i have a PC, they have a Mac

Calina

Hi folks,

I have done some photographs for someone, two directorys and 1.2Gig of data. I have twice put them on DVD for someone and on two occasions he cannot read them. After some discussion I think his Mac can't read the directory structure on the DVD.

Before I go and use yet another expensive printable DVD, if I put all the pictures straight onto a DVD not in any directory, is his Mac going to be able to read them. I am using Windows.

If not, has anyone any suggestions for what I might do? We are talking a lot of data here.

thanks a million.

Ricky91t

Would a memory stick or external hard drive work?
Sorry never had any experiece with macs so cant really help:D

Bard

Presuming that they have OSX, there's no reason it shouldn't be able to read your DVD-ROM unless you didn't finalise the disc when you were burning it.

Calina

I did finalise. Because the first one was a problem I made a point of checking a second computer could read it. It could but it was also a Windows machine.

quilmore

has anyone else have a problem (PC) reading your DVDs?
I've found a burner that stuff writen on it can only be read on it
it's something called laser alignment, which should be the same in writer and reader (it usually is unless there is a problem)

yoyo

Sorry for stupid question but does he use a Mac system which has a internal dvd reader? Theres no reason why a Mac shouldnt open windows folders, if all else fails zip them, place them on the dvd as such and see if he can read them... It could be a messy issiue like DVD filesystem issiue, but afaik Mac should read all the standards no probs (The likes Nero, Roxio, Windows etc will record)

Nick

Calina

I have no idea. All I know is he called me to day to say the second disc would not read and since I know it can be read by a different machine, I'm pretty certain that it's not a faulty disc. But the disc did have two folders on it and I am wondering if the Mac doesn't want to read the Win directory format.

The impression I'm getting is that you all feel that the Mac should be able to read a DVD so what I will do is put all the images in the same directory and write them straight onto the disc with no folders.

minikin

Hi Calina,

If you chose the iso 9660 format you definitely won't have an issue.

could be a stupid question but are you sure he has a dvd drive?
might be an old mac (pre-combodrive)

Paulw

You could always try your DVD in a normal DVD player (attached to the TV) and see if it reads it.

It does sound very unusual.

Stephen

Are you using something like DirectCD (i.e. packet writing) that allows you to dump stuff onto CD/DVD as if it was a regular rewriteable medium? That's notoriously unreliable.

Calina

Well I actually used Windows Explorer's tool to write the disc. You have to understand the disc works in at least one other computer besides my own so it's unlikely to be a corrupt disc. To other questions; he knows it's a DVD.

minikin, how do I select that format? In all the time I've been doing this, it's never been a problem before.

janmc

Calina wrote: »

I have no idea. All I know is he called me to day to say the second disc would not read and since I know it can be read by a different machine, I'm pretty certain that it's not a faulty disc. But the disc did have two folders on it and I am wondering if the Mac doesn't want to read the Win directory format.

The impression I'm getting is that you all feel that the Mac should be able to read a DVD so what I will do is put all the images in the same directory and write them straight onto the disc with no folders.

To be honest it should work anyway. I have never had this problem with PC to Mac or Mac to PC dvds. How recent is his mac? Anything in the last 5 years shouldn't cause problems.

challengemaster

Could be him... PEBKAC?

Calina

I would be surprised. He says the Mac says the disc is writable, so it is clearly not finding the data that's on it.

Paulw

challengemaster wrote: »

Could be him... PEBKAC?

I doubt it's a wetwear issue.

I've made DVDs on my PC, played them in PCs, normal DVD players and also on a friend's mac.

Depending on what PC you have, it might determine what software is actually doing the burning. Dell I think package Sonic with theirs for DVD burning.

Fenster

I dual boot and use both on a very regular basis and I've never had that problem. What format are the archives? Is it proprietary? Or are they simple folders?

challengemaster

She said ^ she's using the one in XP itself

Calina

Fenster wrote: »

I dual boot and use both on a very regular basis and I've never had that problem. What format are the archives? Is it proprietary? Or are they simple folders?

They're simple folders. I have to say I'm baffled. I think I'll not include the folders next time and keep my fingers crossed.

Calina

challengemaster wrote: »

She said ^ she's using the one in XP itself

I didn't actually say I was using the one in XP. I said Windows, but I didn't specify which version. In this case, it's Vista.

challengemaster

Are they DVD-RW's ? if so, get the one back from him and re-write it

Calina

They are DVD-Rs but it's irrelevant. They are also printable and they have very nice photographs on them which is relevant to the content. Reusing them isn't wholly an option.

deRanged

is it a HP lightscribe dvd writer by any chance?
can you use dedicated dvd burning software (nero or whatever)?
I transfer stuff between macs and windows machines all the time.
the only time I've had a problem was with HP kit.

Calina

arggh. it's a HP alright. I use Windows to do the actual burn.

thing is, the disc is readable on another four year old XP machine. You recommend using something else to do the burn? I appear to have Roxio.

deRanged

ah - I had a similar problem with my old HP machine transferring to my G5 (and only to macs - my other windows machines were no problem).
I never did find out exactly what the problem was, I just used nero in the end.

440Hz

For certain file types you need to use a dedicated burning application and burn a hybrid Mac and PC disc format. I have never had issues with discs of image files before but I have had this issue with data discs with .avi and .mov files. I would imagine that using the native Explorer disc burning utility is writing some information to the header files that the Mac cannot interpret.

When the DVD is rendered correctly there should not be any compatibility issue between the two OS' directory structures.

Tbh, move to Windows and/or Mac.

stcstc

The way to make dvd's that are truely cross platform is the use the UDF standard, NOT iso9660 as it can do funny things with the names etc

the UDF standard is what dvd-video discs use and are fully compatible with macs and pc's

if you use nero for example it gives you a dvd-rom udf option, this will be read in any mac with a dvd drive down to os 9

i think this actually could be the problem the format of the disc isnt quite right


windows will allow you to write a disc which is effectively a pc format dic that some macs wont recognize correctly.

Alun

Calina wrote: »

I didn't actually say I was using the one in XP. I said Windows, but I didn't specify which version. In this case, it's Vista.

It would have to be as this way of writing only works with CD-R's in Windows XP, not with any kind of DVD recordable. Vista allows writing to DVD recordable as well, but I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to what format it does it in. If his MAC is saying the disc is writeable, I'd be tempted to say that the session probably wasn't closed.

If you want some cheap (i.e. free) burner software that will write UDF format (probably the safest option) try CDburnerXP from http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

Fajitas!

Moved over to Mac, I really haven't come across this myself, and go between Mac and Windows a lot. Hopefully someone here'll have a better idea about the compatibility

Calina

Alun wrote: »

It would have to be as this way of writing only works with CD-R's in Windows XP, not with any kind of DVD recordable. Vista allows writing to DVD recordable as well, but I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to what format it does it in. If his MAC is saying the disc is writeable, I'd be tempted to say that the session probably wasn't closed.

If you want some cheap (i.e. free) burner software that will write UDF format (probably the safest option) try CDburnerXP from http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

thanks a million...I've done the disc so fingers crossed it will now be readable.

Alun

Calina wrote: »

thanks a million...I've done the disc so fingers crossed it will now be readable.

Great .. let us know how you got on.

Cabaal

Have to say I've never come across this with my Mac or PC, none the less would be interested to know the outcome of this

SouperComputer

Sounds more like a hardware/optical issue. Irrespective of the type of DVD (IE + or _-) and what computers it works on, it might be an idea to try a different brand of DVD. It might be just as simple as the reader does not like the dye that the data is burned on. This happens quite often. Wouldnt do any harm to burn at a slower speed if possible. If another disk works, yiou either need to print a new run of labels or ask the customer to change their drive

iso9960 is fine, most "windows" CD's are burned that way, but it does shorten/truncate filenames, however there should no issues reading on Windows because of this.

What exactly is happening on the windows PC?

Calina

DVD is being read okay by different Windows PCs. The issue is reading it on a Mac.

Calina

Curiouser and curiouser. He just got it to read on a Mac laptop - the original disc I mean. I am a bit surprised by that...would seem to suggest it's an issue local to one machine.

anyway, it's sorted for now. Want to thank everyone who contributed with advice and info. Really appreciate it.

SouperComputer

ah, well take what i said and reverse it!

TBH ive found some drives shipped in apple laptops, especially g3/g4 to be picky with optical media. Not sure if it is the firmware that some shipped with or not, but its always been an issue.