Re: [WinMac] Re: CD read Write for Mac running Softwindows

From: Daniel L. Schwartz (expresso[at]snip.net)
Date: Fri Mar 31 2000 - 10:46:00 PST

        Hank raises some good points - Especially in re the mechanism
manufacturers of Sony, Yamaha, Ricoh; and I *think* Toshiba plus a couple
of others.

        However, I would stick with my Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
recommendation over USB or IEEE 1394 (FireWire) for several reasons:

        A) The SCSI CD/R drivers are more mature and robust than the other
interface standards;

        B) The drive will be cross-platform, not only with pee-cee boxes but also
with older Macs. In fact even a IIci will work at 2x recording speed!;

        C) If the SCSI card is bootable, you can even boot from the CD/R. This
way, you can replace the internal CD (or DVD) player with the CD/R and not
have to worry about cabling;

        D) You'll thank me over and over when you need to connect up other SCSI
peripherals once you have that card installed!

        [And Yes, I eat my own dog food: Every NT box and "SCSI-challenged"
PowerMac desktop I work on gets a SCSI card, and sometimes the IDE drives
in G3 & G4 are also yanked for U2W replacements.

        Cheers!
        Dan

At 09:15 AM 3/31/00 -0700, Hank wrote:
>
>>I need to add a CD recorder to my Mac G4 system. Most of the other users in
>>the work group use PC's running Win98 or 2000. I need to be able to produce
>>CD's that run on either MacOS or Windows machines. Any suggestions? I
>>currently run Softwindows v5 with Win98 second edition, and MacOS 9.
>
>A couple of thoughts to follow up on Dan's note...
>
>You mention CD recorder and later mention CD-RW. Though I'm not up
>on the current issues, there's a difference between CD-R and CD-RW.
>I burn data CDs for archival purposes on a CD-R using a 68040
>machine. My understanding is that CD-R (CD-RECORDABLE)can be read on
>almost any CD-ROM drive but that is not the case with CD-RW
>(CD-READ/WRITE).
>When I last did my research 2-3 years ago, the CD-RW media were pretty
>much limited to being read on CD-RW units.
>
>My impression from scanning the offerings and specs on sites like
>APS Tech
>
> http://www.apstech.com/
>
>is that some of these units will record/operate as either CD-R or
>CD-RW.
>
>As for FireWire vs USB, I'd go for the faster FireWire to insure
>fast data transfer. Dan has a good point about SCSI. As I noted
>above I use a 68040 Mac and a SCSI connection with Toast, and it
>works very well. On the other hand, if you were to find a quality
>machine with FireWire without a great price differential over a
>SCSI drive, I'd be inclined to go with the FireWire. SCSI is
>great but IMHO FireWire is the future and why spend the money on
>an additional card if there isn't a need for it. OTOH, looking
>at the APS Tech offerings, I don't see any FireWire units.
>You can't go wrong with SCSI. (I must have three hands because
>I used OTOH twice)
>
>In the past, NewMedia magazine had reviews of CD-R hardware and
>their article helped me decide on which unit to get. Incidentally,
>the biggest factor is the manufacturer of the internal mechanism
>and there were only about 4. Companies like APS Tech buy the
>mechanisms, put them into cases, perhaps enhance the hardware
>a bit, and bundle them with software.
>
>I'd check some reviews to see what the current views are on the
>manufacturers. Check the standard periodical sites like
>MacWeek, etc. NewMedia is at...
>
> http://www.newmedia.com
>
>As for Mac versus Windows, I can't tell you about Windows but
>I can say that using a Mac and Toast is incredibly easy.
>
>But a couple of things that seem to make the recording go
>smoother and create fewer drink coasters:
>
> 1 - Watchout for programs that may put invisible files
> on your source drive. I had an optimizer that
> put an invisible file on the drive. Turning the
> optimizer off fixed the problem of the verification
> step finding a difference between the source and the
> final CD-R product
>
> 2 - I rebuild the desktop of the source hard drive
>
> 3 - Run a disk check program like Norton on the source drive
> before you begin recording.
>
>- Hank
>
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