Yet another Optical drive question

A few months ago I upgraded to a Samsung lightscribe DVD/CD burner, It was working pretty decent (i had osx 10.3.9). Then I upgraded to osx 10.5.8 and I began to notice a slight problem with disk ejecting. At this point this was just a nuisance. Now, I tried loading Final Cut studio 2 and I popped in dvd and everything started ok but when it came time to load the next disk it failed to eject the dvd. I couldn't get it out, I eventually had to manually eject. Upon doing so, I put in the next DVD and nothing happened. The installer was still asking for the next DVD. What gives?

Hey Daddypaycheck, here is the latest on this issue, once I was able to extract it and restart, the drive seem to work like a champ. I tried loading the software but I ran into the same problem..... I will try the SMU if you think that will help.

Similar Messages

Yet Another Hard Drive Question from a Mac Newbie

I apologize in advance for the length of this post -- as I state in the subject line, I am a complete Mac newbie.
I just took delivery yesterday on a new (early 2008) Mac Pro. I purchased and installed an additional 8GB RAM, and ordered it with a 500GB HD (Seagate, it looks like) and purchased two 750GB Hitachi HDs for bays 2 and 3. I will be doing a fair amount of photo editing, and also plan to partition the OS drive to run XP using bootcamp, but also plan to use VM Fusion.
I am thinking of partitioning the boot drive with 250GB for OS X and apps, 150 GB for XP and apps, and ~66 remaining possibly to be used as scratch memory for CS3, though it sounds like this may not be enough. The bay 2 Hitachi would be used for all my user data (photos, music, docs, etc.) bay 3 would be for backup initially, possibly using Time Machine? (other recommendations welcomed). As space becomes an issue in the future, I will invest in a fourth internal HD, and at least 2TB external HDs for backup.
Does this seem like a reasonable plan? If so, how do I go about formatting the drives and installing boot camp, Fusion, etc., and in what order? Also, how best do I organize my existing files from my current Windows machine as I copy them to the new user data HD, so they can be accessed as needed by both OS X and XP?
Thanks for your help.

I like the boot volume to never get beyond 50% used. Enough room for burning dual-layer DVDs can be 50GB for best results. And to force the system to use the first outer tracks.
I hope you are concurrently zeroing both drives. SoftRAID is my choice for driver for RAIDs and you can cancel safely at any time. There are also excellent tools for checking sectors and mapping out bad blocks.
I put Vista on its own 10K Raptor. I had it on the boot drive but I am always changing my mind, my drives and setup. Vista needs at least 40GB and that is with all my major documents and files on another drive which holds 150GB out of 450GB.
You set the preference for what drive to use as scratch in CS3 or other programs. And you want to disable Spotlight indexing on any scratch or editing partition. Scratch can be a drive, a volume, a stripped array. Any 'normal' partition though don't use the default (journaling) feature is all.
How large? I'd have to see and know how large files, work flow, and how long you work between projects. The nice thing, erase the scratch volume between projects but it is possible to use 300GB when you work on 1.5GB files and above.
One early Mac Pro owner wasn't able to work as they wanted until they had 10-12GB RAM, boot RAID0, and RAIDs for scratch and data (saving 2GB files and not having to wait forever, which even a minute can feel like forever).
Disk Utility: Partition. You can even partition 2+ drives, just make them the same, and first create 2 partitions (100GB on each?) and then stripe the first "Untitled 1" of each into 100GB x n array. Stripe or mirror the "Untitled 2" or leave those are two unique non-RAID volumes. Sounds harder than it is.
Scratch = temp space and designed to not be saved, to be erased as needed.
SoftRAID.com 3.6.6 makes it easy to create, delete, erase volumes and arrays as needed. Leopard has improved on non-RAID but not with RAIDs (for those that change their minds).

Another external drive question

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've partitioned my WD 500 GB firewire 800 external drive into three partitions. My intention was to obtain a bootable backup in the first partition (100 GB) and have the other two as supplemental strorage for future use (200 GB and the remaining approx. 165 GB). After performing an immediate backup of the Macintosh HD into the first partition, I read that a "duplicate", not "backup" was required for boot purposes.
I'd really appreciate some suggestions here from those with more experience in these matters. My internal 500 GB HD has approximately 28 GB of used capacity currently (this will grow, of course, over time). Should I have created a partition for a bootable start up and "duplicated" the internal HD? Then, should I use a second partition for normal backups? What size should these partitions be configured to allow for maximum future storage, without pushing the limits on the backup/startup partitions? And finally, what are the steps to re-configure the external to achieve my desired intentions?
This is a lot of question, but I certainly appreciate the guidance provided me thus far in my early days of Mac enjoyment. Thanks.
iMac 24 2.33/3G Ram/500G HD/7600GT/BT K/M /WD 500GB FWHD Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Hello! Sounds like you have thought it out well. All you need now is to clone your main drive so it will be bootable. You can do that using CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper, or you can use the Apple Disk Utility you already have. A lot of people use SuperDuper and others swear by some of the others. Below are listed Kappy's steps to do it using the disk utility. I use several bootable backups just for peace of mind. I generally clone to one and then the other so if something happens during the cloning (such as a power outage) I'll still have a drive that works. I usually make a clone about once a month and then backup any important documents every day to a flash drive, cd/dvd, or another hard drive volume. Once you make a clone you should always boot from it to make sure it's booting ok. Sometimes a clone will fail to boot. I also HIGHLY recommend obtaining and using DISKWARRIOR. Diskwarrior is the "gold standard" for disk drive directory maintenance which is the leading cause of hard drive problems. Using DW about once a month or after any force shutdown, forced re-start, or power outage will head off most disk problems. Tom
Kappy's Steps to Produce a bootable clone
Prep external FW drive:
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
8. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Verify the settings for Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only. If they are not correct then reset them.
For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.

T400 Optical drive question ?

Hello,
My company gave me a new T400 laptop, and it's great. I have one question , does the optical drive support DVD9 (read and write ) and does it support blu ray ?
Thanks

That would depend on what drive you have installed. The easiest way to check would be to load a burning utility and see what the device capabilities are.
Thinkpad T500-2081 CTO | T9400 2.53GHz | 8 GB RAM | ATI HD3650 + Intel GM45 | 15.4" LED WXGA+ | Windows 8 | ATI Catalyst 13.1 (non-switchable)
Thinkpad 390x | PII 333 | 256mb ram | NeoMagic 256AV | SVGA LCD | OS/2 v4.52

Problem to boot up installation DVD from another optical drive.

Hello, i am trying to install the Snow Leopard OS to my MBA (10.5.2) using the optical drive of my iMac (Lion). The moment i power up the MBA (with the option button being pressed) after i log into the wi-fi network, the only boot device i see is the Macintoxcv hard drive. Which is the MBA's hard drive.
I dont see the Optical drive of my iMac with the installation dvd inside. They are both in the same wi-fi network and the sharing is on.
If i log into the MBA i am able to remotely run the DVD but the system says that my hard drive is corrupted and i need to boot from the dvd and that i shouldn't worry because the problem will be resolved during the installation of the Snow Leopard. But i cant boot from the DVD as i previously stated.. ANy ideas?
PS. Under application/utilities on my iMac (the source DVD) i dont have the option Remote Install Mac OS to clic on.

Apple has restricted booting from optical drives to only internal ones, also I hear you can't install Windows from a external optical drive neither.
The solution in your case is to create a 10.6 install USB
http://www.maciverse.com/reinstalling-os-x-on-macbook-air.html
http://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
You have to decide if you want to backup files off the machine, take your chances and upgrade your present 10.5 (which has your free iLife on it) installed copy (stable or not) to 10.6 then to 10.6.8, or
if your 10.5 installed is not exactly stable, then backup files off the machine and erase and reinstall 10.5 (which has your free iLife on it) and then upgrade to 10.6 then to 10.6.8, then Disk Utility > Repair disk (from the 10.6 USB) then install 10.6 programs fresh and files from backup or
erase the 10.5 install completely from the 10.6 USB and install 10.6.3 (no free iLife)
iLife doesn't come on the 10.6.3 Retail Upgrade disks, also you can't use another Mac's 10.6 disk to install SL on your machine.
If your 10.5 installed is stable, then consider a backup of files off the machine (disconnect any other drive) and simply upgrading 10.5 to 10.6, it will keep all your presently installed programs, although a few will require updating.
To boot off the USB, you need to hold the option key down.
Now on Mac's with a DVD drive, when the SL 10.6 disk is simply inserted, one runs a program that reboots and upgrades 10.5 to 10.6
Since you will be booted from the USB, you will have to select to install 10.6 onto the 10.5 drive, it only does that and not touches your third party programs or your files. (but backup anyway in case things go wrong)
You neeed this disk to create the USB from, can only be ordered online now as I hear.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A
If your considering upgrading to Lion from 10.6.8 Appstore, let me give you some valuable advice.
10.5 Intel machines are rather dated, if it's not a 64 bit processor Lion can't be installed (no Intel Core Duo's, they are 32 bit)
Your going to have a dated video card, Lion is slower than Snow Leopard.
You need a minimum of 2GB of RAM, 4GB+ is reported to be better for Lion.
Lion does not allow you to run your 10.5 programs in Rosetta like 10.6 does, so Lion requires all new software.
In my opinion a dated machine having to buy all new software is a waste of money, spend the $29 for Snow Leopard and pretty much everything you presently have in software investment will work.
My opinion is to save Lion for a new machine, your machine will run better on 10.6 than 10.7 glitch issues.
Check this database for programs that are ready for Lion
http://roaringapps.com/apps:table

Another Hard Drive Question.

Hey guys my uncle just gave me a powerbook g4 15 inch. I do not know what it has if it is aluminum or titanium but it is a 1.5ghz with a 80gb hard drive which is fried i believe. the laptop does not even start up. like i press the button and it is just a white screen forever. i hear alot of noise comming from the computer too which i think is the hard drive. so my question is I am probably gonna have to change the hard drive and i was wondering if this hard drive would work http://microcenter.com/singleproduct_results.phtml?productid=0258510 i mean it is a PATA so it should work. and then when i put a new hard drive i would have to format it and stuff? any help would be appreciated. thanks in advance

It would be a huge advantage to have the original discs. Have your uncle ask his coworker about them. If the coworker still has them, he or she will no doubt be happy to pass them on.
If you have the Applecare disc, it should contain Tech Tool Deluxe. See if you can boot to it by putting it in the optical drive and holding down "C" as you boot up. Tech Tool Deluxe is a somewhat primitive hardware test, but if it runs, you can get an idea of whether the PB functions otherwise. If the only problem is a dead hard drive, then it should be able to boot from a disc.
At some point, you will need an OS to install. You can order a set of original discs from Apple for around $60, or you could consider a retail copy of Leopard if the PB meets the technical specs.
Apple also has a flat rate repair program where they will fix whatever is wrong for a flat rate. I'm not sure if this PB would qualify, but if the problems are more extensive than just a dead hard drive it might be something to look into.
Try booting from the disc you have, and see if you can.
Good luck!

Yet another Try Catch question. Iterating through a ForEach loop

Confused on error handling in a Powershell ForEach loop. I’m looping through a list of registry keys, attempting
to open each one. If it succeeds, I do a bunch of stuff. If it fails, I want to skip to the next iteration.
If I was doing It in VBScript I’d do this:
For Each Thing In colThings
Open Thing
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
“oops”
Else
Do stuff
Do stuff
Do stuff
End If
Next
This is what I came up with in PowerShell. It seems to work, but just doesn’t seem powershell-ish. There must be a better way to use the catch output than just creating a $return variable and assigning it success or fail?
ForEach ($subKeyName in $subKeyNames)
try{$subKey = $baseKey.OpenSubKey("$subKeyName")}
catch{$return = "error" }
If($return -eq "error" )
“Oops”
Else
Do stuff
Do stuff
Do Stuff

I totally get what you're saying about formatting. I don't' have any habits yet, since I've only been working in Powershell since... well, what time is it now?
Unfortunately, It Has Been Decreed that we are no longer to use VBScript for any engineering solutions at work, so my 15 years experience in it now needs to be transitioned over asap. I don't have the luxury of crawling before I run. I'm trying not to be
frustrated, but it's like an English major waking up one day and being told "You must now speak French exclusively. Here's a book."
The Do Stuff example of my ForEach loop is about 50 lines of code involving matching values in subkeys of this registry key with another and collecting output. I tried wrapping the whole thing in a try section based on some examples, but it seemed odd, that's
why I'm asking. I'm used to tightly focused error handling at the point where an error may occur.
In this example I'm only interested in whether or not I can open the subkey (it exists, but I may not have permission). If I can't, there's no point in continuing with this iteration of the loop, I want to skip to the next one. So why include all the "Do
Stuff" in the the try section? From a readability viewpoint, it doesn't seem helpful.
Also, there may be more error handling deeper in the code. If I then put that in a try/catch, and then something else inside that, now I have nested try/catches mixed in with nested if/elses, all wrapped in a For loop.
Again, I can see how it works logically, but for readability not so much, and having all these braces 50 lines apart to match up is giving me eye strain :).
It sounds like David is agreeing with jrv, that putting the entire ForEach loop code into a try/catch is the conventional way to do it. I guess it makes as much sense as putting it all in an If-else-Endif, and I just need to adjust my paradigm.
But if not, my specific question was more along the lines of, is there a built in way to tell that the catch section has been executed, rather than me using it to populate an arbitrary variable and then read it? In VBScript, you execute something, and the
next line, you check the Err.number. I wasn't sure if you could do that with a try/catch.

Yet another MBA connection question

I just purchased my MBA in July and it started off working beautifully. Just in the past month or so my internet connection has gotten a bit lousy. My Airport says I have a full connection to the internet yet pages either never load and sit in internet limbo forever or i get a "safari can't open the page - operation could not be completed' message pop up. I bought this computer for it's portability, but no matter how light and thin a computer is made, when it has no internet it is a useless brick. Is there anything i can do to fix this? I am a new mac user so if you can put it in english that would be great, most of this mac-ese is still a bit greek to me!

Do you have any other computers on your wireless network? Are they running ok? Do any of them run Torrent software? Or on your MBA?
Have you taken your MBA to another location with a different wireless router and tried it? was the connection ok from there?
I would try it from another location first - that will narrow down the issue instantly to either your MBA - or something with your home network.

Yet another transfer/sync question...

I've authorized my new laptop.
I know how to transfer "purchased" songs to it.
I CAN NOT access original hard drive which also holds songs burned from CD (but most of my library is on the iPod as well).
Q: Will connecting iPod to the new laptop, sync its song list (including the non-purchased songs) TO the new lap?
Thanks
Drock j

dockj wrote:
Q: Will connecting iPod to the new laptop, sync its song list (including the non-purchased songs) TO the new lap?
NO.
To copy songs from an iPod to a computer, you need 3rd party software. Search this forum for a very informative post by Zevoneer on the topic.

Yet Another Time Sheet Question

Hello, Everyone:
I know there have been other posts on this subject, but none of them have met my needs. I recently began my freelance design career and would like to keep track of my hours in spreadsheet form. I know nothing of spreadsheet applications whether it be Excel or Numbers. I need a basic rundown of how to make my spreadsheet do what I want.
I'd like my sheet to have the following columns:
*Date | Start Time | End Time | Total Time*
Now, I have seen where the application renders the time in decimal form, which is fine, but would it be possible to show the time in hours and minutes, like 1 hr 43 mins? I would like to know how to get both sorts of results, if possible. If not, I'll settle for decimals.
In any case, if someone could show me step-by-step how to meet this task, I would really, really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance!
Message was edited by: Ancient Console
Message was edited by: Ancient Console

AC,
Your use of the time calculations is a simple as can be.
Select column A and format it as Date&Time, and set Time format to None
Select columns B and C and format as Date&Time, and set Date format to None
Select column D and format as Duration, adjust the slider to cover only hours and minutes, set the format as you wish, H:MM would work.
In the first data row of column D, enter the equation: =C-B
With the first equation in D selected, select the rest of the cells to the bottom and Insert > Fill > Fill Down.
Enter some data. The result should appear in column D. Now you may not like looking at zeros in the rows where you haven't yet entered times. So, select column D and in the Cells Inspector click the Conditional Format Show Rules button. Choose the rule: Equal To and type a zero into the field on the right. Then click Edit, followed by a click on the rectangle to the right of the word Text. In the colors panel that pops up, cllick the plain white square next to the upper left corner. Now click Done.
That's all there is to it.
Jerry

Yet another colour management question

Hi folks,
I've read several of the very detailed colour management posts/threads here already but haven't found the answer(s) I'm looking for. So I'm hoping that some of the experts might be able to spare me some time and input...
I am running a Windows 7 (32bit) environment with a Dell u2711 Ultrasharp display attached. I let the monitor warm up for close on 30 minutes and ran an 'Easy' calibration with a Lacie eye-one device using the Gretag Macbeth 3.6 software. (I guess I could have used the 'Advanced' calibration option but thought I'd save myself some time and was always pleased with the results on my older Sony CRTs.)
I'm running LR3.2 and CS4. Viewing RAW images in LR the skin tones are way too saturated, but when I export the images as sRGB JPEGs the results look very pleasing when viewed in Windows Photo Viewer (far less saturated). If I open the same image in IE, it looks identical to the way it looks in LR. (I don't have Firefox installed so haven't compared that). If I open the image in CS4 by default it looks the same as it does in Windows, but if I change the Proof Setup to Monitor RGB it matches what I am seeing in LR and IE.
I'm guessing this is somehow related to the new wider gamut range that this monitor can display (compare to my previous CRTs). I read in one of Jao's posts that LR is always right and other non-managed apps will do weird things on high-end displays. IE is not colour managed so why would it display colours very similar to what I'm seeing in LR, when the standard Windows image viewer is displaying colour far less saturated (which seems to be the opposite to what others are experiencing)?
I generally always export as sRBG jpeg as the images usually go online, but this set is going to a client who will most likely be taking them for printing as well as viewing on a PC.
Looking forward to your input on this.
Kind regards,
Chris

Hi again all,
I've finally found some time yesterday to investigate this further and re-calibrate my monitor.
I nuked the previously created ICC monitor profile (so that there was none applied) and set to work with my Lacie Blue Eye device and the Lacie Blue Eye Pro software package. I set my preferred settings to 6500K, Gamma 2.2, 120cd/m2 and put the monitor into 'Standard' colour preset. I ran a test on those settings and while the colour and gamma levels were close-ish, the Lum was in the mid-high 200s...way too bright. (No wonder I felt like I was getting a tan sitting in front of the monitor. LOL!) DeltaE scores were okay but not great... Time for the manual calibration.
Set the monitor into 'Custom' colour preset and fired up the Lacie calibration software for the full calibration. Can't remember exactly how far the brightness and contrast controls had to come down, but from memory it was about 30 and 50 respectively. The RGB levels ended up in the high 80s each from memory. Ran the calibration, applied the newly created profile (double checked it was applied in Control Panel | Colour Management). Ran another test report with the Lacie software and got colour, gamma and lum results 0-1% from target, and average dE scores of 0.4, max dE of 0.7.
RAW files in LR and PS CS4 appear the same, sRGB jpeg exports viewed in Windows Photo Viewer and Firefox appear the same, IE is still a bit out, but that's expected/known.
I took the (exported jpeg) images to another computer with a cheapy (uncalibrated) LCD monitor and the results were perfectly fine when viewed in Windows Photo Viewer.
Having greatly reduced the brightness of my monitor I should hopefully reduce the likelihood of having issues with prints coming back too dark. Of course I know I can get hold of the printer profiles from my lab and softproof the images in CS4 when it comes to that anyway.
Thank you all for your input and feedback on this matter. Everything seems to be resolved now.
Chris

Yet another how to * question

Hi guys,
Fall semester is ending next week, and I want to find a job by December. Any idea on how to work it out in this shrinking job market?
Do you think Sun certified java developer certification might be something good to have under the belt? I remember the programmer cert helped me quite a bit in having the last job.
A little info on me:
location: Los Angeles
education: sophomore college student
java work experience: 1.5 years
certificaitons:
Sun certified java programmer
IBM certified solution developer(Jcertify level II) on WebSphere 3.5
I really appreciate your spending time on this offtopic post.
Thanks.

If you could only choose one, which would be better,
experience or certification?That's a very difficult question. I think that experience vs. certification is like asking whether apples are better than organges; they're simply different, but typically compliment each other very well.
While experience demonstrates nothing but the fact that you've been doing something for a long time, most people choose to take advantage of their long stint in the field to refine their skills and become more knowledgeable about it over time. Presumably, if you've kept jobs for long enough, you are able to write a program; hopefully, a half-decent one.
Certification, on the other hand, displays that you have learned the syntax of a language, the API of a technology, the intended uses, etc., but not that you can actually use it to its full potential. Using a technology is as much about knowing what not to do as it is knowing what to do; experience helps with the former. Certification may be considered sufficient for junior software developers, rather than engineers, who do not necessarily take part in the design of the system that they are developing for, but is simply not enough in most cases.
As long as one is not stuck in the past and welcomes change, my conclusion would be that one's experience weighs more heavily than holding a certificate. Having said that, if you lack experience, I think that the studying and work required to get a certificate can do nothing but help you out. Again, neither is enough to judge somebody's skills except for at a birds-eye level.
In response to the original poster, I think that having a genuine passion for programming is one of the greatest job-landing tools you can ever have. Learn as much as you can, utilize your knowledge, love it, and display your skills to your would-be employers; you'll win out in the end.

And yet another reverse telecine question. =)

Okay so I shot the footage in 24p advanced on a dvx100b. I batch reverse telecined in cinema tools. It worked fine except for the first frame of some of the final reverse telecined files. Only on some of the files (randomly) the first frame is interlaced. This only happened to some of the files and it is not really a big deal because there is nothing important usually in the first frame but it is a little worrying. Could it be because I didnt really pay attention to which of the 5 frame set (0-5/A-D frames where frame 3/C is the interlaced frame in 24p advanced) was captured as the first frame during capturing? I have heard that you must capture the 0/A frame as the first frame for reverse telecining/advanced pulldown removal to work. Is this true. Even if so, the whole clip other than the first frame is still fine so, any ideas?

Ive received an answer to this in another forum. It is due to the fact that cinema tools has no other field to combine with for the first frame depending on which of the 5 field sequence it started recording in. It is really no problem because it is only the very first frame that is affected.

I Know this isn't an optical drive question but HELP plz.

So I was in blender and i hit cmd + fn + one of the F#'s and I turned on this REALLY annoying voice over for everything I do. I searched system prefs but couldnt find anything, what can I do to shut this guy off?

System Preferences > Universal Access > Seeing tab, just turn Voice Over off. (It was Command-Fn-F5.)

Yet another file sharing question...

So I've read the posts and several articles and I still can't get this thing to work.
System setup:
1) MacLion as the main source with users 'administrator' and 'developer' both admin accounts.
2) MacLeopard as the client with user 'administrator' an admin account.
Folder setup on Lion (Get Info):
1) SharedAdmin > owner admin, group groupAdmin, mode 0755
2) SharedDevel > owner devel, group groupDevel, mode 0755
Accounts on Leopard:
1) Administrator/groupAdmin (same as Lion,
Objective:
I'm trying to mount both shared folders on Leopard
can I use two different login from Leopard
do permissions effect file sharing

Right, I think I've got it...
I'm trying to logon from a Leopard machine to a Lion machine that has got two shared folders created on it using different accounts.
I can logon to one shared folder with the appropriate account, that preserves the users and permissions, but when I try to logon to the other shared folder Leopard does not present the logon window and used the previous logon details that messes up the users and permissions.
Am I going about this the right way? And if so wht can't I use two different logon details for the respective accounts?

Yet another Optical drive question

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