in our locale. Where is the Apple media made?
We have come to appreciate the SuperDrive is all about the firmware .. but have no new firmware to apply .. in fact .. our research to date shows that we have been unable to find the Matshita SuperDrive at all online and cannot confirm specifications .. neither could we locate the specifications at www.apple.com.au .. which is just plain odd.
A third look has provided ... from www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html ..
Storage
* One of the following optical drives:
o Slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW): reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed
o Optional SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW): writes DVD-R discs at up to 4x speed, writes DVD-RW discs at up to 2x speed, writes DVD+R discs at up to 4x speed, writes DVD+RW discs at up to 2.4x speed, reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 16x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 8x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed
Where were you able to establish your SuperDrive (burning) specifications ?
Writer's note : .. some things change .. and so have the Apple Mac mini SuperDrive burner specs changed .. since recording those detailed above. In fact .. they read like they maybe should have all along .. 8x DVD R media burn speed. DL is a bonus. Can anyone tell us what the drive designation is please ?
CRC says: ".. This limits burn speed to 4x for Mac Minis and 8x for Powerbooks.".
While speed matters .. and it does .. you appear to have exactly the same media disc burning problems that we are experiencing .. failed verification(s) .. and for us .. in short .. complete DVD-R media disc burned rejection from the Apple OS X.
Do we .. in actual fact .. have two separate operating challenges here .. speed of burn and quality of burn .. any burn ? Speed was not our first priority .. quality is .. now we figure that at any speed the burn quality is anywhere from dubious to coaster.
CRC says: ".. The UJ-835 that Apple use is firmware limited to suit various bits of hardware that they want to put together. The burner in the Mac Mini is the exact same model as the one in the PowerBooks. Apple load a 4x firmware on the Mac Mini, and an 8x firmware on the PowerBook drives.
My bet is that this is for marketting reasons only. ".
One of the contributors to http://www.crc.id.au/?p=21 . . says . .
# Moneky Boy Says:
August 14th, 2005 at 1:03 am
My parents have a mini and my has one of the PowerBooks. Confirmed the drives are Matsushita UJ-835. They have never had an issue burning DVDs. Confirmed it by burning DVDs last night on the wife’s 12″ PowerBook.
As far as updating the Firmware in your optical drives, no, you do not have to remove them from the machines to update their firmware. I’ve updated the firmware on my optical drives (for Region Free and/or speed gains) via the GUI in Mac OS X. One application that will do this is called DVRFlashX I believe. The key is then finding the firmware, which is platform agnostic.
BTW, removing the drive wouldn’t void the warranty on your Mac but messing with the firmware certainly will void the warranty on the drive.
Our primary concern remains SuperDrive media disc burn quality .. while you do appear to share the same concern as well as speed performance. Mr Haigh's only concern appears to be speed .. and here we may have missed any opportunity .. since the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845C
SuperDrive is a later designation and the speed performance specifications showing on the apple web-site are likely consistent with current performance capabilities of that SuperDrive and later .. including yours ?
Mr H may have indeed received marketing materials that promised 8x while actually receiving a 4x SuperDrive .. which only performs at 2x unless exceptional media disc(s) .. so he does have a legitimate claim concerning performance. Do we ?
What has us fully curious is whether he can burn quality media disc(s) with his new SuperDrive ..
(Update 24/12/2005 07:10pm (+11 GMT)
Well, it seems that Apple have decided to replace my hardware. I've started the proceedings yesterday and will hopefully get some news in the new year as to what they are going to replace. At the moment, I'm looking to send in the 12" Powerbook for a replacement, then see what changes in the mac mini side of things. I'm not going to accept the same DVD drive - as we all know the problems with the UJ-835. Stay tuned for more details as they come to hand.) .. http://superdrive.crc.id.au/
.. which would likely be the same as yours .. now that should prove an interesting outcome .. which he seems likely to voluntarily report and will be the essence of any enquiries from us in the near foreseeable future assuming Mr Haigh is forthcoming in his SuperDrive computing developments.
Mr Haigh may have begun to scratch the surface (so to speak) .. and find the more serious problem is that no matter how fast or slow the SuperDrive .. reliable media disc burns are a fantasy !
As yet no update .. almost three months .. could the delay by Apple could have something to do with the model identification of any replacement DVD burner .. if they use an UJ-845 .. then all **** could break loose as Apple users realise (such as we) they do have the same DVD burner and (in a Mac mini) are limited to 4x maximum speed DVD media disc burning performance .. so another designation may be required .. one that already delivers 8x DVD burns .. bit of a mess really .. and the latest Mac mini SuperDrive sports 8x DVD R media burn speed.
We are curious about you too, dear reader .. are you satisfied with your non Apple disc media burn quality ? We are able to openly admit that we are dissatisfied with our non Apple disc media burn output quality.
We are currently satisfied with the Apple DV R disc media burn quality. However at a price of premium dollars and an unexplained media burn verification failure message.
Burn speed, we nonchalantly confess, is not our greatest concern, and, for now, falls to a lower priority of importance with us.
For now the matter is at rest with us.
How about you ?
Yours Sincerely
Stuart
PS. .. helping to explain the confusions surrounding the Mac mini SuperDrive is this extracted from ..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_mini
October 2005–February 2006
Multiple reports exist that the Mac mini was quietly upgraded in October 2005 to 64 MiB VRAM, and either a 1.33 GHz (up from 1.25 GHz) or 1.5 GHz G4 (up from 1.42 GHz) processor, with 512 MiB of PC3200 RAM while underclocking it to PC2700. The 80 GB drive is currently a Seagate Momentus 5400.2 ST9808211A, which runs at 5400 RPM with an 8 MiB cache. The SuperDrive is a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845, which supports +R DL burning, and may also have unofficial support for DVD-RAM. Apple did not revise the official specifications on their web site. This may be to avoid issues with discounting or discontinuing of old stock.
Well .. whatever .. we use a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845C SuperDrive .. wouldn't that mean we have +R DL feature too ? .. probably not judging by the following explanations .. sort of .. and yes you could grab the mac_min.pdf service manual and do your own upgrading and overclocking as it pleases you .. try google for more info.
PPS. .. http://www.macintouch.com/macmini11.html
Mac Mini Part 11
January 9, 2006
Stealth Upgrade
Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxx
I recently received the SuperDrive Mac Mini that I ordered from Amazon the day after Christmas. To my delight, my Mini contains a 1.5 GHz PPC and 64MB of video RAM.
The SuperDrive is listed as a Panasonic UJ-845. According to Panasonic's web site this drive is supposed to allow DVD-RAM writing (and I assume reading). Has anyone attempted to use DVD-RAM discs with this drive under 10.4.3?
Xxxxxx Xxxx
I also have a new SuperDrive mini with the same specs, and note that the UJ-845 drive doesn't include DVD-RAM capability, though as Gordon notes the OEM Panasonic drive does. However, Panasonic's spec page is for the UJ-845-B drive, and I expect that the one in the mini is instead a special version of the UJ-845 that Panasonic made for Apple with DVD-RAM disabled. For some reason Apple doesn't seem to want to support DVD-RAM, which is a pity. I believe the drive will work with DVD-RAM discs, but treat them like DVD-RW, requiring complete erasure every time they're used, rather than allowing addition and subtraction of individual files, which is what makes DVD-RAM a great backup/exchange medium, especially for travelers.
My new PowerBook came with an Apple-labeled Panasonic UJ-825-C drive, which System Profiler saw as simply "UJ-825" and which didn't include DVD-RAM although Panasonic's specs showed it; I replaced it with an 825-B I got on eBay, which System Profiler sees as "845-S" and which now does DVD-RAM even without Patchburn. Note that the 825 is two generations earlier than the current 845/846 drive (whose new feature is DL burning); DVD-RAM has been available for a long time, but Apple has been using special versions of the drives without it.
How to exactly determine the capabilities of your drive: Insert a disc (any type, CD or DVD, but not a blank recordable disc that has to be formatted), open Disk Utility, and on the left side select the drive (not the disc in the drive), then look in the lower right side of the window where it says "Capabilities". You may have to widen the window to see the whole list, as it doesn't wrap for some reason. If it says "DVD-RAM" in the list, the drive should do DVD-RAM discs as they are meant to be used: like a 4GB floppy disk, they must be formatted once, then can be used as "random access media" (RAM). Doesn't matter what kind of disc you put in the drive; any type will make the drive appear in Disk Utility, which will then show its capabilities.
FOLLOWUP: I opened up the Mac Mini, and found the SuperDrive is an Apple label "UJ-845C", presumably a special version of the 845 with DVD-RAM disabled, unlike the UJ-845-B spec'd at the Panasonic site.
[MacInTouch]
We just received a middle-model Mac Mini - 80GB/512MB/AirPort+Bluetooth/Tiger - ordered from Amazon (currently $519.99 after rebate) and were pleased to find that it is one of Apple's "stealth" upgrades, where the label belies the actual specifications. Apple shows it as a 1.42GHz model, but it's actually running at 1.5 GHz, according to System Profiler.
It has a Seagate ST9808211A hard drive, which is a 5400-RPM model (better than the dog-slow 4200-RPM drives Apple started shipping sometime after the original Mini models debuted).
The optical drive is a Matsushita CW-8124, a Combo drive with 24X CD writing and reading and the ability to read DVD-R and DVD-RW, as well as DVD-ROM, at 8x.
System Profiler shows 64 MB of video RAM - double Apple's specified amount - for the "ATY,RV280" graphics card (ATI Radeon 9200) on an AGP bus, supporting display rotation and Quartz Extreme but not Core Image.
(For what it's worth, we found that we could not connect a Dell 1704FPT to the digital video port while an analog video cable was connected; after removing the analog cable, the Dell works beautifully with the Mini's DVI video. The Dell display also worked fine with analog video via the adapter included with the Mini.)
We also tried a WiebeTech Maxelerate hard drive enclosure but found it unpleasantly noisy, even in a special reduced-RPM version the company offers customers who raise the issue. By contrast, the miniStack we previously reviewed is virtually silent with the same hard drive inside.
Xxx Xxxxxxx
While this isn't the first time I've seen this type of 'error' from Apple, or other firms, this particular incident seems to have gone beyond the typical example, and I'm beginning to wonder if it is more than just an overlap in an otherwise complicated process.
I've done my share of OEM documentation, including manuals, labels and cartons. I know how hard it is to maintain reality in this regard. But in this case, it seems to me that the mismatch between the inside and the outside of the package has gone beyond the norm, and I'm wondering if someone along the line has simply decided to live with it, rather than deal with it up front. I can see this saving money...changes cost more than just the ink - it takes time and planning to overcome a spec change and cover all the bases.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone in a position to decide hasn't simply elected to run out the materials without implementing changes. After all, the customer gets more than they expect, which can be favorable publicity, and we all know the saying "any publicity is good, and good publicity is even better".
On the other hand, it can be a minefield to fess up. Once word gets out, customers start hand-picking the good from the better, taking the higraded units and leaving the rest as floatsom. Or they buy the downgrade for less, then return it shortly thereafter, demanding the up while refusing to pay more.
Let's just hope the sun keeps shining on this particular parade, and no one decides to claim fraud. All it would take is one competitor with a surplus of over-eager attorneys, and Apple would be forced to apologize for over-stuffing the golden goose.

Concluding post in relation to the earlier postings on this particular subject and thread (now officially closed by apple support) .. and to be found at SuperDrive Media Disc(s) .. Assist ... [http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=759874#759874]
APPLE DVD R DISC MEDIA TRIAL
DVD-R
8x speed
Certified for use with Apple DVD-R drives :: 4.7GB Media
Made in Japan
MAC MINI MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845C
Mac mini 1.42GHz PowerPC G4 | 512 MB DDR SDRAM
Tiger OS X 10.4.3
Finder Burn - single folder containing many sub-folders totaling about 800Mbytes and approx. 4000 files.
Burn Speed Options : 4x(faster) : 2x : 1x(more reliable) - actual Finder media disc burn dialogue descriptions
[default selection is 4x(faster) ]
We choose 1x(more reliable) ..
Observations include .. no 8x speed media disc burn available from our little Mac mini Matshita DVD-R UJ-845C burner .. and .. as this is a DVD R .. we have time .. but no going back once burned .. and we want maximum systems compatibility .. you, dear reader, already know the drama we have previously experienced with Finder burns and older Apple iMac DV SE machine DVD drive (media disc burned) read compatibilities.
The total burn was a lengthy delay before the entire routine was completed including automatic verification.
OUTCOME
This disc did not verify correctly and is unreliable. Because this disc is unreliable, discard it and try again using a new, blank disc. (Error code ) 0x80020063
Total disc burned is almost 800Mbytes and about 4000 files.
Verification was not an available option for the burn .. a Finder burn .. meaning verification was apparently automatically included as an unseen 'yes' option at media disc burn execution time.
Examining the resulting Apple DVD R media disc burned .. we discover that things are good .. biggest single files (.dmg's at about 100Mbytes expanding to 350Mbytes - e.g. OS X 10.4.3 update) are able to be copied from the burned Apple DVD R media disc back to the Mac mini hard disk again and verify 100% when opened for installation. Encouraging. Better than anything previously experienced.
iMac DV SE [ DVD MATSHITADVD-ROM SR-8184 ]
Into the Apple iMac ancient (500 MHz PowerPC G3 operating OS X 10.4.3 Tiger | 640MB SDRAM) and we are greeted with goodness .. same accessibility as the originating Mac mini machine .. satisfying.
And yes the 'problem' of multi-session burns is yet to come on the ancient iMac and if the response is any good as now .. it may not be a problem worthy of mention. At 800 Mbytes burn and 4.7 Gbytes capacity .. one could loosely forecast up to another 5 media disc burn sessions before the DVD R is full and complete.
XP MACHINE
And now into the PC machine for an XP looksee and again .. more goodness. Cross compatible files are fully accessible (an entire - own - website burned). Large files copy 100%. Better than before.
Two thumbs up for this disk and burn.
Verification failure remains a current mystery. Anyone ?
It is easy to figure how one may doubt one's media burning hardware is any good by now .. but the gathering volume of supporting entries at the relevant media burning and error message forums reveals that hardware is unlikely to be (entirely) at fault .. rather something else .. say firmware ?
Apple Media DVD R discs are manufactured in Japan (stated on the disc) and the quality difference and price premium are consistent with what others have written of the place of manufacture and the Apple media disc as well. Mostly positive.
Still .. we should like to have access to dependable RW discs from Apple too .. for reliable re-useability.
As for the subject of burn speed ...
Many forum readers are well aware of an ongoing and gradually escalating matter between Apple and this gentleman http://www.crc.id.au/page/2/ .. we have curiously followed the unfolding events to observe the outcome of the burn speed specification variation. As you know .. our Mac mini is rated at maximum DVD media disc burn 4x and fitted with a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845C which is a later edition than Mr H's UJ-835 .. however .. we are more curious to observe whether the final outcome will satisfy Mr H or not. Burn speed, primarily, and quality of burn, secondarily, on selected media by Mr H. Once the outcome is known and to Mr H's satisfaction .. then we may enquire about his satisfaction with burn quality at the chosen burn speed(s) by Mr H.
Here is an offline forum communication that we shared with another Mac mini user about disc media burn speed. As you may read .. he is entirely dissatisfied with the Mac mini media burn speed and isn't too keen on using the Apple disc burn media either ...
So...Have you found any dvd-r or +r media that burns reliably on the mini? (non apple media please).
I am completely disgusted with my new mini's pathetic superdrive that I paid way too much for.
I have purchased new & built from new parts several PC's that burn DVD after DVD on a wide variety of media reliably.
No one has even replied to my post
http://www.123macmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2773&start=0&postdays=0&postord er=asc&highlight=
Thanks
.. and at latest check .. no-one has responded to the post .. maybe no-one knows .. outside of Apple HQ .. mind you .. no-one has truly usefully responded to our post either .. we responded thusly ...
Mac Mini SuperDrive .. burn speed .. and burn .. reliability
Sometime I just can't get my head around the subject and have to step back and breathe in real deep .. which makes me kinda dizzy .. and wait until the focus is on the forest before
choosing the tree(s) to climb. This particular tree is getting taller ...
And congratulations on your Apple ownership. Small is beautiful.
Regret your coaster experiences. Frustrating and unfortunate.
What SuperDrive description is fitted in your new mac mini ?
We seem to be staring into a gaping black hole of acknowledgement .. from anyone.
PC users, windows operating system software computers, appear to have an extreme edge .. when it comes to media disc burning. i.e. successful burns.
Re-reading that lengthy post .. which doesn't fully format as intended .. has me fully believing that less is more and small is beautiful (still). Future specific posts will probably follow as a matter of personal self-committment .. to persist until the solutions are fully to hand. For now .. may we refer to your mentioned post in our next planned post please ? Solidarity of negatory outcome experience is credibility.
Three forums have we frequented and participated to learn more about the black hole .. we know as SuperDrive media disc burning .. only you have provided any feedback whatsoever .. post reader numbers grow but answers are missing in action .. absent from class.
http://www.crc.id.au/page/2/
We have thought the SuperDrive matter you have referred to in your post was of no concern to us .. but now you have us thinking again .. although model numbers differ .. (ours is a later numerical reference) the concerns appear to be similar .. or largely about performance .. we shall also refer to this domain in our planned next post. Yes, we are aware of the matter .. from another forum .. but shall now supply the link for others to weigh and hopefully dish out their two cents worth .. where a consensus could mean we are also a part of this particular action. An ideal consensus would be firmware is unsuitable .. requires immediate update .. and in particular the quality of burn is consensually unacceptable .. action could follow.
We have progressed no further with burning experimentations .. and will be using Apple media before progressing with our findings reporting. For now, we are unable to add to your ease of mind .. frankly .. unless the burning media is made in Japan .. we doubt any burn verification success is to be had. And we cannot find any burning media made in Japan in our locale. Where is the Apple media made?
We have come to appreciate the SuperDrive is all about the firmware .. but have no new firmware to apply .. in fact .. our research to date shows that we have been unable to find the Matshita SuperDrive at all online and cannot confirm specifications .. neither could we locate the specifications at www.apple.com.au .. which is just plain odd.
A third look has provided ... from www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html ..
Storage
* One of the following optical drives:
o Slot-loading Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW): reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 16x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed
o Optional SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW): writes DVD-R discs at up to 4x speed, writes DVD-RW discs at up to 2x speed, writes DVD+R discs at up to 4x speed, writes DVD+RW discs at up to 2.4x speed, reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 16x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 8x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed
Where were you able to establish your SuperDrive (burning) specifications ?
Writer's note : .. some things change .. and so have the Apple Mac mini SuperDrive burner specs changed .. since recording those detailed above. In fact .. they read like they maybe should have all along .. 8x DVD R media burn speed. DL is a bonus. Can anyone tell us what the drive designation is please ?
CRC says: ".. This limits burn speed to 4x for Mac Minis and 8x for Powerbooks.".
While speed matters .. and it does .. you appear to have exactly the same media disc burning problems that we are experiencing .. failed verification(s) .. and for us .. in short .. complete DVD-R media disc burned rejection from the Apple OS X.
Do we .. in actual fact .. have two separate operating challenges here .. speed of burn and quality of burn .. any burn ? Speed was not our first priority .. quality is .. now we figure that at any speed the burn quality is anywhere from dubious to coaster.
CRC says: ".. The UJ-835 that Apple use is firmware limited to suit various bits of hardware that they want to put together. The burner in the Mac Mini is the exact same model as the one in the PowerBooks. Apple load a 4x firmware on the Mac Mini, and an 8x firmware on the PowerBook drives.
My bet is that this is for marketting reasons only. ".
One of the contributors to http://www.crc.id.au/?p=21 . . says . .
# Moneky Boy Says:
August 14th, 2005 at 1:03 am
My parents have a mini and my has one of the PowerBooks. Confirmed the drives are Matsushita UJ-835. They have never had an issue burning DVDs. Confirmed it by burning DVDs last night on the wife’s 12″ PowerBook.
As far as updating the Firmware in your optical drives, no, you do not have to remove them from the machines to update their firmware. I’ve updated the firmware on my optical drives (for Region Free and/or speed gains) via the GUI in Mac OS X. One application that will do this is called DVRFlashX I believe. The key is then finding the firmware, which is platform agnostic.
BTW, removing the drive wouldn’t void the warranty on your Mac but messing with the firmware certainly will void the warranty on the drive.
Our primary concern remains SuperDrive media disc burn quality .. while you do appear to share the same concern as well as speed performance. Mr Haigh's only concern appears to be speed .. and here we may have missed any opportunity .. since the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845C
SuperDrive is a later designation and the speed performance specifications showing on the apple web-site are likely consistent with current performance capabilities of that SuperDrive and later .. including yours ?
Mr H may have indeed received marketing materials that promised 8x while actually receiving a 4x SuperDrive .. which only performs at 2x unless exceptional media disc(s) .. so he does have a legitimate claim concerning performance. Do we ?
What has us fully curious is whether he can burn quality media disc(s) with his new SuperDrive ..
(Update 24/12/2005 07:10pm (+11 GMT)
Well, it seems that Apple have decided to replace my hardware. I've started the proceedings yesterday and will hopefully get some news in the new year as to what they are going to replace. At the moment, I'm looking to send in the 12" Powerbook for a replacement, then see what changes in the mac mini side of things. I'm not going to accept the same DVD drive - as we all know the problems with the UJ-835. Stay tuned for more details as they come to hand.) .. http://superdrive.crc.id.au/
.. which would likely be the same as yours .. now that should prove an interesting outcome .. which he seems likely to voluntarily report and will be the essence of any enquiries from us in the near foreseeable future assuming Mr Haigh is forthcoming in his SuperDrive computing developments.
Mr Haigh may have begun to scratch the surface (so to speak) .. and find the more serious problem is that no matter how fast or slow the SuperDrive .. reliable media disc burns are a fantasy !
As yet no update .. almost three months .. could the delay by Apple could have something to do with the model identification of any replacement DVD burner .. if they use an UJ-845 .. then all **** could break loose as Apple users realise (such as we) they do have the same DVD burner and (in a Mac mini) are limited to 4x maximum speed DVD media disc burning performance .. so another designation may be required .. one that already delivers 8x DVD burns .. bit of a mess really .. and the latest Mac mini SuperDrive sports 8x DVD R media burn speed.
We are curious about you too, dear reader .. are you satisfied with your non Apple disc media burn quality ? We are able to openly admit that we are dissatisfied with our non Apple disc media burn output quality.
We are currently satisfied with the Apple DV R disc media burn quality. However at a price of premium dollars and an unexplained media burn verification failure message.
Burn speed, we nonchalantly confess, is not our greatest concern, and, for now, falls to a lower priority of importance with us.
For now the matter is at rest with us.
How about you ?
Yours Sincerely
Stuart
PS. .. helping to explain the confusions surrounding the Mac mini SuperDrive is this extracted from ..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_mini
October 2005–February 2006
Multiple reports exist that the Mac mini was quietly upgraded in October 2005 to 64 MiB VRAM, and either a 1.33 GHz (up from 1.25 GHz) or 1.5 GHz G4 (up from 1.42 GHz) processor, with 512 MiB of PC3200 RAM while underclocking it to PC2700. The 80 GB drive is currently a Seagate Momentus 5400.2 ST9808211A, which runs at 5400 RPM with an 8 MiB cache. The SuperDrive is a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845, which supports +R DL burning, and may also have unofficial support for DVD-RAM. Apple did not revise the official specifications on their web site. This may be to avoid issues with discounting or discontinuing of old stock.
Well .. whatever .. we use a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-845C SuperDrive .. wouldn't that mean we have +R DL feature too ? .. probably not judging by the following explanations .. sort of .. and yes you could grab the mac_min.pdf service manual and do your own upgrading and overclocking as it pleases you .. try google for more info.
PPS. .. http://www.macintouch.com/macmini11.html
Mac Mini Part 11
January 9, 2006
Stealth Upgrade
Xxxxxx Xxxxxxxx
I recently received the SuperDrive Mac Mini that I ordered from Amazon the day after Christmas. To my delight, my Mini contains a 1.5 GHz PPC and 64MB of video RAM.
The SuperDrive is listed as a Panasonic UJ-845. According to Panasonic's web site this drive is supposed to allow DVD-RAM writing (and I assume reading). Has anyone attempted to use DVD-RAM discs with this drive under 10.4.3?
Xxxxxx Xxxx
I also have a new SuperDrive mini with the same specs, and note that the UJ-845 drive doesn't include DVD-RAM capability, though as Gordon notes the OEM Panasonic drive does. However, Panasonic's spec page is for the UJ-845-B drive, and I expect that the one in the mini is instead a special version of the UJ-845 that Panasonic made for Apple with DVD-RAM disabled. For some reason Apple doesn't seem to want to support DVD-RAM, which is a pity. I believe the drive will work with DVD-RAM discs, but treat them like DVD-RW, requiring complete erasure every time they're used, rather than allowing addition and subtraction of individual files, which is what makes DVD-RAM a great backup/exchange medium, especially for travelers.
My new PowerBook came with an Apple-labeled Panasonic UJ-825-C drive, which System Profiler saw as simply "UJ-825" and which didn't include DVD-RAM although Panasonic's specs showed it; I replaced it with an 825-B I got on eBay, which System Profiler sees as "845-S" and which now does DVD-RAM even without Patchburn. Note that the 825 is two generations earlier than the current 845/846 drive (whose new feature is DL burning); DVD-RAM has been available for a long time, but Apple has been using special versions of the drives without it.
How to exactly determine the capabilities of your drive: Insert a disc (any type, CD or DVD, but not a blank recordable disc that has to be formatted), open Disk Utility, and on the left side select the drive (not the disc in the drive), then look in the lower right side of the window where it says "Capabilities". You may have to widen the window to see the whole list, as it doesn't wrap for some reason. If it says "DVD-RAM" in the list, the drive should do DVD-RAM discs as they are meant to be used: like a 4GB floppy disk, they must be formatted once, then can be used as "random access media" (RAM). Doesn't matter what kind of disc you put in the drive; any type will make the drive appear in Disk Utility, which will then show its capabilities.
FOLLOWUP: I opened up the Mac Mini, and found the SuperDrive is an Apple label "UJ-845C", presumably a special version of the 845 with DVD-RAM disabled, unlike the UJ-845-B spec'd at the Panasonic site.
[MacInTouch]
We just received a middle-model Mac Mini - 80GB/512MB/AirPort+Bluetooth/Tiger - ordered from Amazon (currently $519.99 after rebate) and were pleased to find that it is one of Apple's "stealth" upgrades, where the label belies the actual specifications. Apple shows it as a 1.42GHz model, but it's actually running at 1.5 GHz, according to System Profiler.
It has a Seagate ST9808211A hard drive, which is a 5400-RPM model (better than the dog-slow 4200-RPM drives Apple started shipping sometime after the original Mini models debuted).
The optical drive is a Matsushita CW-8124, a Combo drive with 24X CD writing and reading and the ability to read DVD-R and DVD-RW, as well as DVD-ROM, at 8x.
System Profiler shows 64 MB of video RAM - double Apple's specified amount - for the "ATY,RV280" graphics card (ATI Radeon 9200) on an AGP bus, supporting display rotation and Quartz Extreme but not Core Image.
(For what it's worth, we found that we could not connect a Dell 1704FPT to the digital video port while an analog video cable was connected; after removing the analog cable, the Dell works beautifully with the Mini's DVI video. The Dell display also worked fine with analog video via the adapter included with the Mini.)
We also tried a WiebeTech Maxelerate hard drive enclosure but found it unpleasantly noisy, even in a special reduced-RPM version the company offers customers who raise the issue. By contrast, the miniStack we previously reviewed is virtually silent with the same hard drive inside.
Xxx Xxxxxxx
While this isn't the first time I've seen this type of 'error' from Apple, or other firms, this particular incident seems to have gone beyond the typical example, and I'm beginning to wonder if it is more than just an overlap in an otherwise complicated process.
I've done my share of OEM documentation, including manuals, labels and cartons. I know how hard it is to maintain reality in this regard. But in this case, it seems to me that the mismatch between the inside and the outside of the package has gone beyond the norm, and I'm wondering if someone along the line has simply decided to live with it, rather than deal with it up front. I can see this saving money...changes cost more than just the ink - it takes time and planning to overcome a spec change and cover all the bases.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone in a position to decide hasn't simply elected to run out the materials without implementing changes. After all, the customer gets more than they expect, which can be favorable publicity, and we all know the saying "any publicity is good, and good publicity is even better".
On the other hand, it can be a minefield to fess up. Once word gets out, customers start hand-picking the good from the better, taking the higraded units and leaving the rest as floatsom. Or they buy the downgrade for less, then return it shortly thereafter, demanding the up while refusing to pay more.
Let's just hope the sun keeps shining on this particular parade, and no one decides to claim fraud. All it would take is one competitor with a surplus of over-eager attorneys, and Apple would be forced to apologize for over-stuffing the golden goose.

External Drive replacement for iMac "SuperDrive" ?

From reading this forum, it seems some iMac SuperDrives (mine included) have serious problems with reading and/or scratching discs. Apparently the only real solution is to use an external drive.
Can anyone recommend an external drive (USB or Firewire 800) that is compatible with the Mac CD and DVD disk-burning functions, iMovie and iDVD, will download software, play movie DVDs, and music CDs? In other words, it should do everything the SuperDrive is supposed to do. Also, it should last more than 6 months!
Thanks!

only store they have is by chicago, which is also their office & where all of their tech support staff are located. they have hrs you can call in 7 days a week for help & are great about fixing or replacing anything that quits. haven't heard the same about lacie at all. the lacie drive are prettier tho, but seem more expenisve for what you actually get, imo.

How in the world can I select my external hard drive as a scratch disc for video? Please skip the obvious, like 'is it plugged in?'

At wit's end trying to select my external hard drive to load video on. Time Machine backed stuff up on it so the computer knows it's there but it won't show anywhere else, iMovie or FCE4.

Hi Eric and thanx for the fast response. I've had very little time to piddle around with this iMac and fce4 since I got it a few years back but I DO remember seeing an option back then--when capturing video from the camera--to choose some other scratch disc. Some time after buying and plugging in the ext. drive I clicked on Time Machine (not even knowing what it was--some window popped up and it looked good). I wonder if turning on Time Mach has locked me out of the ext. drive. It doesn't show up ANYWHERE ANYTIME now, not under system pref., user pref. in fce4 or iMovie or anything else EXCEPT when I click on Time Machine it does tell me I've 2.97 terrabytes of space (which has to be the ext. drive; the iMac has 500 gb). I'm thinking of uninstalling and reinstalling fce4 and starting over.

How to determine the scratch disc size?

hello,
once i was reading an adobe pdf "How to get better performance in photoshop cs5" - that was in 2009 or 2010, and may be outdated, but there was a calculation method
to determine the size of a scratch disc. (similar calculation see below, if i can remember right)
i am asking myself, how can i determine the correct size of an external SSD-scratch disc, only used by photoshop (completely empty):
should i buy a 128GB or 256GB or 512GB SSD which is only reserved for photoshop?
basic question 1 : i guess i should avoid to set the internal SSD as photoshop scratch disc, as it slows down everything?
basic question 2 : in sense of maximum performance: better buy an external USB3.0 or thunderbolt SSD? will photoshop really use the extra thunderbolt speed when swapping data?
secondary question:
can i calculate the size regarding my daily working habits?
i am mainly working like this:
- with my imac 27" late 2013 with 32GB RAM and 256 GB internal pci-e SSD (800 MB/sec), which will stay always half empty for performance reasons.
- OSX 10.8 mountain lion and 10.9 mavericks soon
- photoshop cs5, cs6 and cc (always without extended)
- 8bit and 16bit mode
- only RGB
- with latest phocus/Hasselblad and canon RAW Files which produce a basic .psb document at ...
- 10.000 x 7000 px at 300dpi
- with average 10 - 40 main image layers and 20-50 adjustement layers (try to reduce that in 16bit)
- .psb file is 2-20 GB big (file in finder)
- 16bit file compression is off, when saving .psb files (faster handling)
- set photoshop to 70% ram usage (from 32GB RAM)
i wonder how to calculate ?
for example:
10.000 x 7000 px at 300dpi needs for one image layer at 16bit: 2GB RAM in photoshop cs6 or cc (just as a number), this may be wrong
so lets take 2GB RAM and multiply with 10 image layers in my .psb file (16bit) = 20 GB RAM, and multiply with 20 adjustment layers (guess they need less ram, for one lets say 500MB) = 20GB + 10GB = this 16bit .psb layer file would need 30GB RAM, so when i have 32GB in my imac, i set cs6 or cc to 70% ram usage, it misses at least round 8-10GB RAM > can i guess that photoshop would swap these 8GB onto my scratch disc? or do i miss something important in my thinking?
tricky thinking
thanks for help

station_two wrote:
The rule of thumb I follow says to figure on 50 to 100 times the size of your largest file ever multiplied by the number of files you have open. I have seen the scratch file exceed 300 GB once, an admittedly rare occurrence, but it often exceeds 200 GB when stitching large panoramas and the like.
As an example—and stressing that I'm aware that others have even more scratch space than I do—I keep two dedicated, physically separate hard drives as my primary and secondary Photoshop scratch disks and a lot of GB free on my boot drive for the OS. I also have 16 GB of RAM installed.
Additionally, if you only have a single HD, i.e. your boot drive, you'd need it to be large enough to accommodate both the swap files of the OS as well as Photoshop's scratch.
- i dont use HDD anymore only SSDs, both internal and external
- i set history state to only 5 or 6, to improve performance
- i set cache size to 4 and tiles to "big and flat" with 1028kb (there is no "big and much layers" option)
- is this still the rule of thumb? i read it in 2009 , too, guess it was outdated, as cs6 and cc have improved codes in terms of performance?
- if you say "50 to 100 times the size of your largest file ever multiplied by the number of files you have open.":
i will not open more than one document at same time to prevent performance lags, so lets calc like: dokument size in finder (you mean in finder or doc. size shown in photoshop?) = e.g. 5GB x 100 = 500GB, so my external scratch disc SSD, i would buy now, should be at least 500GB, USB 3.0 or thunderbolt ... maybe better thunderbolt, yes? with usb 3.0 i could gain 300MB/sec if thats enough for photoshop?
thanks

IMac will not play the DVD that I have made on imovie and burned on iMac SuperDrive ?? (DVD plays fine on household DVD player and also play fine in Toshiba laptop ) Why not on the iMac - anyone know???

iMac will not play the DVD that I have made on imovie and burned on iMac SuperDrive ?? (DVD plays fine on household DVD player and also plays fine on Toshiba laptop ) Why not on the iMac - anyone know???

There are many reasons this could be the case but whether an optical disc can be read or not is a function of:
The reflective media layer of the disc
Whether the burned disc was a DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW
The brand, model, and production lot of the disc
The specific frequency of the Write lasers that burned the disc
The specific frequency of the Read lasers that are attempting to read the disc
Are the Read lasers in the drive working (it is common for one set of lasers in a drive to fail while others continue to work)
How old are the Write and Read drives (laser frequencies change with age)
Is there dust on the read laser
Is there dust on the read lens
etc.
At one time it was estimated that fewer than 80% of all burned discs were readable in 90% of the drives. That has, I believe improved over time but at the same time it seems the faillure rate of lasers in the drives has increased but that may simply be the result of how many different read and write lasers there are in today's superdrives. Fortunately todays drives are a lot less expensive the replace -- now that Apple no longer installs optical drives in their computers.

Mac OS X - Scratches Discs!

Is anyone else having this problem? My new Mac OS X - desktop - is scratching discs. It is not how I pull the discs out. I am very careful. Apple has already replaced the superdrive twice now! And it is still scratching! The scratches are circular and obviously happen as the disc is spinning in the drive. Multiple scratches happen nearly every time I put a disc in the machine. What is going on?

Hi c2zion: If the main reason for your wanting X11, is to install Open Office, another very good option is Neo Office. It is very similar to Open Office, and doesn't require X11. It is available here: http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/download.php
Stedman
MBP 1.83, 1.5gB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.10) Quiet, Cool, Re-furbished, iPod mini, iPod shuffle

Photoshop scratch disc (SSD), thunderbolt or USB3.0?

asking the adobe team photoshop engineers, if there is one?
which kind of scratch disc are you using? i think you must know it
i would like to know whether the difference of usb3.0 to thunderbolt is marginally or not?
reading that there is a difference between using the boot disc as scratch disc and using a dedicated separate disc,
i think using the boot disc as scratch is not a good decision, as it is used by the system already, although it would be very fast (700MB/s)
i am professionally working with photoshop cs6 under medium to high demands:
16bit .psb layer files, document size 20x40inch, 300dpi, RGB - my average filesize is 10 - 20 GB per .psb layer file.
currently using an external usb3 500GB SSD (crucial m500) as a photoshop cs6 scratch disc,
under 10.9.1, in the moment i am using an imac 27" late 2013 with internal PCI-e SSD (700MB/sec)
and 32GB RAM. my info panel says, that 32GB RAM is not enough and the scratch disc is active, (50GB is needed, 32GB is available)
calculating scratch disc size: 20 x 100 = 200GB as needed to scratch, the 500GB SSD is a lot more than i need, actually?
in mid 2014 i want to buy the new mac pro with 64GB RAM, also would need a dedicated scratch disc,
as i heard that photoshop is constantly using the scratch disc, also, if it doesnt need it.
it writes the whole image onto the disc, when opened.
my concern is:
USB 3.0 is not built as a pure data connection (as thunderbolt is), it has a weak read/write sustained throughput, as i heard.
as conclusion: must i use an external thunderbolt SSD as photoshop scratch disc to prevent lag and performance drops compared to usb 3.0 or is the difference marginally?
thanks!

For optimal performance in Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop CS5 (I will soon upgrade to CS6 or CC), how should I distribute my OS, apps, Scratch, Caches, DNGs, and working TIFFs among these drives?:
120 GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD
240 GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD
960 GB OWC Mercury Accelsior SSD
(connected by Thunderbolt TB1 OWC Helios unit)
Also, probably irrelevant: multiple individual hard drives connected via eSATA and USB3, not RAIDed together
The Accelsior SSD, connected by TB1, is by far the fastest drive. Would partitioning and devoting different parts of it to different functions help?
I'm able to fit the OS, apps, email, etc. on the 120 GB SSD. But I don't assume that I should.
Here's the most relevent info about the rest of my hardware:
Hardware Overview:
Model Name:   iMac
Model Identifier:   iMac12,2
Processor Name:   Intel Core i7
Processor Speed:   3.4 GHz
Number of Processors:   1
Total Number of Cores:   4
L2 Cache (per Core):   256 KB
L3 Cache:   8 MB
Memory:   32 GB
Boot ROM Version:   IM121.0047.B1F
SMC Version (system):   1.72f2
Many thanks,
Mark

27" iMac superdrive scratching discs

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