DVD Burn Speed on Powermac G5 - MUCH Slower than my old G4

[ChrisMitchell]

Hi all,

The subject pretty much says it all. I had old 2001 model G4 (Dual 533 Digital Audio) Powermac.

I purchased, at some point, an AOPEN DUW1616/ARR external firewire DVD/RW burner. I've used that for years, and pretty much know how fast it's supposed to burn.

Earlier this year, I "upgraded" and got a Powermac G5 Dual 2.5 GHz, 6 GB RAM. I put OS 10.5.8 on it (w/ PT TDM 7.4.2 on an HD3 setup). I've been beyond thrilled with it. Unbelievably stable, and much quicker than ye olde G4. I do, however, have one problem with burning DVD's.

At first I thought I was crazy, but I'm not. I KNOW for a fact that on my old G4, I could burn a DVD at more than just a 2x speed, which is the maximum I can get on my G5. I burned approximately 1.2 GB worth of data (2 PT sessions), and it took just about 25 to 30 minutes. That seems really, really slow for me.

I am using Finder to burn the DVD's, and the max burn speed I can choose is 2x. I know I had more options than that on the G4. My old version of Toast 4.1.2 (I think that's the version) won't install on OS 10.5.8. Too old.

If I purchased the new version of Toast, or even downloaded the free Burn or LiquidCD software, will that increase my speed of burning DVD's? If I didn't have clients waiting on this stuff after each session, I wouldn't care, but as you all know, time is money.

Any help is appreciated.

[ChrisMitchell]

I still need help on this. I tried downloading Burn, and it went through the whole process at 4x speed (still much slower than my old G4), but then the DVD was unreadable. Tried reading it on both the AOPEN external firewire DVD-RW that I have, and the Pioneer that came with the G5.

When I used Finder to burn a 4.2 GB DVD today at 2x speed, which took well over an hour, it went through the whole burn, and then I got a message saying that it couldn't be verified, and to try another disc.

I'm starting to long for the days of my G4, when I could burn quickly and reliably. What am I doing wrong?

Will buying the new Adaptec Toast reliably have a chance on fixing my problem, or am I going to waste $100?

[DigiTechSupt]

This is most likely a bad DVD drive. You should consider just buying a replacement - they run $20-$25 for one that will burn at much faster speeds than that built in Pioneer.

[John_Toolbox]

Sounds like bad media or a bad drive. More often than not it's a bad drive, they generally last 1-5 years. I'd start with a new drive, if the problem still persists try a dvd from the other end of the spindle, or a different brand altogether. I've had good luck with taiyo yuden dvd media.

There is a slim chance the a firmware upgrade might fix the drive, but for what they cost that's probably not worth messing with, as you usually need to do it from a windows pc.

[aka21stCentury]

A bit confusing are you still using the firewire ext burner or internal? DL +R or single -R?

Does your G-5 have the 'does not play nice' SATA 1.5 controller? If so, beware of SATA 2 devices if you can't pin them down to SATA 1.5.

Some suggestions:

Plug into rear Firewire port not front and never allow 'sharing' of your DVD burner. Is BlueTooth advertising?

Also on the G-5 PPC it needs port 5353 open (mDNS -- Apple's Bonjour) so don't run terminal commands to shut this port as some suggest (IT security folks). A router/firewall will block it from advertising to the WAN. Do you see a lot of threads running in Activity Mgr (like spotlight's MDS indexing?).. try shutting it down (force quit in activity. mgr). DVD prefs ---> on blank insert 'do nothing'? Google Spotlight indexing on Leopard.

I imagine you are running a Vanilla OS but for those with a G-5 using it for internet access.... the older ones had PSU issues as well as that 1.5 SATA controller so watch for 'phone home printer drivers' 'widgets' etc. AV apps. I mention power because some G-5s had been recalled and supposedly refurbished. Is there a separate power supply on your external burner? Not buss powered?

Leopard is twice the size of Tiger and tends to bog down PPCs if compared to Tiger (single proc. at least). Also G-4s have a complete Faraday Shield over the firewire connection at the MOBO. G-5 front ports are similar to PC generic case manufacturing, ports on front not mounted to MOBO. This was a new thing for Apple at the time. http://www.granitedigital.com/firewireproducts.aspx

I'd only buy a new Toast App if you have a very new burner finder does not recognize (or iDVD). My guess is Toast or Finder either way it is either an interrupt or bad media or bad burner depending on error message. Try the media fix first, posted by JToolbox, Japanese made over other brands.

What error messages do you see if burning over 4x? Buffer underun error? Laser Calibration Error?

Avoid Maxell media (16x - R.) No longer made by Hitachi.

Hopefully you didn't go to a Staples or Riteaid and end up with those bad spindles.

Someone must have the link to the media rating site in Japan? The data in the link below may or may not be up to date.

http://www.digitalfaq.com/reviews/dvd-media.htm

[ChrisMitchell]

I might have pinned it down to crappy media, namely Fuji. Tried a Memorex that I had and it burned successfully (and at 4x speed). So, I went and got me some Verbatim's, which from on-line research suggests are very good and reliable. I've also read good things about taiyo yuden dvd's. Thanks for the input.