DVD R/W

[bayswater]

I have to read a DVD and just realized my last Mac with a DVD drive has passed on to the zero-waste depot. This one looks OK, it's an Amazon Choice and costs very little. What are those with new Macs using, if anything?

https://www.amazon.com/External-Portabl ... r=8-1&th=1

[mikehalloran]

I have to read a DVD and just realized my last Mac with a DVD drive has passed on to the zero-waste depot. This one looks OK, it's an Amazon Choice and costs very little. What are those with new Macs using, if anything?

https://www.amazon.com/External-Portabl ... ref=sr_1_1

The good news: they're inexpensive, do work and are ok as long as they last. The bad news: they're slow (max speed 18x burning a CD) and fiddly as you snap the disk in/out of a flimsy tray. They don't last very long. I've never gotten 200 disks before the center shaft breaks. I lost one a couple weeks ago and forgot to get photos but I can go to the garage and get pictures if you want to see the typical damage.

Since I'm also archiving old backups, I bought one of these instead:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IPH6170?re ... title&th=1

[mikehalloran]

OWC has a couple including the drive that I bought on Amazon

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/optical ... es/blu-ray

The big difference between the two is that one supports M-DISC Blu-Ray while the other does not. For my needs, I spent the extra money.

I was unable to get over 30x (CD) speed without buffer underruns turning my disks into coasters (Toast lets me set max burn speed, thankfully). Swapping the supplied USB-B 3.0 to USB-A cable for a USB-B 3.1 to USB-C cable got me to 44x reliably.

[url]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D734BWYV?th=1[url]

[bayswater]

Thanks Mike.

I doubt I’d ever use it 200 times. I have a few CDs and DVDs that I need to get data from, and I’d make a disk image, then toss the disk. I’ll probably never write to a disk, but it would be a convenience if the unit can make a few disks. Other than that I might rip the odd music CD when a lossless audio file is not available.

Like my USB floppy drive which I’ve used maybe a dozen times in the past 15 years, but when you need it, there’s no alternative.

[mikehalloran]

Thanks Mike.

I doubt I’d ever use it 200 times.
…

Yep, that's what I thought when I bought my last one in 2022. But when it broke a few weeks ago during a run of 100, I looked up my purchase history and saw that it was my third over ten years. Since I do everything one-handed, the inconvenience of snapping disks in and out of the tray was taken into account as well. Then I started checking on M-DISK and looking at stacks of old archival CDs and DVDs... One thing led to another and I'm spending $135 on Amazon plus a pack of M-DISKs. Otherwise, I would have gone for the $55 version on OWC.

I deal with a lot of elderly people, myself included, and burn more CD/DVDs than the average person. Since writing with my non-dominant hand is difficult for myself and the reader, I only buy inkjet printable media. Swift Publisher for Mac works with my old HP CD printer for $20 and is also an inexpensive substitute for InDesign (too bad it can't scan)..
https://www.swiftpublisher.com/

Although my HP c309a still prints photos and CDs, the scanner no longer works over Sonoma/Sequoia (but does on my 2012 MBPs so I sneakernet to my Studio). When my HP ink runs out, I will treat myself to this new Epson that costs the same as a full set of the HP ink.
https://www.amazon.com/Epson-XP-7100-Ex ... r_1_1?th=1

We have a great Brother 11"x17" printer that's inexpensive to run and is a real workhorse. However it's not next to my desk, isn't very good for photos and cannot print directly to CD/DVDs.

[Jim]

I have to read a DVD and just realized my last Mac with a DVD drive has passed on to the zero-waste depot. This one looks OK, it's an Amazon Choice and costs very little. What are those with new Macs using, if anything?

https://www.amazon.com/External-Portabl ... r=8-1&th=1

Wow, those are cheap. Looks like a no-brainer, even if you only get a few uses.

I'm in the video post business and bought a BRD burner that I only used for two jobs until all my deliverables went to streaming services, WeTransfer, etc. I still have a stack of unused BRD blank media.

I still get use of the burner / player for importing CDs into Apple Music to put it on my iPhone, and for extracting or removing vocals from commercial CDs for my musical hobby projects.

The burner has a FW800 port, so I have Frankensteined a FW to TB to USB-C chain of adapter cables to get it to work on my modern computers. So far, so good.

[bayswater]

I guess it is a no brainer. I’ll get it and if it does a few disks I’ll be happy. I can always get friends and relatives to copy DVDs if necessary.

Mike, on the 11x17 printer, what’s the model? I had a 11x17 Canon that died. I used it to print CAD drawings, but then cheaped out and replaced it with a 8.5x11 to save on ink and started sticking two sheets together. That was a mistake, so a decent 11x17 is something I’d like to get.

[mikehalloran]

I guess it is a no brainer. I’ll get it and if it does a few disks I’ll be happy. I can always get friends and relatives to copy DVDs if necessary.

Mike, on the 11x17 printer, what’s the model? I had a 11x17 Canon that died. I used it to print CAD drawings, but then cheaped out and replaced it with a 8.5x11 to save on ink and started sticking two sheets together. That was a mistake, so a decent 11x17 is something I’d like to get.

Ours is two generations behind this model. We’ve nicknamed it Printzilla. Ours doesn’t quite saturate colors and blacks like the HP but it’s not a photo printer (and may have improved since ours was made). Besides the two paper trays in front, there’s a rear feed for odd sizes including envelopes. Once dry, the ink is water fast, unlike the HP. I can leave a printed sheet in water over an hour without the ink running. Unlike most print drivers, Brother’s does not bundle with the macOS but the correct print and scan drivers are on the Brother web site including new updates for Sequoia. When set up for WiFi it finds and downloads firmware updates when released.

https://www.amazon.com/Brother-MFC-J69 ... ref=sr_1_2

Same except only one paper tray in front.

https://www.amazon.com/Brother-MFC-J65 ... c_dp_2_t_2

Because ours shuttles between her office and mine, I invested in one of these. Holds plenty of paper on the bottom tray:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003 ... UTF8&psc=1

[bayswater]

I assume these use Airprint? Does yours maintain a stable wifi connection? My Canon keeps forgetting the network and has to be turned off and on most of the time. A real PITA when you just need one page quickly.

[CharlzS]

I assume these use Airprint? Does yours maintain a stable wifi connection? My Canon keeps forgetting the network and has to be turned off and on most of the time. A real PITA when you just need one page quickly.

Try configuring the printer with a static IP address.

[mikehalloran]

I assume these use Airprint? Does yours maintain a stable wifi connection? My Canon keeps forgetting the network and has to be turned off and on most of the time. A real PITA when you just need one page quickly.

AirPrint is managed by a Brother utility called iPrint&Scan that works quite well. I set the printer up to see the network a few years ago and reliability has been rock solid.

https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloa ... w_us_eu_as

[bayswater]

I assume these use Airprint? Does yours maintain a stable wifi connection? My Canon keeps forgetting the network and has to be turned off and on most of the time. A real PITA when you just need one page quickly.

AirPrint is managed by a Brother utility called iPrint&Scan that works quite well. I set the printer up to see the network a few years ago and reliability has been rock solid.

https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloa ... w_us_eu_as

Thanks. The advice from Randy Singer was to get a Brother and I didn't pay attention. I'll have a look

[mhschmieder]

I bought the best one available when I moved to a Mac without a drive back in mid-2017, but it's not good enough for my standards. Unfortunately, when something falls completely into the consumer market with no pro presence left, that's how the cookie crumbles.

I find that DVD's are very iffy, so I've even considered buying a traditional player to see if more of them load and play properly. CD's are another matter, as it seems that certain labels are more likely to fail than note. Mostly smaller labels that are manufactured in Canada, possibly using a different CD base than the main American companies use, sensitive to laser angle for instance.

Mine is the LG M-DISC. There are a few variants, as I recall, and it took a bit of research to determine which combinations of CD, DVD, and/or BluRay I would need. I ultimately decided to future-proof by getting the BluRay model vs. one that handles even more variants of DVD.

My model is actually the one that Michael links in his reply. It is an OWC housing for an OEM CD/DVD drive from LG.