Surely I don't have to buy third party software for the Mac. 'Good news for MAC users: the Samsung Slim External DVD Writer is not only.
I'm on a MacBook Pro OSX version 10.4.11. I've been using this Mac for years, but I'm still such a beginner when it comes to Macs. My internal DVD-RW stopped working forever ago. I recently purchased a Samsung External Slim DVD-W SE-S084C/RSRN so that I can update to Snow Leopard. The SE-S084C requires 2 USB ports, so I also purchased a Belkin USB hub. When I plug everything in, nothing happens. I tried installing a driver through the Samsung support site, but no luck.
I read somewhere that PatchBurn might help, but it didn't or I'm not using it correctly. I'm wondering if I somehow need to tell my Mac to stop recognizing the internal drive so that it'll start recognizing the external drive? I don't know. My Dell-certified technician girlfriend said that might be the problem, but I'm not sure how I'd fix it if it was. Thanks in advance! I just bought the same samsung external dvd drive and a targus mac-compatible usb-hub hoping to bypass my no longer working internal dvd drive. Semi-success: The desktop shows the movie dvd icon, but double-clicking on the icon does not launch the movie, or if I go to the DVD Player icon in the dock display, double-clicking that gives me the same/old error msg: 'There was an initialization error A valid DVD drive could not be found.70012' Do I need new/different software to watch a dvd movie on this external dvd drive?
Thanks for any help. I had same problem.but tried something that worked when DVD stopped on older G4 Notebook.a DVD Cleaner.which cost about 15 bucks.but Amazon has variety of prices.cheap if it works.and it worked. I have a 2.8 ghz w MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868: It worked!! I can't say it will work for all the posters.or even most.but there are about five separate threads with same problem that I had.I'll wager that it works for a goodly number of youse guys.
I'm not recommending a brand cuz I DON'T THINK IT MATTERS If you're problem is disc cleaning. I hope it works for all of youse guys!! I think this is the reason. Thanks, souch3!
Since my internal DVD stopped working, I bought external Samsung (I forgot the model) and when I came back home it didn't work. So I returned it, and yesterday I decided to buy more expensive one - Iomega SuperSlim DVD. For my frustration I didn't work either.
Note, that I have small usb hub connected to one of my USB ports (the one on the right side). After souch3's advice, I disconnected my usb hub, and used the USB cable I took with the DVD writer - it has two USB connections at the other side. Until now I was trying to connect both connections to the hub, but when I removed the USB hub, I connected the 1st USB connector to the left USB port, and the second - to the right USB port.
Now it works! So, I guess I had to disconnect my USB hub and whatever I've had connected and connect the external DVD writer to my 2 USB ports? This is so annoying! Maybe I'll see if it's possible to by a power cable for the DVD writer. It's not mentioned the power supply requirement though.
Really annoying. Hello everybody. Thought I'd throw a few suggestions your way. First, DVDPlayer doesn't natively support external drives unless there is an internal still connected and functional. If you hex-edit the file that it uses to identify the player, however, you can change the word Internal to External and viola, you can use any external that your system can read with. Now.if you don't know which file.
Read this, The file locations are similar across OSX versions. Once you've done that. Remember that mac wasn't designed to use lesser hardware. That said, most of the entire market would qualify as lesser hardware by their standards. However, you can get by with a few simple rules: 1.
For burning dvd or higher size, 3gb ram and at least 4.5gb hard disk are necessary 2. Those drives that come with nero or similar are more compatible with the disc-burning architecture and will function with most mac apps that use it 3. You'll need a fast enough processor, 1.83ghz or higher for DL dvd, or blu-ray. You'll need an app compatible with your media; toast, burn.app, etc.
If you experience issues try the following: 1. Clean out caches with ice-clean or similar 2.
Repair permissions 3. Use your system profiler and check the connection for info; if blank, the connection, the burner or the media is unsupported, so work backward (try more compatible media like cd or another format like swapping -r for +r), but only swap connections or burners if you are sure (if usb connection, try another powered port, try not using a hub, try a different wire; if internal, cannot swap either in most cases, but if sata, try using a usb-sata device to connect). When you've exhausted all the other possibilities, replace the burner. The most common problems of this nature can occur as hardware failure, like burnt pcb, or motor failure. By replacing the drive, if you still have a connection problem, you may have a deeper issue that requires more serious repair (repairing the computer). Apple Footer. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only.
Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed in the conversations captured in an electronic forum and Apple can therefore provide no guarantee as to the efficacy of any proposed solutions on the community forums. Apple disclaims any and all liability for the acts, omissions and conduct of any third parties in connection with or related to your use of the site. All postings and use of the content on this site are subject to the.
With more and more laptops and devices being equipped with flash memory, that often means it becomes too expensive to get a good amount of storage built-in. And, with so many more of us travelling around for work, working from home or needing to use more than one machine, it's more important than ever to have an external drive of sorts. Thankfully, there's a lot of them around. And most of the portable options are small enough to go in a pocket. There's both SSD (solid state) and HDD (more traditional style hard-drive), with the former being a bit more expensive, but also faster, smaller and more portable. They're also more likely to last you a long time because there are no moving parts.
For editing movies and photos on an external drive, nothing really gets the job done like an SSD. SSDs - Small and speedy We've tested each of the following of the previous few months, using each of them to edit 4K video footage in Final Cut Pro, keeping the original files on the external drive, and each of them performed really well, with no real frame-drop issues, slow export or render times. So, regardless of which of the following you get, you'll enjoy the speediness and efficiency. Judging them based on portability, design, performance and value for money, here are our top picks. Our top recommendation: Pocket-lint Samsung T5.
57.3 x 74 mm (only 51 grams). V-NAND flash memory. Up to 540MB/s transfer speeds. Compatible with USB 3.1, 3.0 and 2.0. Type-C and Type A cables included. Works with Android phones too.
250GB/500GB/1TB/2TB storage options Samsung's T-series external SSDs have become a firm favourite in the world of portable drives, and it's easy to see why with the latest version: the T5. It's sleek and super portable thanks to its small size. It's just 57.3mm wide and 74mm long and weighs only 51 grams. What's more, it's got a stylish aluminium case that's rounded at the edges, and can survive drops up to 2 meters. It has a USB-C port, and comes with both Type-C to Type-C and Type-A to Type-C USB 3.1 cables, so it'll work with any modern MacBook or PC. What's more, you can even plug it into the Type-C port of your Android phone, and the phone recognises it as external storage, with the ability to read/write to the drive straight away.
It's incredibly versatile. It's speedy too, we put together a batch of video files totalling almost 10GB (9.93GB), and timed how long it took to get from the MacBook Pro desktop onto the T5 SSD. We stopped the timer at 20.58 seconds. So it's fast, durable, portable, good looking and incredibly versatile. It has no real flaws and is the easiest SSD to recommend. Price wise, you can get the lowest capacity 250GB model for around £75, with the prices effectively doubling as you double the storage.
The best buy is probably the 500GB model, which has an average price of around £120, but has been seen as low as £95 during special discount periods on Amazon. There's very little difference, frankly, in terms of performance for a lot of these drives, and while they might not be the versatile all-rounder that the T5 is, they're very close and each offer something unique that swings them more in favour depending on which elements are most important to you.
Pocket-lint Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD - for ultra portability. 49.6 x 96.2 mm (38.9 grams). IP55 rating water/dust resistance.
Up to 550MB/s transfers. USB 3.1 - Type-C. 250GB/500GB/1TB/2TB storage options Testing the transfer speeds from our MacBook Pro desktop to the Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD, we got virtually identical results to the Samsung. The same 9.3GB collection of files was transferred in 20.66 seconds, and the discrepancy easily ignorable, and probably explained by the pace of human reaction, rather than the speed of the transfer itself. So performance is essentially as good, but there's one real reason you might want this over the Samsung: design. Not only is the Sandisk (somehow) considerably smaller and lighter than the T5, but it's also got some water and dust resistance.
You can't submerge it, but it'll survive the odd accidental splash. As a bonus, it also has a handy little cutout in the corner to feed a carabiner through so you can attach it to your keys if you want to. Pricing is slightly higher than Samsung's offering, with the 250GB model starting at around £96. Again, as will be the case for most of these drives, the best bet is the 500GB model which has been as low as £99, but averages around £137 on Amazon. Pocket-lint Gtech G-Drive Mobile SSD - rugged and reliable.
50 x 95mm (86 grams). IP67 water/dust resistance. 3M drop tested, 5 year warranty. Up to 560MB/s transfers.
USB 3.1 gen 2 - Type-C. Shock and vibration resistant design. 500GB/1TB/2TB storage options The G-Drive Mobile SSD is taller and thicker than either the Samsung T5 or Sandisk Extreme SSDs, but what it lacks (slightly) in portability, it more than makes up for in durability. Its external surfaces are covered in a shock-absorbing plastic/rubber material, ensuring that it can survive falls up to three metres. What's more, it has IP67 rated water and dust resistance, which means it can survive in up to one metre of water for up to 30 minutes. As a bonus, you also get a limited five year warranty as standard. You don't really lose out on performance either, with Gtech claiming up to 560MB/s transfer speeds.
Testing using the same selection of files, the G-Drive Mobile SSD took 24.4 seconds to transfer. We tested it a few times just to be sure, and it was consistently around four to five seconds slower than the previous two drives, despite claiming faster top speeds. Still, it's hardly slow, just not quite as fast as the T5 or Sandisk Extreme. For the G-Drive, pricing for the 500GB model averages around £130, with prices hitting as low as £99 during special deal seasons on Amazon. Pocket-lint Samsung X5 Thunderbolt drive - Faster than fast. 2,800MB/s sequential read speeds. 2,300MB/s sequential write speeds.
Thunderbolt 3 connection. 62 x 199 mm (150 grams). 2m drop protection + 3 year warranty.
500GB/1TB/2TB storage options If you want a stupendously fast external drive, look no further. The Samsung X5 is it, featuring sequential read speeds up to 2,800MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 2,300MB/s. Using the same 9.3GB collection of seven video files, we tested the transfer speeds and were blown away. Those same files that take 20-25 seconds on the previously mentioned drives took less than 6.5 seconds on the Samsung X5. You may be wondering, why with those speeds is it not our top recommendation?
Two simple reasons: it is pretty expensive, and it only achieves those speeds if you use a Thunderbolt 3 port on your Mac/Laptop. If you can afford it, and you have TB3 ports on your computer, it's well worth it. It's so ridiculously fast. Taking a different approach to the T5, Samsung clad the X5 in plastic, but in the form that looks more like the outer shell of a sports car than an external drive. What's more, inside it has a protection guard built from magnesium and a heat sink to ensure the NVMe SSD inside is kept at a temperature below 45 degrees C. All of this innovation and design comes at a cost, both literally in terms of cash outlay and in portability. It's not exactly huge, but it's three times heavier than the Samsung T5, and considerably taller, wider and thicker.
Still, it's not difficult to carry around and comfortably fits in a pocket. With prices starting at around £340 for the 500GB, and reaching over £1,100 for the 2TB model, it's definitely one of the most expensive drives on our list. Pocket-lint Seagate Fast SSD - Sleek, practical, affordable. 94 x 79 mm (81.6 grams). USB 3.0 - Type-C.
250GB/500GB/1TB/2TB storage options. Up to 540MB/s transfer speeds It may not be as striking to look at as the Samsung X5, but the Seagate Fast SSD has sensible stylings that look like they're designed to match those silver aluminium laptops you see being carried around. It's quite square, but with round corners and a pretty slim design, it's easy to carry around or slip and out of a bag compartment or pocket. Those same seven video files we've used to test speeds were used on the Seagate, and took 23 seconds to transfer across, showing similar speeds to all the other drives, although slightly slower than both the Sandisk and the Samsung T5. It's no slouch, and - on average over time - it's the most affordable of the lot. Pricing starts at around £75 for the 250GB model, with the 500GB version averaging around £114 on Amazon. Pocket-lint LaCie Rugged SSD - Rugged, secure and fast.
14 x 25 x 8.9 mm (227 grams). USB 3.1 port and built-in Thunderbolt. Up to 510 MB/s transfer speeds. Automatic backups and AES 256-bit encryption. 3 year rescue data recovery As SSD standards go, the LaCie is big and bulky but - as the name suggests - it's very durable.
It can survive drops up to 2 metres, and conforms to Military Standard 810-F. It's recognisable instantly too, thanks to its bright orange chunky, texturised silicone outer casing that absorbs all the shocks and bumps you can throw its way. Don't confuse its chunky, hefty looks for slow pace though.
It's just as speedy as most of the others on this list, thanks to that SSD storage. Using our same selection of video files, it transferred them in around 20.2 seconds, bringing it up to speed with the Samsung T5 and SanDisk options.
As a bonus, for those who still have computers rocking the old style Thunderbolt port, it has one of those connectors built into the unit, wrapped around safely in the rubber sleeve. It's not cheap mind, the 500GB model costs a hefty £229, and the 1TB is around £422. Still, if you're someone who wants durability and security, it may just be worth it for you. A couple of non-SSD models. If you're not necessarily needing your transfer speeds to be really fast, and just need some storage for backup to take with you on your travels, there are a couple of options worth looking at. The big draw for HDD over SSD is cost. 1TB of regular HDD storage will cost you less than 250GB of SSD storage.
Pocket-lint Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim. Only 9.6mm thin. 2 months free Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan.
5,400rpm As external HDDs go, the Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim has a lot going for it. It's attractive, covered in a dimpled sheet of aluminium and - as the name suggests - it's really slim. It's compatible with both Windows and mac OS, and is very affordable compared to the SSDs in the list above. A 1TB drive will cost you just £54, and while the speeds aren't quite fast enough for live editing of RAW photos or 4K video, the transfer speeds are reasonable.
We got those same video files as we've been using previously, dragged them across, and they'd written to the drive in around 1min 18 seconds. Pocket-lint Toshiba Canvio Basics - the even more affordable option.
78 x 109 x 14 mm. 150 grams. USB 3.0 If you're looking for really great value for money, the Toshiba Canvio Basics is one way to go. For a 1TB model, you'll pay just £43. It's compatible with USB 3.0, so it's not a snail, and it's compatible with Xbox and PS4, although it is formatted to NTFS for Windows machines, rather than the system Mac uses.
It can be reformatted to work with Mac, however, or you can download plugins to make your Mac read NTFS-formatted drives. In our file transfer test, it was slightly faster than the Seagate Backup Plus, but not by much. The 9.3GB collection of videos transferred across in around 1min 12 seconds.