Well, I'm about to add DVD to my backup. So far it's all been supplemental hard drives and CD, but with the everincreasing sizes of digital files and such, CD has become too limiting, and I'd like to have the luxury of fewer pieces of plastic in my file cases.
So, a few questions. My knowledge of the DVD world is not the best. I don't care about burning movies and such, simply image files, and it appears there are DVD-R and DVD+R types of DVDs, and it seems you can't read a -R if you have a +R burner, and vice versa.
Is that true? If so, which is best? And which burning software is best for the photographer? I'm a Mac user running OS 10.3 on a G4 with not a ton of memory and a fairly slow processor. I have firewire ports, however, so I could go with an external burner and still get a fast write speed. But my intent would be to switch out my current internal CD read/write for a superdrive that burns and reads both DVD and CD. I've come to trust the advice I get here, so someone held educate me!
I think you can look for quite a performance jump with the new burner, Steve. One of our machines is a G4, but it's running OS10.2.8 (not updated due to 3rd party SCSI board retained for running our old scanner). The DVD burner in that machine is so painfully slow we simply don't use it. The G5 twins my wife uses are much faster, and my new MacBook Pro is blazing in comparison. We've had the best luck in all those machines using Toast Titanium for burns.
If you can get a really fast drive/burner installed inside the box you should be fine, but be careful in choosing an external burner. Don't let anyone tell you that USB2 is fast enough. Go with firewire or plan on LONG waits while data is stuffed through that tiny USB porthole.
On my G4 with the then-standard super drive (2x DVD burn), I don't regard DVD backup as viable due to the time required. But if you can pump up the speed with a faster burner while not encumbering yourself with USB2, it should be entirely reasonable.
Posted by David Bostedo on March 7, 2007 at 11:55 AM
Just wanted to clarify that FireWire 400 isn't all that much faster than USB 2.0 (the spec for USB 2.0 is actually faster, but doesn't really get up to that speed - FireWire does). If you can get FireWire 800 (which I assume Hank is recommending), you'll see by far the best speeds.
In either case, given that G4's are a few years old (I think), you might want to make sure of which type the port on the machine supports - you might be limited by that.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on March 7, 2007 at 12:07 PM
As of 2006, the market for recordable DVD technology shows little sign of settling down in favor of either the "plus" or "minus" formats, which is mostly the result of the increasing numbers of dual-format devices that can record to both formats; it has become very difficult to find new devices that can only record to one of the formats.
Posted by Jeremy Week on March 7, 2007 at 12:29 PM
Also, take note that your home "burned" DVDs may not last as long when compared to a commercially
"pressed" DVD.
I re-burn my DVDs about every 3 years. Don't want to lose those images.
Posted by Pat Warfield on March 7, 2007 at 2:03 PM
Macs use the DVD-R format. You don't have a choice.
Replace your internal combo drive economically with the Pioneer Super Drive listed below which was made for the G4. It will be recognized by your computer. Several drives will work, but many of their features will not work on a Mac so its a waste of money. You should be running Toast Titanium 7.1 or better, which writes CDs or DVDs and you compile by dragging files to Toast 7 window. When you have 4 gigs or a little more, go to 'Recorder' & then 'Settings' & choose which drive you want to use. Choose between CD & DVD on the Toast window. It will prompt for a disk.
For the SuperDrive. Other World Computing is the company. Or go to www.MacSales.com. I had to replace my first Super Drive that began having problems after 5 years. (Before you install drive, remove the plastic bezel on the front of the drawer on the drive - it interferes with opening & closing the mirror doors.)
1 PIODVR111D Pioneer DVR-111 Beige Bezel DL DVDCDRW $42.99 1yr Pioneer Warranty.
If there is a problem getting a Mac to see the drive, there is a little program (shareware for donation) that helps Macs use DVD recorders. I can't find the name quickly. When I find it I will list it. I believe it is available on same site as the Pioneer drives.
These DVDs you burn will just be data disks - like oversized CDs. But, if you want to create photo albums, slide shows & movies that will play on any computer or DVD/TV combination, you will find the iLife programs like iDVD very easy to learn.
I think that CDs & DVDs should be duplicated for archives & stored in a vacuum sealed bag or container. Same for storing photos & negatives or video tapes. It's oxygen & atmospheric variables that cause problems.
Hope this helps. I would be glad to hear other suggestions on these matters.
My old G4 (and I assume yours, Steve) has only firewire 400, as I recall. I'm on the road and can't confirm. I can however, say that in day to day use firewire 400 is appears to be at least twice as fast as USB2. which can be a huge difference when dealing with big hunks of data. For example, I got separated from my firewire card reader and was briefly forced to use a USB2 reader instead. The downloads seemed to take forever in comparison. I'm not a techy, but one explained to me that the speed rating on USB2 is based on bursts of data rather than sustained data streams, while the firewire rating is based on sustained throughput. I can't confirm the tech explanation, but I can sure see the difference while suffering with USB2.
Thanks everybody for your help. I resisted the tempation to tune into this thread while I was at work hoping for a backlog of strong responses when I got home. And here they are.
Hank, you are right. My firewire is a 400. I have my supplemental hard drive attached through the firewire, and it's much, much faster at data transfer than when it's hooked up through USB2. At work I'm stuck with an external CD burner using USB2 and it's just a start-it-and-forget-about-it process it's so slow. You start it, move on to other tasks and come back to it in 15 minutes. Sheesh. I wish I had a CF card reader that connected with firewire instead of USB. THAT would really speed things. up.
And Pat, thanks much for your detailed Mac support. I use an online computer store named Headgap for all my Mac business. They offer refurbished/rebuilt Macs with warranties and excellent support, and they also offer that Pioneer superdrive, if I recall, for about that same price. They're also great about helping a person work through problems/issues with any of their equipment.
Discussion
8 repliesSo, a few questions. My knowledge of the DVD world is not the best. I don't care about burning movies and such, simply image files, and it appears there are DVD-R and DVD+R types of DVDs, and it seems you can't read a -R if you have a +R burner, and vice versa.
Is that true? If so, which is best? And which burning software is best for the photographer? I'm a Mac user running OS 10.3 on a G4 with not a ton of memory and a fairly slow processor. I have firewire ports, however, so I could go with an external burner and still get a fast write speed. But my intent would be to switch out my current internal CD read/write for a superdrive that burns and reads both DVD and CD. I've come to trust the advice I get here, so someone held educate me!
This might help:
writable DVD: A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED
Guy
If you can get a really fast drive/burner installed inside the box you should be fine, but be careful in choosing an external burner. Don't let anyone tell you that USB2 is fast enough. Go with firewire or plan on LONG waits while data is stuffed through that tiny USB porthole.
On my G4 with the then-standard super drive (2x DVD burn), I don't regard DVD backup as viable due to the time required. But if you can pump up the speed with a faster burner while not encumbering yourself with USB2, it should be entirely reasonable.
In either case, given that G4's are a few years old (I think), you might want to make sure of which type the port on the machine supports - you might be limited by that.
From Wikipedia: Wiki
As of 2006, the market for recordable DVD technology shows little sign of settling down in favor of either the "plus" or "minus" formats, which is mostly the result of the increasing numbers of dual-format devices that can record to both formats; it has become very difficult to find new devices that can only record to one of the formats.
"pressed" DVD.
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10149_102-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=152618&messageID=1698511
I re-burn my DVDs about every 3 years. Don't want to lose those images.
Replace your internal combo drive economically with the Pioneer Super Drive listed below which was made for the G4. It will be recognized by your computer. Several drives will work, but many of their features will not work on a Mac so its a waste of money. You should be running Toast Titanium 7.1 or better, which writes CDs or DVDs and you compile by dragging files to Toast 7 window. When you have 4 gigs or a little more, go to 'Recorder' & then 'Settings' & choose which drive you want to use. Choose between CD & DVD on the Toast window. It will prompt for a disk.
For the SuperDrive. Other World Computing is the company. Or go to www.MacSales.com. I had to replace my first Super Drive that began having problems after 5 years. (Before you install drive, remove the plastic bezel on the front of the drawer on the drive - it interferes with opening & closing the mirror doors.)
1 PIODVR111D Pioneer DVR-111 Beige Bezel DL DVDCDRW $42.99 1yr Pioneer Warranty.
If there is a problem getting a Mac to see the drive, there is a little program (shareware for donation) that helps Macs use DVD recorders. I can't find the name quickly. When I find it I will list it. I believe it is available on same site as the Pioneer drives.
These DVDs you burn will just be data disks - like oversized CDs. But, if you want to create photo albums, slide shows & movies that will play on any computer or DVD/TV combination, you will find the iLife programs like iDVD very easy to learn.
I think that CDs & DVDs should be duplicated for archives & stored in a vacuum sealed bag or container. Same for storing photos & negatives or video tapes. It's oxygen & atmospheric variables that cause problems.
Hope this helps. I would be glad to hear other suggestions on these matters.
Pat
Hank, you are right. My firewire is a 400. I have my supplemental hard drive attached through the firewire, and it's much, much faster at data transfer than when it's hooked up through USB2. At work I'm stuck with an external CD burner using USB2 and it's just a start-it-and-forget-about-it process it's so slow. You start it, move on to other tasks and come back to it in 15 minutes. Sheesh. I wish I had a CF card reader that connected with firewire instead of USB. THAT would really speed things. up.
And Pat, thanks much for your detailed Mac support. I use an online computer store named Headgap for all my Mac business. They offer refurbished/rebuilt Macs with warranties and excellent support, and they also offer that Pioneer superdrive, if I recall, for about that same price. They're also great about helping a person work through problems/issues with any of their equipment.
Again, thanks everyone for your help.