External DVD Burners for Mac

[lupin]

Well, first just about all the external DVD burners I've seen only says "for windows" on the box. I wonder if there's going to be any drivers problem on OSX10.3.

Other than that, what should I look for? So far I've seen Iomega and Sony. The Iomega is $100 cheaper (4X vs 8X) - which is good, but also makes me a little worried about its reliablity. I need this to back up the photos I shoot, since I shoot about 1-2 gigs everyday, CDRs are getting inconvenient. I'll probably going to try to find a Yamaha, Plextor, or LaCie (famous in UK, don't know about US).

Currently it seems that DVD+RW is the most accepted format?

 

[gsellis]

First, I know NOTHING about Macs of any use whatsoever. I thought the Mac DVD was a Pioneer, but I could be mistaken.

You could possibly use a Firewire Enclosure and an internal DVD recorder. The Pioneer 107D is cheap as is the Plextor. Asking here will get a few recommendations for different burners. I have a Speeze Cooler enclosure that I got from newegg for $50 that I am using with an older 104 drive. So, that would be about $180 for an external using a new one.

Whether that work on a Mac, I cannot say. It does work on Intel/AMD platforms in XP.

 

[Gurck]

So far I've seen Iomega and Sony. The Iomega is $100 cheaper (4X vs 8X) - which is good, but also makes me a little worried about its reliablity

Lol, worry about the sony's reliability I'd recommend avoiding the Sony even if it were cheaper. As far as the rest of it, can't comment, don't know macs.

 

[Eug]

1) Check my sig.

2) Most name brand internal recorders should work in a standard 3rd party external Firewire enclosure. This is what I do. Or you could use the name brand external Firewire recorders.

3) You could use USB 2, but Apple's supports Firewire the best (since they invented it).

4) Get one that supports DVD-R/W or both +/-. + works on the Mac, but I don't think all the built-in software does.

5) If you go with a VERY recent drive or some esoteric drive, it will still likely work in programs like Roxio's Toast, but may not work natively with Apple's own software (at least until Apple decides to add drivers in the OS, which could take a few months).

 

[Paulson]

Lacie uses Pioneer dvd burners in their external drives...

I got one for a teacher and it works great.