CD-r for a Powermac 9600

Drumhum · #1 December 1st, 2006, 12:03 PM

A client of mine still uses a Powermac 9600. I have delivered some data to her on a CD-r I burned on my macpro but she tells me her 9600 does not even see the disk or mount it. A message appears that says the disk is not readable.

I burned the disk on my MacPro from the finder (burn folder). Personally, I suspect her cd drive is just getting a bit old and fussy but could there be a format issue here? I know Apple changed its hard disk format to HFS+ but did they change the format of the CD since the 9600? Any suggestions etc? I have toast to play with too.

For the record I am delivering Aiff files to a her 9600 based AVID video editing system.

TIA

Mikuro · #2 December 1st, 2006, 04:01 PM

The CD would also use HFS+, but that shouldn't stop it from mounting. Any OS from 8.1 on can read HFS+, and even older OSes will mount the disk, but it'll be read-only and you'll only see one file, titled "where_have_all_my_files_gone".

I have a 9600, too, and I've never had problems reading CD-R with the internal drive. In fact, I used to burn CD-Rs with that machine (using an external drive), and I still use them today.

Are you sure it's a CD-R and not a CD-RW (or worse yet, a DVD)? I've never tried using RWs in my 9600, so I can't say if they should work.

If it is an plain ol' CD-R, my best advice is to try burning it at the lowest possible speed. That can sometimes make it easier for some drives to read.

Drumhum · #3 December 1st, 2006, 05:58 PM

thanks for the swift reply.

It was a taiyo yuden CD-r. A brand I have found to be most reliable. I think its a problem with her tired drive - its not the first time she's had trouble. Thanks for confirming its not a format issue. I'll see if a slow burned CD-r helps - good suggestion.

Its quite surprising how not having USB, firewire or a reliable cd drive limits your options of file transfer! The computer is not (and wont be) on a network or connected to the net either. Its zip disks or CD's. I think I have a scsi cd drive somewhere - it might help to send her that along with my CD's :-)

As a further question, does anyone know of any software that can analyse a burned CD for burn errors? I know folk who have such software in their PC's but I've not come across such software for the mac.

sinclair_tm · #4 December 2nd, 2006, 04:36 PM

don't know about the software, but you can get a pci usb/firewire card for the 9600, it has 6 pci slots. i'd try macsales.com for mac compatible cards. then you'd be able transfer documnets alittle better.