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Samsung DVD Burner Mac Compatible?

post #1 of 9
1/29/08 at 10:15am
Thread Starter 
Are there compatibility issues with external DVD burners? I've become used to not worrying about it with hard drives.

Specifically, I ordered a Samsung SE-S184M USB 2.0 External 18X Lightscribe DVD+-RW after seeing a link on DealMac.com (although MAY have been non Mac specific dealnews, since I was looking at 'other deals"). After I ordered it, did some more research and found Samsung's documentation only mentioning Windows.

Does anyone know if this burner will work with my Mac (Mini, latest one)?
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post #2 of 9
1/29/08 at 10:37am
First I must scold you for not getting a Firewire drive

It should work, the iLife apps **may** not see it as a native or supported drive but Disk Utility and Finder won't care. At worst, you would have to pick up a copy of Toast 8.

10.4 or 10.5? Guess Leopard coverage is pretty wide for 3rd party burners. Otherwise, try patchburn: http://www.patchburn.de/
15" MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz Unibody | MacBook 2.4 Ghz Unibody | AirPort Extreme - Gigabit | "Sawtooth" PowerMac G4 in B&W (G3) case, 1.2Ghz, 1TB Mirrored RAID
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15" MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz Unibody | MacBook 2.4 Ghz Unibody | AirPort Extreme - Gigabit | "Sawtooth" PowerMac G4 in B&W (G3) case, 1.2Ghz, 1TB Mirrored RAID
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post #3 of 9
1/29/08 at 10:56am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by kmac1036 View Post

First I must scold you for not getting a Firewire drive

It should work, the iLife apps **may** not see it as a native or supported drive but Disk Utility and Finder won't care. At worst, you would have to pick up a copy of Toast 8.

10.4 or 10.5? Guess Leopard coverage is pretty wide for 3rd party burners. Otherwise, try patchburn: http://www.patchburn.de/


Thanks! I have the older version of Toast, Titanium 7. Hopefully that'll work.

It's a brand new Mac Mini--10.5. I agree with you on Firewire, was my first preference, but this was the best deal I was able to find for a brand name burner. $50 delivered. I also wanted the Lightscribe capability. The LaCie Mac specific version is $110, + $10 delivery.

Sound like it's worth a try for the money anyway.

Since you brought up the firewire issue, I've had to take back two external firewire drives that kept giving me wierd errors, even after reformatting. They were both Western Digital MyBook drives, so hopefully it was just an issue with the drives and not the Mini.

Any known issues with Mini firewire ports?
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post #4 of 9
1/31/08 at 8:01pm
I’ve been looking for an inexpensive external DVD drive with software compatible with Mac. Not easy to find any in the $50 range with software. I’ve zeroed in on the Samsung S184M and Memorex 16X16 Dual Format External (Doesn’t seem to have a model no.). Reviews indicate that the Samsung doesn’t come with Mac useful software and although the Memorex comes with Nero express 6.6, Nero is trial and expires.
The Memorex has both FireWire 400 and USB 2.0, but only 16X while the USB. 2.0 only, Samsung is 18 X.
I will be using this with my old G4 800 w/ Panther, but will use the burner to upgrade to Tiger.

The Memorex seems to be a discontinued model and doesn't come with LightScribe. Is that a big deal? The online store selling it is Vanns in Montana.

Has anyone had experience with either the Samsung or the Memorex?

Has anyone used a freeware or shareware software download that they would recommend?

Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

Thanks
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post #5 of 9
2/1/08 at 3:02am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the tip on the Memorex. I've already got burning software (Toast Titanium 7), so as long as OS X, Toast, and the drive itself are compatible, I'll be happy. The Samsung is supposed to be delivered today, so I'll just try it out and see if I can get it to work. I'll post my results back here in the next couple of days.

I want to have the LightScribe capability for some small business work I want to do--I figure it'll make it look more professional.

On a side note, I'm suspecting my firewire issues are due to a bad cable, even though it was a brand new Belkin firewire cable.
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post #6 of 9
2/4/08 at 8:03am
I've had horrible trouble with WD stuff and could be tho a bad cable... have said brand of cable myself and never an issue. Those I think have lifetime warranty thru belkin.

We have the Memorex burner here at work, we use on PCs. Software is PC only from the disc. The lightscribe softwware I use is from Lacie. Not sure if it will work on other brands tho, it's a free download... http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10096

I bought my drive as a refurb, so I saved a little. newegg.com has good prices on lacie stuff & others as well that work with Mac.
15" MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz Unibody | MacBook 2.4 Ghz Unibody | AirPort Extreme - Gigabit | "Sawtooth" PowerMac G4 in B&W (G3) case, 1.2Ghz, 1TB Mirrored RAID
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15" MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz Unibody | MacBook 2.4 Ghz Unibody | AirPort Extreme - Gigabit | "Sawtooth" PowerMac G4 in B&W (G3) case, 1.2Ghz, 1TB Mirrored RAID
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post #7 of 9
2/4/08 at 8:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by kmac1036 View Post


http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10096

I bought my drive as a refurb, so I saved a little. newegg.com has good prices on lacie stuff & others as well that work with Mac.

Thanks for the tips
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post #8 of 9
2/4/08 at 10:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by F1Turbo View Post

Are there compatibility issues with external DVD burners? I've become used to not worrying about it with hard drives.

Specifically, I ordered a Samsung SE-S184M USB 2.0 External 18X Lightscribe DVD+-RW after seeing a link on DealMac.com (although MAY have been non Mac specific dealnews, since I was looking at 'other deals"). After I ordered it, did some more research and found Samsung's documentation only mentioning Windows.

Does anyone know if this burner will work with my Mac (Mini, latest one)?


Hello.....Your question is probably already answered...as you must have your drive by now...

I have had the Samsung External DVD writer model SE-S184 for some time now. It is quite reliable. My only issue with it is that it rarely, never actually, burns at the rated Max burn speed it is capable of. I'm sure that there is a perfectly logical reason.

My main interest in purchasing this drive is that my MBP's internal DVD is far too sensitive to make watching DVDs feasible (every little scratch is like a mountain, and tends to crash my DVD app).

edit: I should mention that I _only_ use Toast 8 when burning and Apple's DVD app for playing DVD's.
an aye for an eye, the truth is a lie; a fish cannot whistle & neither can I.
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an aye for an eye, the truth is a lie; a fish cannot whistle & neither can I.
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post #9 of 9
2/5/08 at 5:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by user23 View Post

Hello.....Your question is probably already answered...as you must have your drive by now...

I have had the Samsung External DVD writer model SE-S184 for some time now. It is quite reliable. My only issue with it is that it rarely, never actually, burns at the rated Max burn speed it is capable of. I'm sure that there is a perfectly logical reason.

My main interest in purchasing this drive is that my MBP's internal DVD is far too sensitive to make watching DVDs feasible (every little scratch is like a mountain, and tends to crash my DVD app).

edit: I should mention that I _only_ use Toast 8 when burning and Apple's DVD app for playing DVD's.

Thanks! I did get it in this past weekend, and got it up and burning.

Did you get any Lightscribe software with yours? I bought mine from Eaglebit, and thought it was used, but actually bulk order sale (no box, just individual parts bubble wrapped). The only software I got was Nero--was wondering if anything else came with yours. Thanks again
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