USB compatile with Firewire on external DVD?

I want to connect a DVD burner to my system and I have a FW external HD. Can I daisychain a USB external DVD burner to the FW drive and have it work? My external HD has the option of FW or USB and I use FW since USB is slow ...
I want to buy a USB drive since they are so much cheaper to build than FW.
Thanks

No. You can't do that. But since you have two Firewire ports, you could use one for the burner and one for the hard drive. The USB on the iMac G3 is only USB 1.1 so it would be very slow.
Also a DVD burner will only burn data files, and not compress movies in iDVD on a Flower Power as the processor is too slow. You need a minimum of a 733 Mhz G4 to burn movies with iDVD at 1 hour of video in 2 hours of compression.
You can't upgrade the USB on that iMac to USB 2. You'll be limited to 12 Mbps on the USB.
I suggest for the cost to buy a Mac Mini or newer Mac if you are interested in DVD burning. My FAQ here explains where you can get used and refurbished Macs:
http://www.macmaps.com/usedrefurbished.html
Apple only started introducing the USB 2 on Macs in June 2003 with the PowerMac G5, and other models in September 2003.

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Help with buying an External DVD (DL) Drive

Hello,
I was wondering whether you all could point me in the right direction (via links or whatnot) to a good store that sells mac compatiable, external DVD drives? I am going to start backing up information to DVDs and having DVD Dual Layers (DL) compatiablity would help bring down the clutter and any home movies I decide to back-up.
Anyway, I don't mind buying an internal drive and putting it in an enclosure but I would like for it to have firewire support and mac compatiable(all the information about my computer is below, so I am not entirely sure whether or not that I need a "newer version" of Firewire - 1394?) and so far that has been a challenge to find.
Do you guys know where I can find stuff like this for less than $100 ? The cheaper, while being reliable, the better ($40-100 would be fine). Thanks for the help.

This process is not as complex as you are trying to make it seem. I appreciate the help but I am not willing to pay over $100 for an external dvd burner I know I could, as you put it, "hodgepodge together". All it takes is finding a compatible drive, which is most likely Panasonic (or even an incompatible drive, like Sony, because of the "patchs" available). Please tell me of brands that have compatible dvd drives (like Panasonic) or model numbers (with or without DL support because I will more than likely be able to find a drive among the "compatible vendors" that does support DL).
I will then find a retailer online by myself, or search on ebay for a good drive. Then I will find an inexpensive caddy (case) and it should cost less than $80.
I was hoping to find an inexpensive external dvd drive that was clunky and such but would still burn DLs and cost less than $50-70.
By the way, I have two drives, Hitachi 100 GB Travelstar and a Panasonic (Matshita) Superdrive with DL capabilities currently in my iBook G4 right now from doing this very method (although learning the "basics" to know what you are doing does take some medium effort). I then put my internal hard drive into an Oxford 911 Chipset caddy case and it works fine.
To sum it all up, I know it can be done. I only would like to know where to find a compatible vendor to give me the drive (external preferably, but internal if cheap) that will work with my iBook G4 with Mac 10.4.6 on it.
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I had to disconnect my My Book USB to G5, firewire to external hard drive

I had this hard drive formated journaled whatever was recommended and it has been used to drag all photos off my full G5 internal drive which has only a 80GB hard drive. I have added a second internal drive and have successfully formated it and it shows up on desktop. I reconnected another Maxtor 40GB HD and it showed up when i reconnected power to computer after moving desks around for construction.
Now the 360MY Book external hard drive after connecting power and firewire and usb to G5 does not show up on hard drive. I was using this partioned. On part for backing up with SuperDuper. It does not show up on hard drive. I should have bought a full firewire 500 for photos but this was on sale. I had to write to this forum before. Turning off power, disconnecting the MYBOOK and turning off the computer by shutting down did not work for me. I think as I recall someone wrote to on restarting the G5 holding down two keys like command something C or D or whatever. I have tried various reboots and unconnects and cannot get my backup system working nor access 90 % of my photo collection as I dragged them to a folder on the external drive as recommended to free up space on internal drive. I am back to only 14 GB space on my primary. Please help. I paid twice for home consultants and got burnt both times. Neither guy helped me set up a system of photoshop files on my external drive or recovered my lost files which should have been in .Mac backup on my La Cie or on MYbook in Super Duper. Why do consultants get to charge by hour $100 without results??????? sad switcher.Pcs recognize external drives and don;t lose IPHOTO libraries every time they get to about 12000 images. Very disappointed in the cost of IPHOTO and won't ever use it again. It takes up way to much space and is always lost ( not always by me ....twice by apple store geniuses.

After posting I decided since I rant too much for your taste I would try another time. I ejected the smaller external hard drive and plugged the usb into the same place on my G5 as the one which was mounting and working before ejecting. It showed up.
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Is there an order in plugging in and powering up an external after all is disconnected. I don't think I did anything different. The Current WD MyBook 360 is back alive. But I still need to get my LaCie firewire Porsche working. I only have two usb ports on the back of my G5 so I must have used my Belkin power enabled hubs before when I had them all working. I only disconnected due to a remodel of this office and it had to be done. Any referals to Apple referance articles on using external hard drives would be welcome. I have been unable to find any. Please disregard prior message today. It was the usb plug into my computer that I hadn't changed in my attempts to trouble shoot. always power.
I would like a good solid article about dos and don'ts with desktops and laptops and using external hard drives. I have lots of books and have a membership to local MUGG with MacFixit. Thanks for answering.

4th Gen iPod only works with usb - freezes with firewire

After a recent iTunes upgrade my my 40 gig Gen 4 iPod started locking up and freezing my G4 and G5 when using firewire to transfer files until I unplugged the iPod.
I found several threads from people with similar problems and tried all the suggestions (with the exception of "dropping" the iPod.)
After a week of troubleshooting, I'm finally successfully transferring files using USB 1 - it also freezes with USB 2.
This is the troubleshooting process I went through to arrive at the above conclusion:
First did the 5Rs.
Deleted and reinstalled iTunes
Followed Mitch's suggestion for using Disk Tools to reformat the iPod (successfully)
Ran some of the internal iPode diagnostic test and they indicate no problem with the drive or USB or firewire.
Ruled out iTunes as the problem because I was having the same problem when I closed iTunes and just copied files directly from the desktop to the iPod. When doing the transfers in the Finder, the Finder would freeze/lock up and I'd have to reboot.
Rules out the computer because the same thing happened with both G4 & G5.
Ruled out something in the user profile because the same thing happened when using my wife's account.
Ruled out the firewire cables because the same thing happened with two different firewire cables.
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Dual Processor G4 & G5 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

It looks like the answer to my problems was a bad hard drive. Sent it to the ipod doctor and after a $159 repair, I'm back in business http://nycipoddoctor.com/

Help with firewire 800 external daisy chaining

hi
help please,really appreciate it /
editing with final cut pro
i am on a big job which keeps growing so far we have 4 lacie terrabyte hard drives all daisy chained and we are constantly adding another to transfer files,
i am now having reliability problems ,where the computer wont see them,some work others dont,
i go through array of disconnecting rearanging them ,off/on etc, eventually i get them working, but its very stressful
can anyone suggest the way i should do it or point me in the right direction,
should i get some firewire 800 hub ? or is there a limit to how many you can use?
(the boss says a server will be coming)
cheers
simon

Hi startchopin-
As DaddyPaycheck said, a hub is the best way to go. Not only are there reliability problems, as you're experiencing, daisy chaining hard drives also increases the chance of data recording/directing errors.
A good hub, (only three ports, seems to be the max) but reliable, is the Belkin, available from the Mac specialists at OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/BELKIN/F5U624APL/
You can find comparison pricing here:
http://shopper.cnet.com/hubs/belkin-hub-3-ports/4014-3335_9-30823689.html?tag=pd tl-list
Might I also suggest, that since you are running the drives hard, with lots of data transfer, etc., preventive maintenance with a solid drive utility, such as Disk Warrior, would help to decrease stress levels, and maintain drive and data integrity:
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
G4 AGP(450)Sawtooth, 2ghz PowerLogix, 1.62gb SDRAM, 120gb+160gb HDD Mac OS X (10.4.8) ATI Radeon 9800, Pioneer DVR-109, LaCie 160gb, 23" Cinema Display, Ratoc USB2.0

Install Windows from external dvd drive?

ok.there is my problem.
I have a Mac Pro here.Last week the dvd driver stopped work and I do not have time to fix it now and I need urgently install the windows xp because need to use a specific app for windows.
Is it possible to install windows xp on bootcamp using a external dvd drive (usb).
thank you.

I have the exact same problem - my internal SuperDrive died and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay over $500 to get a new one. It appears to be utterly impossible to install Windows from an external DVD drive. At least it seems to be that way for me and my machine.
I've tried my drive connected with USB and with Firewire. I've tried rEFIt. I've tried booting with the Option/Alt key. My Mac seems unable (or unwilling) to do this.
I've found many many people with the same problem and only a very small handful that seem to eventually get it to work.
I've even tried to use the 30 day trial of VMFusion (which is not a long term solution because it doesn't use/mimic sufficient video drivers to support the games I want to play) to install Windows to the partition and I can't get that to work either. The Windows installer seems to refuse to install an older version of the system when the boot version has already been updated to a new one.
Does anyone out there have a way to reliably install Windows on a BootCamp partition?
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Fusilier

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I have a MacBook Pro Summer 2012 so I needed an external DVD writer (Samsung SE-208) to install reFXs plug-in Nexus 2. I have connected the writer and I can hear it's running and it shows up in Finder. The problem is that no DVD is showing up. The writer supposedly works out of the box on Mac. What can I do? Is it even possible to install software from a DVD writer?

Could be the DVD is for a Windows system and not Mac OS X. Try any music CD in the drive. I personally have never had any problem with any brand external DVD drive that connect by USB port on my Mac. I have even used a Desktop style/size DVD drive that is supposed to be installed inside a desktop case and as long as I supply the proper power to it and connect it to my Mac with a SATA/IDE to USB adapter the drive works just fine.

Upgrade to SL using an external DVD drive?

Hi all:
I've got an older mac mini (it's an intel machine), but the internal dvd drive has been broken for a long time. I've been using an external DVD drive when needed. I've been trying to upgrade to SL from 10.5.8, but it just won't work. It gets to the instal screen and then at "45 minutes remaining" it flashes to the end of the status bar and reboots my computer... where I am still on 10.5.8. I tried repairing permissions and all that good stuff, but no dice.
Any help? Is the weak link my external DVD burner? Thanks!

Yes, there is a reason. That's what I was trying to figure out. I don't think it would have to do with using an external DVD. Did you try starting up from the DVD. You might try that. If you want to erase and install, then you'll have to start up from the DVD. If you can, once the installation begins choose your language; open Disk Utility from the top of the next page; highlight your drive and choose Partition; assuming you want one partition select 1 (you must select a number here even if you don't want to change the number); and select GUID under the options (which also will format/erase your drive). Shut down Disk Utility and continue your installation.
Next, if you have access to another properly equipped Mac (see link), then you may be able to install using [firewire target disk mode.|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661] Finally, [here is another interesting install possibility mentioned above.|http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051227162152292] You should be able create your image file like this:
a. Insert the DVD/CD;
b. Open Disk Utility, and select the DVD/CD from the left side list (select the DVD/CD icon on top);
c. from the Disk Utility File menu select New Disk Image from Disk 1;
d. Choose to format the disk image as DVD/CD Master, name the disk image, click Save; and
e. Upon completion, Get Info on the .cdr file and lock the file.
Message was edited by: donv (The Ghost)

Having problem with FireWire !!!

Please help me to setup Oracle RAC env. I am having really tough time to accessing Firewire card.
"fdisk -l" always not showing the /dev/sda
I used the following firewire cards
1 Belkin FireWire 3-Port 1394 PCI Card(From Circuit city)
2 SIIG, Inc. 3-Port 1394 I/O Card ( From Frys)
3 Inland Firewire PCI cards (From Frys )
4. VIA VT6306 3+1 Port PCI ( From Computer Geeks)
Procedure used to setup firewire
http://otn.oracle.com/pub/articles/hunter_rac.html
http://www.puschitz.com/InstallingOracle9iRAC.shtml
http://www.iheavy.com/firewire/firewire_part5.html
http://www.idevelopment.info
http://www.wimmekes.net/~wcoekaer/draft.html
still lot more.
I never get identified external hdd, but it worked fine for USB.
Box Info:
Compaq Presario PIII, 512MB, 20GB HDD
External HDD Enclosure Name and the Brand
Plumax PM-525C2-PPS DSPMX525C2PPS ADDITIONAL USB /FIREWIRE
Silver Combo USB 2.0 & Firewire 1394 External Enclosure for 5.25 / 3.5 ( From Dealsonic)
Hard Disk
80GB Western Digital
Operating System
I tried redhat 8.0, 9.0, fedora I & II downloaded version and 2.1 & 3.0 official version too.
Please help some one complete my oracle rac installation. I spend more than a month to build...still getting surprses.... please...hope some one can help me...

In my case If its 2.4 Linux Kernel Firewire support is either broken or missing. You may have to relink the kernel for firewire support. I am on Suse 9.1 Pro and using a 250GB firewire hard drive without any issues.

Installing from External DVD Drive

Can you install Leopard from an external DVD drive (USB)? I bought an external DVD drive and it has a faster speed then the built in DVD Drive in my iMac.
Thanks,
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I wanted to try this out and used my 10GB 3G ipod to install, and it actually went pretty fast. It took me ~45 minutes to install from boot to boot (not counting post-boot blue screen that took ~10 minutes or so, and then final setup tunings/customizations, etc.). The time saved equaled the time it took to copy the DVD to disk image, root around and find my old ipod, and restore the image to the ipod, so its not that much more efficient. Additionally, its an unsupported method of installing, so if something goes wrong dont blame Apple.

External DVD burner, Firewire vs. USB 2?

Do external DVD burners work more efficiently with a Firewire interface or USB 2? I suspect there were problems with some third party photo imaging software (Canon USA) and the use of my Firewire DVD burner Kangaroo (NEC). Perhaps it is time to retire the old one and buy new.
Please advise.
PowerMac G4 Mac OS X (10.3)

Hi nobrandphoto,
first of all: WELCOME TO THE DISCUSSIONS!
Not only are firewire drives faster (even FW400 is faster than USB2 although in theory USB2 should be much faster), they are also bootable while USB is not a bootable interface wwith MacOS X: Don't start up from an external USB device.
There are a few reports that the new Intel-based Macs can also boot from USB-drives though.

External DVD burner - USB or Firewire?

when I got my first OS X system - about six years ago - I bought a firewire DVD burner. it worked great for all this time and finally died a few months ago.
time to get a new one! But I am having a hard time finding an external firewire Drive - all I see is USB.
can someone recommend a good FW 1394 external DVD / CD burner drive somewhere
or...
can someone assure me that USB is now so terrific that I don't need firewire and will be very happy with a new state of the art USB 2.0 drive?
thanks!
willfriedwal;d

Be careful with Other World. They sell DVD burners in two different types of enclosures. The info at the top of the burner page says Oxford 911 chipsets, but the Mercury Value DVD burner they sell for $71.99 uses a different set - the Prolific 3507 set. Google that name and see how many angry people you find. I bought one after being told by a salesman that the only difference between the Mercury Value and the Mercury Pro was cosmetic. Wrong. The Value drive wouldn't mount a disk when plugged into the firewire port on my 20" G5 iMac. It did mount when plugged into the USB port, but my understanding is that you can't boot from a CD in a USB drive (not easily anyway), and you can in Firewire. My internal drive is dead in the water, and estimates I got to replace it were $250 or so, so I'm going external. Gonna buy the Mercury Value Pro with Oxford 911 now that I got my money back (no easy task either, but I finally got it.)
Just thought I'd pass that along.
brotone

I have a Powerbook G4. I want to use an iMac desktop, the model that is shaped llike a lamp, as an external monitor. Can I do this with firewire or USB cable or do I have to have a different cable?

I have a Powerbook G4. I want to use an iMac desktop, the model that is shaped llike a lamp, as an external monitor. Can I do this with firewire or USB cable or do I have to have a different cable?

You need a network connection and a product such as ScreenRecycler. All such products require a bootable OS on the iMac.
(58362)

I have new 2T iomega external HD (Mac Companion) - my Mac (2.8 GHz i7 - Lion OS) will not recognize HD if hooked up with Firewire, but it does recognize if hooked up via USB - how can I get it to recognize with Firewire?

I have new 2T iomega external HD (Mac Companion) - my Mac (2.8 GHz i7 - Lion OS) will not recognize HD if hooked up with Firewire, but it does recognize if hooked up via USB - how can I get it to recognize with Firewire?

Try a different FW800 cable and also try doing a SMC reset. If neither work try another FW800 device to see if it's recognized, if it is then you know it's not the Mac it's probably the EHD.
SMC RESET
Shut down the computer.
Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
Wait 15 seconds.
Attach the computers power cable.
Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.
PRAM RESET
Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

External Drive does not mount with Firewire but is ok with USB !

Since 10.4.4 my external drive is no more recognized using firewire, but it mounts perfectly with USB
Using FW request me to reinitialize the disk, but then, the apple disk utility it is unable to reformat!
then I unplug FW , sets USB and everything is ok!
I connected the drive to my old IMac G4 700 and evrything is fine, FW and USB, using the same drive, using the same cable. I did repeat the test many times it is always ok with the old mac and it never mounts with FW on my newer Ibook.
I did reset the openfirmware but that was not successfull!
Then I brought both iBook and the faulty Drive to a friend (he owns a powerbook and also an external drive)
we verified that my drive does not mount on his powerbook G4 12" using FW and is ok with USB.
Then he tried his external drive and was very surprised to find the same fault with his drive and his PB using FW. (as for me everything is ok with USB!)
We are both very puzzled, our drives did work well before, (before 10.4.4 , and 10.4.5 did not improve!)
and now, with firewire,disks never mounts..
In addition I tried with the same cable to alternatively start, using the target mode, the ibook and the imac. For each test they were both recognized as external drives as they should..
So to try to sum up
- Disk mount ok with USB (1 or 2)
- Disk is no more recoknized with FW (but it was before with the exact same hadrware)
- FW Cable seems to be ok as targuet mode works properly
has anybody any idee?
It would be very munch appreciated..
thanks a lot for having read this long post..
External hard drive P/N:
the western digit disk 160G is in an enclosure referenced
Prolific PL3507 Combo Device
I tried to exchange the disk of this box with an old maxtor with the same bad result!
IbookG4 1.2 & IMac G4 700 Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Hi Andre, I can't remember except to say that it was mounting fine with tiger and I was able to copy files to it for backup purposes.
I just hooked it up to a PC and windows tells me the drive is not formatted. That's not a good sign, and this was stupid: I think I had the drive hooked up to my Mac Pro during the upgrade.
Idiotic, granted. But this was an upgrade, not a full install and I maybe was trusting in Apple's ability not to do extraneous stuff during an install like windows does. Oh well...
I appreciate any further ideas. Many Thanks, Frank.

USB compatile with Firewire on external DVD?

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