DVD will read movies, data CDs, but data DVDs show as blank (recordable)

My MBP started not reading data DVDs including older ones that have been accepted in the past.
The behavior is that the data DVDs show up as blank recordables.
I can read data CDs and Movie DVDs.
I've read a few threads that suggested resetting the PRAM, which I will do later (can't right now).
I wanted to post in case anyone else has seen this behavior. I don't often ready data DVDs so I can't say if this happened after a particular system update.

One more thing. The erzatz "blank" dvds do not show up in the Finder. The only way to eject them is with Disk Utility.

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My mac will read a data cd, but nothing else, no dvd,no music cd.

my mac will read a data cd, but nothing else, no dvd,no music cd.

So, the superdrive reads data CDs and the install DVD, but not the others. In that case, get yourself a lens cleaner, such as http://www.amazon.com/Allsop-23321-Carbon-Edge-CD-Drive-Cleaner/dp/B00000J1QM/re f=pd_cp_e_3, and if that doesn't do the trick, you'll need to visit an Apple repair station.

Can't read or burn CDs, but DVDs work just fine (reading, burning, ripping)

This isn't a new problem for my computer, its an issue thats been there since I got it (March 2008), I just haven't had it fixed yet.
My computer won't play or rip any cds (usually doesn't mount them, just spits them out) Also has trouble burning cds, but I have successfully burned a few.
Never had any problem mounting, playing, ripping, or burning DVDs though.
Anyone know of a way to fix this without taking it into an apple store?
And if I do take it in, how long would it take them to fix it?

I took it to the apple store, they did a test to see if it was a hardware or software issue, determined it was a hardware issue and replaced the optical drive.

Superdrive will read Tiger Install Disc, but not DVD's

I recently had my hard drive crash, so I installed a new one because I didn't have time to wait. The installation went fine, but now when I try to install Leopard, it won't read any DVD's, so I had to install TIger back on my Macbook. Are there any reasons that when I installed a fresh new hard drive that would make my superdrive need some other update or something, because it won't read DVD's?
Thanks

Are there any reasons that when I installed a fresh new hard drive that would make my superdrive need some other update or something, because it won't read DVD's?
Hello smp450!
No, the new HD only needed to be reformatted for your Mac. Your original grey-label Tiger Install Discs are also DVDs, same as Leopard.
You may have missed the answer you received from Smokerz in your previous thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6686146#6686146
Now that you've installed the original Tiger OS onto your new HD, are you able to use the Leopard DVD to upgrade? If so, then there is no longer a problem, right? If there is still a problem, where did you purchase the Leopard DVD?

Mavericks will read my external drive but not write to it

I have a Mac Mini ( late 2012) and have the latest version of Mavericks running. I am using an external drive for backing up my photos. About 4 months ago I received an error message that the backup failed and to check the drive using the disk management utility. I checked it using the repair function and it stated all partitions looked ok, there is only one partition. But in order to get it to work again I erased the drive and formatted again. Once complete I set the drive back up using Time Machine. All was good for a few months and then it started all over again. Now after I erase and reset up it only runs for a few backups and then starts with the error messages again.
I am able to read from my hard drive so believe it's defective but I'm not a technical person so don't know for sure. Has anybody else experienced tis? If so were you able to correct it? and ow did you correct it?
Thx.

Thanks to you and all who responded. The majority of responders indicated that the drive was failing. I ran the disk utility again (umpteenth time ) and it said the same thing, nothing was wrong. But I figured the masses couldn't be wrong so I found another External drive to backup to and so far so good. However this happened before as well when after a few weeks it stopped writing to it. So for now all is well and hopefully it will remain this way.
Thx again to all.

Select layer/object will not move in PS, but will move another layer. Need help

I appreciate the help ahead. I cannot figure this out with my Photoshop CC.
Basically when I select a layer on the right, and then go to move the object in that layer, it moves a different layer behind it.
In the screen shot below on the left I am selecting the artwork layer on the right, which is the flip flops on the shirt.
From here I can use the arrows to move the graphic. However, as soon as I use the mouse to select the flip flop graphic and go to move it, the layer selection on the right jumps to the shading and moves a background layer.
What am I doing wrong? Super frustrating!
Running Win 7 x64 8 gig ram, i7, 2 gb Nvidia card.
Thanks!
Jason

You probably have Auto Select Layer on. (Options bar)

My ipod will charge on my pc but it wont show up on it please help???

Please help me.

See
iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Windows
- I would start with
Removing and Reinstalling iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows XP
or
Removing and reinstalling iTunes and other software components for Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8
However, after your remove the Apple software components also remove the iCloud Control Panel via Windows Programs and Features app in the Window Control Panel. Then reinstall all the Apple software components
- Then do the other actions of:
iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Windows
paying special attention to item #5
- New cable and different USB port
- Run this and see if the results help with determine the cause
iTunes for Windows: Device Sync Tests
Also see:
iPod not recognised by windows iTunes
Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates
- Try on another computer to help determine if computer or iPod problem

Saved logins work, but don't show - window blank and can't show passwords

This has been happening for quite some time now, but I need to resolve it before it can't be. My saved logins work, but when I try to display them I get an empty display. The 'Show Passwords' button is grayed out so no love there.
The dates on my pertinent files:
signons.sqlite 7/23/2010 (looks like it's frozen in time)
signons.sqlite-journal 3/28/2011 (today)
key3.db 3/14/2011
I've tried password exporter add-on and password editor add-on and nothing seems to be able to disply/export my logins and/or passwords. There has to be a trick to get this thing working again. I remember trying to find a fix earlier and it was talking about UTF8 or something on the older signons.txt file.
How do I get my Tools->Options->Security->Saved Passwords
to display my (probably hundreds of) logins and passwords so I can export them for backup ?
TIA, Bill
PS: I do have problems with logins saved since last July that I try to change. It's like it reverts back to the old ones that were saved prior to the FF bug that caused them not to be visible rather than the new ones that I try to save now. Not sure if new logins work right or not, I'm not sure which ones to try that were saved after July (to make a test).

To check whether it's the database being corrupted, I would try deleting the entries that you think are corrupt (after backing up the file of course) to see whether it then shows up in the password manager.
FYI, entries not looking like others doesn't necessarily mean they're corrupt. There are different types of entries, which use different sets of fields. A web form entry uses hostname, formSubmitURL, username, password, usernameField, and passwordField; whereas an HTTP authentication entry uses hostname, httpRealm, username, and password (although in the table username and password become encryptedUsername and encryptedPassword); for other protocols, generally only the hostname, username, and password fields are used.
I hope you can recover your database one way or another. Because of the encryption and the paucity of documentation, it's not easy to retrieve passwords other than through the Password Manager, though I'm sure it's possible. I don't know of any other software that decrypts the database even without a Master Password set, except probably that written for the purpose of stealing passwords, which should never be trusted. If you do find such software and you know it to be trustworthy, let us all know.

IPad, Acrobat Reader, Content (text and pictures) no longer showing, just blank pages

Hi,
I have a user who successfully opened a .pdf attachment from outlook mail and then opened it in Acrobat Reader on the iPad and then edited it and moved it to a created folder.
Everything was working fine and the user highlighted text in the .pdf document too.
What then happened is when the user subsequently opened the file, the highlights were shown but not the content (text and pictures).
I checked they had the latest version via the apps store updates and noted there had recently been an update which had been applied.
I did check also in the diagnostics to see if there were any acrobat files, but there were none, I also turned on 'send diagnostics' in case this this will help in the future.
I rebooted the iPad by pressing and holding the power and home buttons until the apple logo appeared.
Checked again to see if I could view the .pdf content (it's around 8.5 MB file with 32 pages), still nothing showing apart from the yellow highlights that the user had done.
From within Acrobat Reader on the iPad I chose to open the file in iBooks to see if I could read it there. I could successfully open the file in iBooks and the front page thumbnail was showing (I did note that in Acrobat reader the thumbnail was white).
I found the email with attachment and opened it again in Acrobat Reader and it opens correctly, suggesting somehow the previous copy had become damaged? I have now saved this good copy over the top of the existing bad copy and all is OK except that the user has lost the highlights previously made.
Can you give me some idea of how this file has become broken in Acrobat Reader on the iPad and how I can avoid it happening again.
Many Thanks.

Thanks for replying.
This is the first time it has happened, the user has several folders containing files (on their iPad), (some .pdf's with additional highlights) these files are typically company agm board packs so contain pages of text and photo's too.
I put it down the fact that when I checked the app store for updates there had recently been an update and the user had not rebooted their iPad for some time, hence some of the underlying adobe reader files were perhaps between versions.
I don't know how you handle files when performing an update, do you close the app, flush files from memory and do a clean update?
I can confirm that the .pdf file had not been sent as an email attachment after having added the highlights.
Because the acrobat document contains so many pictures (32 pages and 8.5MB) when scrolling through it takes several seconds for some pages to appear, and others with text and pictures quite a while for the text to become sharp, I presume this is because the Acrobat Reader cannot open the 8.5MB file in one go and has to keep swapping it out of memory. Having reached the end if I scroll back to the beginning it takes 10's of seconds before the first page re-appears, otherwise it's just a white page. Interestingly in iBooks the pages appear almost immediately when viewing.
The iPad in question is model MD368B/A, 64GB, Software Version 7.1.1 (11D201) and has 28GB Memory available. Usage tells me Adobe Reader is taking 328MB and is version 11.3.1
I have just finally browsed back to recent documents, opened 2 or 3 other documents and then this one again (from recent) and it is now broken, just shows white pages (and on the thumbnail too) with my test highlights. so I can now apparently reproduce it.
Hope this all helps you re-produce
Regards,

One way sync from Outlook Express gets Unable to read application data error

I have a BB Flip, 8220, and am trying to use Outlook Express as my Contacts organizer. I have started Outlook express "vanilla" and only have one records in Outlook Express. I have 34 records in my BB Contacts. When I run synchronize (and again, I am trying to do this one way, from Express to BB) I get the error "Unable to read application data", "Processing Device Address Book", "Record 34 of 34 Records".
I have read many of the threads. I have checked the RIM.log file and it says one way sync. Any clues on how to fix this? I am on Desktop 4.6, do I need to upgrade to 4.7?
Please advise.
Thank you.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Well I fixed the problem. What I did was run a Backup using the desktop mgr software, I then ran a restore, but I used the Advanced option so that I could open the ipd backup file and then select just the contacts database and push that from my computer to the device (using the right arrow copy button in the middle of the Advanced window thingy). I then reran the Sync and it WORKED!
Doing the backup and restore must have fixed the corrupted record on my phone. Wonderful. I was nervous, but it worked jst fine.

Read Video data from buffer or byte array

Hi guys,
I've developed a tx/rx module, the tx read an mpg file and transfer it over network. rx has the data in a byte array, I also feed the byte array to a media buffer. Now my question is how to creat the player and feed the player to play the content of the buffer or byte array?
I would really appreaciate if someone could help me please...
Thanx
I haven't and didn't want to use any of the RTP stuff...

Hi, I tried PullBufferDataSource. What I am trying to do is : read a .wav file into a queue, then construct a datasource with this queue. The processor will be contructed to process the datasource, and a datasink to sink data to a file. I think if this workflow could work, it should work in network transmission.
In fact the code works partially. The trick part is the read( Buffer ) method. If I try to use 'if' statement to see if Queue has empty or not, the datasink could not format the head part of output file correctly. If I didnot use 'if' statement, the program will terminate when exception occurs. The output file is all right.
I did not understand what is going on.
Note: the original file is a RAW data file without format info.
Here is the code fragments. Hopefully we can work together to figure it out.
Thanks.
Jim
* QueueDataSourceTester.java
* Created on November 11, 2002, 10:29 AM
package bonephone;
import javax.media.*;
import javax.media.control.*;
import javax.media.protocol.*;
import javax.media.datasink.*;
import javax.media.format.AudioFormat;
import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.io.*;
* @author wguo
public class QueueDataSourceTester implements ControllerListener, DataSinkListener {
protected LinkedList myQueue;
/** Creates a new instance of QueueDataSourceTester */
public QueueDataSourceTester() {
myQueue = new LinkedList();
public void testIt( ){
// Read a file into a Queue
FileInputStream inputStream = null;
try{
inputStream = new FileInputStream( "c:/media/phone.wav");
catch( IOException ioe ){
System.err.println( "Error on open media file." );
try{
byte data[] = new byte[1024];
int n ;
while( ( n = inputStream.read( data, 0, 1024 )) != -1 ){
myQueue.addLast( data );
data = new byte[1024];
inputStream.close();
catch( IOException ioe ){
System.err.println( "Error on reading file." );
System.out.println( "Queue Size: " + myQueue.size() );
System.out.println( "myQueue = " + myQueue.size() );
QueueDataSource dataSource = new QueueDataSource( myQueue );
Processor p = null ;
try{
System.out.println( "Create processor for QueueDataSource ... " );
p = Manager.createProcessor( dataSource );
catch( Exception e ){
System.err.println( "Cannot create a processor for the QueueDataSource. " );
System.out.println( "\nProcessor is created." );
p.addControllerListener( this );
p.configure();
if( !waitForState( p, p.Configured ) ) {
System.err.println( "Failed to configure the processor." );
System.out.println( "\nProcessor is configured") ;
// p.setContentDescriptor( new ContentDescriptor( ContentDescriptor.RAW ) );
p.setContentDescriptor( new ContentDescriptor( FileTypeDescriptor.WAVE ) );
TrackControl tcs[] = p.getTrackControls();
Format f[] = tcs[0].getSupportedFormats();
if( f == null || f.length == 0 ){
System.err.println( "The mux does not support the input format : "+ tcs[0].getFormat() );
tcs[0].setFormat(
new AudioFormat( AudioFormat.ULAW,
8000,
8,
1,
Format.NOT_SPECIFIED,
AudioFormat.SIGNED,
8,
Format.NOT_SPECIFIED,
Format.byteArray ) );
//System.out.println( "Setting the track format to: " + f[4] );
p.realize();
if( !waitForState( p, p.Realized )){
System.err.println( "Failed to realize the processor" );
DataSink dsink;
MediaLocator outML = new MediaLocator("file:/c:/media/queue.wav" );
if( (dsink = createDataSink( p, outML )) == null ){
System.err.println( "Failed to create a datasink for given " +
"mediaLocator : " + outML );
dsink.addDataSinkListener( this );
System.out.println( "\nProcessor is realized" );
try{
p.start();
dsink.start();
catch( IOException ioe ){
System.err.println( "IO error during processing." );
waitForFileDone();
try{
dsink.close();
catch( Exception e ){
p.removeControllerListener( this );
System.err.println( "... done processing." );
DataSink createDataSink( Processor p, MediaLocator outML ){
DataSource ds ;
if( ( ds = p.getDataOutput() ) == null ) {
System.err.println( "Something is really wrong: the processor does" +
" not have an output DataSource. " );
return null;
System.out.println( "DataOutput: " + ds.getContentType() );
DataSink dsink;
try{
System.out.println( "- create DataSink for : " + outML );
dsink = Manager.createDataSink( ds, outML );
dsink.open();
catch( Exception e ){
System.err.println( "Cannot create the DataSink: " + e );
return null;
return dsink;
Object waitSync = new Object();
boolean stateTransitionOK = true;
boolean waitForState( Processor p, int state ){
synchronized( waitSync ){
try{
while( p.getState() < state && stateTransitionOK )
waitSync.wait();
catch( Exception e ){
return stateTransitionOK;
public void controllerUpdate(javax.media.ControllerEvent controllerEvent) {
if( controllerEvent instanceof ConfigureCompleteEvent ||
controllerEvent instanceof RealizeCompleteEvent ||
controllerEvent instanceof PrefetchCompleteEvent ){
synchronized( waitSync ){
stateTransitionOK = true;
waitSync.notifyAll();
} else if( controllerEvent instanceof ResourceUnavailableEvent ){
synchronized( waitSync ){
stateTransitionOK = false;
waitSync.notifyAll( );
public static void main( String args[] ){
QueueDataSourceTester tester = new QueueDataSourceTester();
tester.testIt();
Object waitFileSync = new Object();
boolean fileDone = false;
boolean fileSuccess = true;
boolean waitForFileDone(){
synchronized( waitFileSync ){
try{
waitFileSync.wait( 5000 );
catch( Exception e ){
System.err.println( "Error on waiting file to be done" );
return fileSuccess;
public void dataSinkUpdate(javax.media.datasink.DataSinkEvent dataSinkEvent) {
if( dataSinkEvent instanceof EndOfStreamEvent ){
synchronized( waitFileSync ){
fileDone = true;
waitFileSync.notifyAll();
else if ( dataSinkEvent instanceof DataSinkErrorEvent ){
synchronized( waitFileSync ){
fileDone = true;
fileSuccess = false;
waitFileSync.notifyAll();
// Inner Class
* A datasource that will read Media data from Queue.
* Inside queue individual RAW data packats are stored.
* @author wguo
public class QueueDataSource extends PullBufferDataSource{
protected QueueSourceStream streams[];
/** Creates a new instance of QueueDataSource */
public QueueDataSource( LinkedList source ) {
printDebug( "QueueDataSource: QueueDataSource( LinkedList) " );
streams = new QueueSourceStream[1];
streams[0] = new QueueSourceStream( source );
public void connect() throws java.io.IOException {
printDebug( "QueueDataSource: connect() " );
public void disconnect() {
printDebug( "QueueDataSource: disconnect()" );
public String getContentType() {
return ContentDescriptor.RAW;
public Object getControl(String str) {
printDebug( "QueueDataSource: getControl(String) " );
return null;
public Object[] getControls() {
printDebug( "QueueDataSource: getControls() " );
return new Object[0];
public javax.media.Time getDuration() {
return DURATION_UNKNOWN;
public javax.media.protocol.PullBufferStream[] getStreams() {
printDebug( "QueueDataSource: getStreams() " );
return streams;
public void start() throws java.io.IOException {
printDebug( "QueueDataSource:start()" );
public void stop() throws java.io.IOException {
printDebug( "QueueDataSource: stop() " );
private void printDebug( String methodInfo ){
System.out.println( methodInfo + " is called" );
// Inner Class
public class QueueSourceStream implements PullBufferStream{
LinkedList sourceQueue;
AudioFormat audioFormat;
boolean ended = false;
/** Creates a new instance of QueueSourceStream */
public QueueSourceStream( LinkedList sourceQueue ) {
printDebug( "QueueSourceStream: QueueSourceStream( LinkedList )" );
this.sourceQueue = sourceQueue;
audioFormat = new AudioFormat(
AudioFormat.ULAW,
8000,
8,
1,
Format.NOT_SPECIFIED,
AudioFormat.SIGNED,
8,
Format.NOT_SPECIFIED,
Format.byteArray);
public boolean endOfStream() {
printDebug( "QueueSourceStream: endOfStream()" );
return ended;
public javax.media.protocol.ContentDescriptor getContentDescriptor() {
printDebug( "QueueSourceStream: getContentDescriptor()" );
return new ContentDescriptor( ContentDescriptor.RAW) ;
public long getContentLength() {
printDebug( "QueueSourceStream:getContentLength()" );
return 0;
public Object getControl(String str) {
printDebug( "QueueSourceStream:getControl( String) " );
return null;
public Object[] getControls() {
printDebug( "QueueSourceStream:getControls()" );
return new Object[0];
public javax.media.Format getFormat() {
printDebug( "QueueSourceStream:getFormat()" );
return audioFormat;
public void read(javax.media.Buffer buffer) throws java.io.IOException {
buffer.setData( (byte[])sourceQueue.removeFirst() );
buffer.setOffset( 0 );
buffer.setLength( 1024 );
buffer.setFormat( audioFormat );
printDebug( "QueueSourceStream: read( Buffer ) " );
else {
buffer.setEOM( true );
buffer.setOffset( 0 );
buffer.setLength( 0 );
ended = true;
System.out.println( "Done reading byte array" );
return;
public boolean willReadBlock() {
printDebug( "QueueSourceStream: willReadBlock()" );
if( myQueue.isEmpty() )
return true;
else
return false;
private void printDebug( String methodInfo ){
System.out.println( methodInfo + " is called. " );

Video formats that iTunes/iPods will read?

Trying to figure out all the formats that both iTunes and iPods will read when used with Podcasting that involves video. I've tried .m4bm, which doesn't work when clicking on the small screen to get a bigger view. All I get is a single frame. I've also tried converting to .mov and that doesn't work on the iPod. Thanks in advance.

iTunes and iPod (Video) will read:
.mov
.mp4
.m4v
Just to clarify, videos with an .mp4 or .m4v suffix are the same - both can be opened by QuickTime Player and iTunes. The only difference is that double-clicking a .mp4 will (by default) open it in QuickTime Player while double-clicking a .m4v will open in iTunes.
It's not possible to make assumptions about a .mov file and it isn't really a "video format". Think of it as an envelope that can contain many different types of media formats. For example a Windows Media Video track in a .mov container can be played by QuickTime Player (using a free plug-in) but this won't work on the iPod. If the .mov uses a component that's part of the standard QuickTime install then it should play on the iPod. But because of QuickTime's plug-in components it's not possible to assume that a .mov file that plays in QuickTime Player will play on an iPod.
Hope this helps
PowerBook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Won't read DVD movies but will read CDs and Data DVDs

Subject says it all. The iBook will read CDs and data DVDs just fine. When a movie DVD is inserted the DVD player will start up just fine but when the play button is pressed a message comes up saying the the disc is not supported. If it's a software problem where can i find the drivers to fix it.

Could it be the Region Codes for playing DVDs have all been used
in that machine, and so the remaining code(s) do not match the
discs you have been trying to play within it?
Or does this problem also occur when attempting to play non-region
non-commercial DVD movie discs in the computer?
If the DVD Player has run out of region codes, there is a way to
hack or change the defaults; but the one I've read about does
require the DVD player firmware to be changed for it to work.
The one I've read about (but have not tried) is named Region X.
There are limitations and details, so even after messing around
it may not work; if that is the problem in the first place.
One of these only works if you play a DVD from a "region-free"
DVD drive; so this may be an external drive, not inside the Mac.
So, if the hardware has a defect, that's one thing. If the drive
has seen too many region player changes, that's another. If
the lens is semi-dirty, it may not read or record some media.
All of these kinds of things have been noted by people online.
Sometimes a search may yield some fringe findings by folks
who've unusual issues with their equipment, if not mainstream.
Perhaps some software such as Region X for Mac may help,
if not, there may be other options if the player isn't defective.
Region X for Mac:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/13801
Good luck & happy computing!

Won't read CDs but DVDs normal data and video

My mid 2007 has stopped recognizing CDs, blank, data, and video. It makes several attempts to read then ejects disk. I haven't tried to record DVDs but it reads video and data normally. Sugestions?

The slot-loading optical drives used in iMacs are notorious for failing, even under light infrequent use. If your iMac is covered under an extended 3-year AppleCare warranty, you can take your iMac to any local Apple store or authorised Apple dealer to get a new optical drive fitted free of charge. Your other option is to buy an external USB/FireWire drive instead of using your built-in drive - if you go for a standard 5.25" tray loader, these are cheap and reliable.

MacBook will not mount CDs but will mount & read DVDs

This MacBook is used mainly for surfing, email and word processing. Very few other programs are installed and/or used. Recently it stopped mounting and reading CD's. It continues to mount & read DVD's. When I insert a CD (commercial or home burned) the drives sounds like it is trying to read it and then after awhile it ejects the CD. I have other Macs & PC's which can read the rejected CDs.
All software is up-to-date and disk permissions are in good shape. AppleCare had me reset the PRAM. Would appreciate any other steps I can try to fix the situation. In several weeks, I will be traveling to a city with an authorized Apple repair unit where I can have the computer looked at. I'd rather fix it myself if possible

If your computer is covered by warranty or extended Applecare they will probably replace the drive.
In many cases, though, these sorts of problems can be simply overcome using a drive cleaning disc.
Certainly worth a try if you are out of warranty (Apple have said that they don't like cleaning discs in the past so you may not want to use one if you are still under warranty etc. I have personally used cleaning discs for many years in Apple slot load drives without the slightest problem however, and they have instantly "fixed" drives that would otherwise seem to be beyond redemption!).
Cheers
Rod

DVD will read movies, data CDs, but data DVDs show as blank (recordable)

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