In Search of a Quiet External Burner

Now that my internal super drive is failing, I'm considering a more robust external burner as a back-up to my internal burner (which is still under waranty and will be replaced). In the past, the external burners I've had were quite loud. The LaCie I had was the worst. Sounded like a jet taking off when it started up. Can anyone offer suggestions? Thanks.

Here is some info from a DVD ripping/burning site that may prove helpful: I'm using a Pioneer 106D (flashed to get full speed burning) in a LaCie box, which is fairly quiet. the info below is for a Pioneer 111, which cannot currently be flashed by a Mac, but which seems to be a good burner. Hope this helps. (Lot cheaper than others.)
With Macs, we like to stick with FireWire optical drive input when going external. And for the record, my favorite external case is FireWire/USB 2.0...it has both abilities. I was searching all over the 'Net a couple of days ago, looking for the best price on the case I prefer, and I found it for $31.15 plus shipping here:
http://www.pcsforeveryone.com/productinfo.php?cPath=1843&productsid=50720
That's for the generic version of the case, but it's identical to my Bytecc case that's sitting here on top of my G5 tower. As long as it has a product ID number of ME-340U2F, it's made identical to the Bytecc case, I found out, so that saves everybody about $7.
The Pioneer DVR-110D is actually preferred over the DVR-111D for RIPping because there's firmware available for it on the Mac side, where the 111D has to be flashed on a PC at this time. Trouble is finding one! So unless a miracle occurs we're stuck with recommending the DVR-111D. The 2nd cheapest price I could find, $31.99, is for the DVR-111D with a beige bezel (opposed to black):
http://supermediastore.com/pioneer-dvr-111d-16x-dvd-burner-bulk-beige.html
The black bezel DVR-111D-BK is $38.69 with free UPS Ground shipping:
http://supermediastore.com/pioneer-dvr-111d-16x-dvd-burner-bulk-black.html
Those two prices are excellent, but if you want to score the case and the drive at one place, for convenience, newegg.com has the Bytecc case (in black only) for $40, and the drive for $31.82 plus shipping/tax. Your choice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817145360
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?DEPA=0&type=&Description=dvr-111d& Submit=ENE&N=0&Ntk=all&Go.x=0&Go.y=0
Both Pioneer drives are identical mechanically, it's just the case bezel color that differs. The ME-340U2F case is all aluminum with a built-in double ball bearing 40mm cooling fan, an internal power supply (no power brick), and it comes with both USB and FireWire cables with all the screws necessary to mount an optical drive and secure the case. We like to use FireWire with Macs because the throughput is superior to USB 2.0 on a practical level, not theoretical. Supposedly, USB 2.0 yields up to 480Mb/second and FireWire is 400MB/second, but actual measurement gives the edge to FireWire.

Similar Messages

OS X only sometimes recognises my external burner.

Support for third party burners being what it isn't in OS X, I keep coming across this little problem:
I have a LaCie external burner that works a treat when OS X can see it but sometimes it's just not there.
I mean, the system profiler can see it on the firewire chain, it just doesn't see it in Toast.
Obviously iTunes doesn't see it. But it never does, support for third party burners being what it isn't in OS X.
Any idea why this might be?

Ah, well that's a relevant bit of info you left out.
Apple recommends connecting the iPod directly to a FireWire port on the computer, not as part of a FireWire chain or via hub. This is probably due to how much FireWire bandwidth or power (for charging) it consumes. If your optical drive also draws power from the FireWire port (instead of a separate power supply) that could also help explain this. I'd only recommend daisy-chaining FireWire devices that all draw mains power via their own power supplies. Bus-powered devices should probably not be chained, but rather used on dedicated ports.
A potentially related problem has been noted using an iSight and FireWire drives simultaneously, again due to the bandwidth demands the iSight places on the FireWIre bus.
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

Superdrive or third-party external burner?

I want to buy a dvd burner for my MBA and panasonic camcorder SD5.
Can Superdrive works fine with SD5?
or, can Panasonic's external burner (LF-P968 / VW-BN1) works with MBA?

I used the USB external portable drive which came with the LG A1 ultraportable laptop and it worked great with the Macbook Air. Funny enough, this thing is even slightly thinner and lighter than the MBA Superdrive. I also have the Superdrive, both work great, incl. Boot Camp.

Mac won't recognise external burner

my mac has been working with my external apple burner, however, it now won't recognise it even though i have a blank cd inserted and i'm unable to eject it

Turn off everything and disconnect the external burner, then do an NVRAM reset.
Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R.
Turn on your Mac.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys immediately after you hear the startup sound.
Hold these keys until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for a second time.
Release the keys.
Reconnect the burner and try using it.
(Excerpt from How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support)

Using and external burner

Hello,
I need to burn many copies of a DVD and wonder what external burner would work with iDVD and my MBPro so that I can save my MBP drive from wear and tear.
If that is even possible?
Thanks,
Al

I don't know for sure, but I would think that you could use non-Lightscribe disks. To my knowledge, the only difference between regular DVDs and those that are printable (like Lightscribe) is the side that comes with text on it-brand name, etc. With regular DVD's you obviously can't take advantage of the burner's ability to print directly on the disk. However, everything else should work the same.
To be sure, I suggest that you go directly to LaCie's website to check out the product specs for more information. You can also look into other brands of burners by going to a site such as Amazon to find the product that best suits your needs.
I would like to add that the ability to print on the disk is a nice option to have. The veteran users on these forums strongly advise against the use of paper labels on disks. Writing on a disk with a marker might be fine for the majority of projects, but printing on a disk can give a nice finishing touch to that special project.
I hope this helps.

Toast will not burn from internal or external burner

I just burned a batch of DVDs yesterday, then today when I started to burn a new project I heard a loud clumping noise. Then I received an sense error and medium write error. I did a little research on that and everything I read suggested a different brand of DVDs. So I tried that. I'm not getting an error anymore but toast is not even recognizing that I put a DVD in, it just keeps asking for a new blank DVD. I thought it was my external burner but it does the same thing when I switch from external burner to internal burner. Any suggestions? I am about to reinstall TOAST.

There is a hardware problem with my LaCie, I sent it in to be fixed. I also had my super drive replaced now I am able to burn fine.

Should I Use An External Burner For Better Quality With Macbook Pro?

Hey I have a macbook pro and used IDVD to burn a movie but near the end it freezes and kinda skips a bit and I was wondering cause it takes two to three hours to burn will using an external burner be better quality?

will using an external burner be better quality?
Ext. Burners tolerate burning multiple copies with fewer read / write errors better than the stock internal S-Drive that come built into many mac laptops. Stock drives heat up faster than external burners do for the most part. So the answer is, it's very possible you will get slightly better results with an external burner as opposed to an internal laptop S-Drive when burning back to back copies.
I recommend using Verbatim Dvd-r media and burning from a disc image at 4x or slower for best results.

Using External Burner

I want to burn a DVD from DVDSP 4 to an external burner. I am having trouble w/ my internal burner that I normally use. I have gone through the manual but cannot find how to burn a project to an external burner. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Glenn
Mac G 4 Mac OS X (10.4) FCP Studio Pro

The external burner should show up as an option when you go to build & format (or format), if you have any more details it would help
OS, type of burner, what steps have you done (repair permissionss) etc. Does the burner show up in the system profiler?

Burning to a La Cie external burner

I have an iMac G5 (10.4.2), combo drive. I also have a Lacie d2 External 16x Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW Drive with FireWire/USB2.0 (Model 300920) as my external burner.
I've created a 20min. movie in iMovie and imported it into iDVD, and am hoping for some guidance on how to get this puppy burnt onto a playable (read: video) DVD disc.
As I understand it, I have two options:
1.) in iMovie, export the finished movie to QuickTime, and then use the bundled Toast Lite program (which came with the La Cie) to burn to DVD, sans menus. Has anyone tried this, and can verify that this is a workable option?
2.) in iDVD, create a disk image of the project. Here's where I get hazy; La Cie couldn't tell me how to get the disk image onto DVD using its burner; I know that Toast Lite does not support the disk image format; Apple Support refused to consult with me on the issue; Can anyone shed some light as video onto a DVD as video using the La Cie?
One other question: tomorrow I'll be near a Mac with a super drive. If I burned the disk image (or iMovie project) to DVD as data (versus video), and loaded it up on the super-drive equipped mac, would this work? Or would it be looking for local files that weren't there?
Thanks very much, in advance.

I had no luck burning a disk image (.img) file until I converted it to a "dvd master" (.cdr) via Disk Utility. At that point everything worked perfectly. I've also successfully burned from a .dmg file but I went back to .cdr on the supposition that since the .dmg format is described as 'compressed' there would be some loss of quality.
I've tried to find a technical discussion about these three file formats, but so far nothing. i'm surprised that Apple hasn't documented the no-burn .img in the Disk Utility help file.
G4 1GHz solo, laCie internal Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Burn from Imac direct to external burner

How can I burn directly from my Imac CD player disc insert to my external CD burner? I can do it on my PC with no problem using Record Now program. Is there a program I can use to accomplish this? Or am I only limited to creating an image in the Imac, then burning to an extenal burner? It takes too long. On my PC I can insert a recorded disc in one slot.....put in a blank CD into the other slot........and burn disc to disc direct. Help!!!

Thanx.........I downloaded Burn, but couldn't figure out how to use it in the burner to external burner application. Plus there was no "help" button or online manual. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can see how to use it AFTER you create an image file. I don't want to have to take all of the time to create a file, then burn from that file. I have a recording studio and sometimes I need to make a quick copy from a disc. On PC you just put in one disc....then one into the burner and the copy disc to disc. I am new to Mac and find it far superior to my PC. I record through Logic Pro 9, Reason and Ableton so I am not a newby. I have a stand alone external burner USB'd to my new 27" quad core Imac. Are there any free programs I can download or is there a setting internally to OS X 10.6.2 that I need to change to get this simple job done?

Please recommend best DVD burning program and external burner

My FCPX "Share" will no longer burn a DVD on my MacPro 1,1 via the "DVD" destination. However I can send it to "Master File" and it will make a high quality .mov file. I've then tested using Roxio Toast on a 2 minute .mov clip and it did burn a DVD, but the quality was very, very poor. (Much worse than the DVD that I used to be able to get via FCPX Share).
Your thoughts on: 1) Why does FCPX --> Share --> DVD no longer work/ how to fix it? and 2) Can you recommend the best DVD burning program and external burner? With thanks! Duncan

Toast should give you the highest possible quality so you are obviously doing something wrong.
The only thing I don't like about Toast are the menus . . . which are total rubbish compared with iDVD.
You should also be able to burn DVDs from FCP X so once again you are either doing something wrong or there is a problem with your FCP X setup or computer.
Try trashing the preferences using this free app.
http://www.digitalrebellion.com/prefman/
Shut down FCP X, open PreferenceManager and in the window that appears:-
1. Ensure that FCP X is selected.
2. Click Trash
The job is done instantly and you can re-open FCP X.
There is absolutely no danger in trashing preferences and you can do it as often as you like.
The preferences are kept separately from FCP X and if there aren't any when FCP X opens it automatically creates new ones . . . instantly.
Message was edited by: Ian R. Brown

How to burn to external burner?

Hello, my internal dvd burner doesn't work, since cd is stuck there no matter what I do, and I don't think my imac has an emergency hole, but I bought a new burner (separately enclosure and burner)and plugged it in thru USB, but when I launch iDVD, how would I specify that I need to use another burner? how would idvd know to use external burner instead of internal? Any ideas?

Hi
Thinking out - may be wrong.
But iDVD6 - can it address other DVD-burners ?
I would make a DiskImage (File menu and down)
Burn this with Disk Util tool. I think this can address the external burner.
Or use Roxio Toast™ - THIS Can address external DVD-burners - done this many times.
Yours Bengt W

Maverick and my external burner

Since I got Maverick my Mercury external burner will not burn with Toast Titanium. It will read data from the drive and play DVDs in the drive, but I have to use the slow internal superdrive to burn from Toast.

The only way to revert back to Snow Leopard is with a Snow Leopard install disk, you cannot download the material, or by using a TimeMachine backup or other backup on an external disk. To revert you have to boot from the install disk, erase the hard drive, and install clean. You will loose all content when you do that unless you have a backup.
Although Lion, Mountain Lion and Mavericks specs say you need 2 GB ram, you actually need 4 GB or more. The Mac OS X now take about 1.5 GB just for itself. Leaving very little room for anything else to run.
Unless you can obtain and install more memory, the best thing at this time would be to make sure all processes (applications) you do not need are shutdown and not running in the background. Conserve the available memory as best you can.
If you are going to be overseas for an extended period, you might want to see if it is possible to buy some additional ram to install so the MacBook runs better.

External burner on G5 2.1 imac not being recognized as primary cd/dvd drive

My lacie d2 external dvd/cd burner is not mounting on Toast 6 when I want to burn a cd of songs from itunes. The computer keeps asking for a blank cd to be inserted into slot of computer, unfortunately the superdrive keeps ejecting both cd's and dvd's after about 30 seconds, that is why I bought an external burner. Can some one please help.

If you run System Profiler, is the external optical drive being recognized?
If you insert a regular disc into the drive, such as a music CD, does it show up on your Desktop?

Recommend a quiet external drive?

I have a Newer Technologies miniStack - at 250 GB, small by today's standards, but it's big enough for my needs. However, compared to my nearly-silent iMac, it is annoying. It seems like the fan runs a lot more than it used to, even when it has no reason to be doing anything. Can anyone suggest a very quiet external drive? I'd like to spend $150 or less, although I can be flexible about that.
Thanks,
Faye

I bought a Mercury Elite-AL Pro from OWC. It is pretty quiet. $150 would get you a 320 GB FW 400 + USB.

In Search of a Quiet External Burner

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