" PatchBurn 3 has arrived. Besides a lot of bugfixes it will give you true "vendor support level" in the Apple System Profiler and support for iDVD 4 with many internal and external DVD writers. (Patchburn 1/2 usually added iDVD support for internal drives but you had to use the tip noted in 2003 here (two files placed in user home folder) to allow burning to external drives with iDVD.-M.) Please download the current english beta at: http://www.patchburn.de
PatchBurn 3 is still free. Any feedback would be great. Write to patchburn@mac.com
Greetings, Chris "

Thousands of readers have used Patchburn to add burn support for unsupported drives - many thanks to Chris for providing these and eliminating all the "hand work" that used to be required.

Note/Tip: For those that see "An exception of class NilObjectException was not handled. The application must shut down." after applying patchburn, a reader that saw this problem (after using patchburn with DVR-106DA drive) said repairing permissions, then re-applying Patchburn solved it.

10.3.3 Update Notes: As expected, 10.3.3 adds native burn support for the 8x DVD+/-R Pioneer DVR-107D (aka A07). Remove any Lacie or Patchburn II profiles. To remove patchburn II's profile, use the "Expert" mode. The "Expert mode" toggle is in the upper right corner of the Patchburn II main window (toggle arrow - opens up a panel). Once the Expert Mode is opened - see the button at the bottom of the "Advanced Settings" section that says "remove all Patchburn driver". (the profile is normally installed in the /Library/DiscRecording/DeviceProfiles folder if you want to manually remove it - but try Patchburn II's "expert" mode first)
For Lacie Profile removal, the first release/download of the Lacie profile was a manual install and had directions on where you had to install the profile (just delete it) - later Lacie downloads have an installer but as noted above - Look in the boot drive's root /Library /DiscRecording/DeviceProfiles folder. It's likely they installed the profile there (to be available to any user). If it's not there, check your user library folder, but I suspect they installed it in the root library folder.
FYI: If you removed all lacie/patchburn profiles and your DVR-107D is still not shown as "Apple supported/shipped" in ASP - check that the drive ID is the standard "DVD-RW DVR-107D" - and not missing a dash ("-") between the "DVD-RW". Some (rare) drives have a missing "-" and will not be natively burn supported in 10.3.3. (See FAQ's DVD section for notes on the same issue with some (again rare) DVR-106D drives.)

Lacie Burn Support Profile: (from the Mar. 24th, 2004 www.xlr8yourmac.com news page) Lacie has updated their 10.3.x burn support profile to add some additional drive mechanisms compared to their previous release from Feb. 2004. (Note - For 10.3.3 users, if your Lacie case has the Pioneer DVR-107D mechanism, do not install this profile, as 10.3.3 added native support for that drive model.) Here's the info from the March 22nd, 2004 updated Lacie support/drivers page (select optical as drive type from the menu there) The previously posted profile required a manual install by the user but the latest download includes an installer.

" LaCie DiscRecording Support for Mac OS X 10.3.2 or later

The LaCie DiscRecording installer will add LaCie drive support (see below) to burning applications that use the DiscRecording framework. This includes but is not limited to, the Finder, iTunes, iPhoto, Backup, Disk Utility and DVD Studio Pro. (listing below updated for their May 3rd, 2004 updated release)

Porsche DVD±RW (8x) based on Lite-On SOHW-812S

d2 DVD MULTI Drive based on Matsushita (Panasonic) SW-9572

Porsche Slim DVD±RW (4x) based on Pioneer DVR-K13

Porsche Slim DVD±RW (4x) based on NEC ND-5500A

d2 COMBO based on Lite-On COMBO SOHC-5232K

Pocket and Porsche Slim DVD±RW (2x) based on Pioneer DVR-K12D

Pocket DVD-RW (2x) based on Pioneer DVR-K11D

d2 and Porsche DVD±RW (4x) based on NEC ND-1300A

d2 DVD±RW (8x) based on NEC ND-2500A

d2 DVD±RW (8x) based on Pioneer DVR-107D (Note: 10.3.3 and later natively support the DVR-107D, so do not install this profile if you are running 10.3.3 or later)

The Lacie profile should also work for the listed drive models even if not in a Lacie case - I'm using the Feb. 2004 profile with an NEC ND-2500A in a MDD G4 tower. (If not just use Patchburn II as many already have. As mentioned previously below - although Patchburn II automated profiles usually are fully functional for iApps burn support, Apple System Profiler reports "DRDeviceSupportLevelUnsupported" where the 'hand made' profiles like this Lacie one report "Vendor Supported".)

Patchburn profile ASP reporting: Although Patchburn II automated profiles usually are fully functional for iApps burn support, Apple System Profiler reports "DRDeviceSupportLevelUnsupported" where the 'hand made' profiles like this Lacie one report "Vendor Supported". (One MDD owner with -dual- Superdrives installed (DVR-107D master, DVR-104 slave) said the lacie profile worked w/iDVD where the PB II one didn't unless the DVR-104 drive wasn't present.) OS X 10.3.3 update is rumored to have native support for the DVR-107D drive, but it's not released yet.

Summary by Drive Brand (see below for full reports except where the drive model in the listing mentions 'drive db' - see drive database for those full reports/details.)

Successful Reports (by Brand/Model - drives are IDE/ATAPI unless noted otherwise)
• Acer (Benq) 32x10x40x (from drive db report, but said finder burns verify failed)
• Aopen CRW5232 (52x32x52x) (from drive db report, in fw case)
• Aopen CRW4048
• ASUS CRW 5224-A (52x24x52) (from firewire case/imac drive db report)
• BCE 52x24x52x (in FW/USB case - from imac owner drive db report)
• BTC BCO4016IM CD-RW/DVD-RW (not clear if actual test burns done)
• BTC 52x24x52x CDRW (from drive db report)
• Cyberdrive DVD+RW DX082D (from drive db report - unknown mechanism)
• Emprex DRW 1008IM (from drive db report)
• Freecom USB2 DVD+/-RW drive (actual mechanism/model unknown)
• Hi-Val 52x24x52x (from drive db report, unknown mechanism)
• Hitachi/LG GMA-4020B (DVD-R + DVD-RAM) (drive db report)
• HP dvd300i (from drive db report)
• HP HP 420i (from drive db report)
• Iomega CD-RW 48x24x24x (USB)
• Khypermedia CW099D 52x24x52x (from drive db report)
• LG GSA-4082B (DVD+R/RW 8x4x, DVD-R/RW 8x4x, DVD-RAM 3x, CD-R/RW 24x16x32) (from drive db report)
• LG GSA-4081B DVD burner in FW case (iTunes OK, no finder burning, drive db report from iMac slot-loading owner)
• LG GCC-4520B combo drive (per drive db report. 4480B has native support)
• LG GCE-8481B CDRW (from drive db report)
• LG GCE-8525B (from drive db report)
• LG GCE-8523B (from drive db report)
• LG GSA-4081B DVD burner (from drive db reports, one noted no DVD-RAM support, one did)
• Lite-on SOHW-812S (8x DVD multi-format burner) (from drive db report)
• Lite-On LDW-451S (DVD multi-format burner) (from drive db report)
• Lite-On LDW-811S (DVD multi-format burner) (drive db reports)
• Lite-On LDW-851S (8x DVD burner, from drive db report)
• Lite-On LTR-24103S (from drive db report)
• Lite-On LSC-24082K notebook combo drive
• Lite-On LTR-32123S (from drive db report)
• Lite-On LTC-48161H combo drive
• Lite-On LTR-48125S CDRW
• Lite-On SOHR-5238S 52x32x52x (from drive db report)
• Matshita UJDA330 notebook CDRW (from drive db report)
• Matshita UJDA740 notebook Combo drive
• Matshita UJDA710 notebook Combo drive (from drive db report)
• Matshita UJ-825S slotted 4x DVD-R/2.4x DVD+R burner (from drive db report. 2nd report filed under "DVD-R + DVD RAM" category)
• Matshita UJ-811 notebook DVD-R/DVD-RAM burner
• Matshita UJ-810 notebook DVD-R/DVD-RAM burner (from drive db report)
• MediaStor CW5205 (52x24x52x in FW case)
• Memorex 52MAXX CDRW (iTunes OK, no finder burn support)
• Memorex 48MAXX CDRW (iTunes and finder burn support per Drive db posting)
• Mitsumi CR-48X8TE CDRW
• MSI MS-8348 (48x16x48x) (from drive db report)
• NEC ND-2510A (Dual layer burner) (from drive db report)
• NEC ND-2500A (8x DVD+/-R burner)
• NEC ND-1300A (came in Lacie FW "porche" case - from drive db report)
• NEC ND-1100A DVD+RW (didn't note if test burns done)
• NEC ND-1000A DVD+RW (from drive db report)
• Optorite CW5202 (52x24x52x) (from drive db report)
• Panasonic KXL-CB20AN USB combo drive (from drive db report)
• Panasonic LF-M621U (from drive db report)
• Philips PBRW5232L (52x32x52x) (from drive db report)
• Pioneer DVR-108 (16x DVD-R/+R burner, 4x Dual Layer DVD+R burner - see report below)
• Pioneer DVR-A07/107 (8x DVD-R/+R burner native support in 10.3.3 and later)
• Pioneer DVR-K11 (from drive db report)
• SCSI Plextor PX-R412Ci (4x CDR/12x read)
• Plextor Premium 52x32x52x (from drive db report)
• Plextor PX-708A DVD/CD burner (iDVD ejects tray when burn button pressed, but didn't have a DVD-R disc to test burning)
• Plextor PX-508A DVD+R/+RW (from drive db report w/USB case)
• Plextor PX-W4012TU (from drive db report w/USB case)
• Plextor CD-R W4824A
• SCSI SCSI Ricoh MP7060SE (6x4x24x) (from 8600 drive db report)
• Ricoh MP7200A CDRW
• Samsung SW-216B CDRW (drive db report)
• Samsung SW-252B CDRW (drive db report)
• Samsung SM-308B combo drive (from drive db report)
• Samsung SM-332B combo drive (iTunes OK but had finder burn verification errors)
• Samsung SM-352B combo drive (iTunes OK, but some noted no finder burning support)
  (Note: See linked Samsung reports section below for a tip on correcting the drive type string that may help with samsung combo drive problems. One Jan 22, 2004 SM-352B owner w/B&W G3 said alll worked well incl. finder burning)
• Sony DRU-700A (Dual Layer Burner) (from drive db report)
• Sony DRU-530A 8x DVD burner (from drive db reports)
• Sony CRX320A CDRW (from drive db report)
• Sony CRX175A1 CDRW drive
• Sony CRX230A/E CDRW drive (from drive db report)
• Sony CRX300E combo drive (from drive db report)
• Sony CRX220E1 CDRW drive (in QPS FW case)
• Sony DW-U12A DVD/CD burner (from drive db report)
• Sony DW-U14A DVD/CD burner (in OWC FW/USB case, some FW cased DW-U14A owners reported problems however, see reports below)
• TDK 840G (firewire cased) DVD/CD burner (iTunes/Finder ok but said iPhoto shows no device.)
• TDK FE-482448 (CDRW4008B) CDRW
• TDK CDRW4800B CDRW (from drive db report)
• TDK VeloCD CDRW (16x10x40x) (from drive db report)
• Teac CD-W552E (from drive db report)
• Toshiba SD-R5272 (8x DVD+R/-R burner - from drive db report)
• Toshiba Toshiba SD-R5272 (from drive db report)
• Toshiba 2102 notebook combo drive (from drive db report)
• Utmost Technology 52x24x52x (from drive db report)
• SCSI HP 9200i (didn't not drive speed - from 85/8600 drive db report)
  
  Problem Reports:
  
• I/O Magic Dual format 8x DVD burner (from drive db report, noted iDVD burn errors, assuming he used DVD-R discs w/iDVD. iTunes burning OK he said)
• Khypermedia CW099D (52x24x52x) (finder problems, itunes ok, from drive db report - unknown mechanism)
• SCSI Yamaha 4260 (from drive db report, patchburn author says typical of all SCSI drives)
• Matshita UJDA-710 notebook Combo drive (errors - see report below, not typical based on later reports in the drive db.)
• Philips PCRW1208JR (FW 12x8x32x "Jackrabbit" - from drive db report)
• IDE Plextor PX-W4012A (buffer underrun errors, from drive db report)
• Que Que!Fire 12x10x32
• Que QPS USB 1.1 4x4x8x CDRW (possible case bridge/Panther support issue)
• Sony DW-U14A in FW case (unknown brand case)
• Samsung SW-252B CDRW (drive db report noted no burn support)
• One Samsung SM-352B combo drive user saw an error - "An exception of class NilObjectException was not handled. The application must shut down." (try repairing permissions one reader said)
• One Samsung SM-332B combo drive said neither Finder nor iTunes burn support was working

Aopen Drive Reports: (Note: they do not actually make drive mechanisms)

(added 1/15/2004)
" AOPEN CR-RW 40x12x48 in a generic external firewire case. (used w/iBook 2002) Patchburn II beta installed flawlessly, and after a reboot I was able to load up a CDR and write it at my chosen speed. Burn went fine, disk remounted as a CD on the desktop and could be browsed without any problem. Drive worked fine in iTunes too.
Marcus "

BTC Drive Reports: (Note: they do not actually make drive mechanisms)

(added 1/20/2004 from drive db report)
BTC 52x24x52x in G4/AGP tower
" PatchBurn II, found on xlr8yourmac, has made it possible to burn with iTunes, the Finder and iPhoto on a $37 dirve from Fry's. I've had this drive since 10.2 and counld not utilize it except on Toast. Now it does the trick. It boots (from CD) also.
Thanks, Don P. "

(added 1/14/2004)
" Good for BTC - BCO4016IM - CD-RW/DVD-RW . Aldo. "

I asked Aldo if he tested finder burns (or only iTunes) and if he had iDVD to test for DVD-R burning support. (Please note if you've actually burned CDs after the mod in the finder, etc. to check for any functional errors.)

Freecom Drive Reports: (Note: they do not actually make drive mechanisms)

(added 1//2004)
" Got a Freecom USB2 DVD+/-RW drive, works a treat with Toast & Patchburn lets it work natively with 10.3. Don't have iDVD (until Apple send the new iLife....) & only have +RW discs so can't try DVD Studio Pro, yet!
Rgds, Ric :-) "

iDVD won't burn to external drives (unless apple changes that) and up to iDVD3 it won't burn to DVD+R discs (not sure if iDVD4 will).

Iomega Drive Reports: (Note: they do not actually make drive mechanisms)

(added 1/15/2004)
" USB Iomega CD-RW 48x24x24x used w/iMac slot-loading (10.3.2)
Patch Burn worked smoothly for me while using OS X 10.2! I then lost the hacked driver when I upgraded to Panther. Then downloaded the Beta version of Patch Burn II ran it, restarted and back in business again!!! Burning bootable disks again with Disk Copy!
Thank you soooo much for picking up Apple's chunks once again!
Daniel B. "

Liteon Drive Reports:

(added 1/15/2004)
" Liteon LTR-48125S (in Firewire case used w/iMac slot-loading)
PatchBurn II is working well burning with iTunes and Finder of Panther are now possible.
-jf pucheu "

(added 1/15/2004)
" Hi, installed (Liteon LSC-24082K 24x24x24x +8x DVD-ROM) in my Pismo, Works great with DVD playback, burning from Toast V5. Burns great from finder and itunes after Patchburn II was installed.
Vernon L."

(added 1/14/2004)
" Patched a LiteOn Combo LTC-48161H for Panther 10.3.2 (7D24)
Program stalled initially, though I blame it on system being unstable. Restart fixed the problem.

Data burn through the Finder worked flawlessly (couldn't select particular speed - seemed normal?).
Audio burn through iTunes worked successfully.
I can burn things again!
Martin P. "

(added 1/14/2004)
" lite-on combo LTC-48161H IDE in Firewire CASE (Newegg), dual 800 G4, OSX 10.3.2
I was able to burn from itunes & iphoto
I have 50 tunes play list itunes divide the playlist into 4 cd(audio cd) burn time was 2 1/2 min for each.
iphoto was able to see the drive also see screen shot
the combo drive works fine w/ toast, it plays DVD fine I can boot from it from either OSX CD or disk warrior CD
it burns from finder 530MB in 5 min.
I never use the finder for burning too many steps and it is longer than toast. I did this finder burn for you. (I agree if you have Toast it's faster and more flexible than finder burning, just wanted a test burn to see if patchburn support mods resulted in error-free burns-M.)
I'm very pleased with the developer of this pice of software and with you of course for keeping alive one of the best mac websites on the net. thank you very much.
samuel m. "

Matsushita/Matshita Drive Reports:

(added 1/14/2004)
" I will send PatchBurn II feedback on MacOS 10.3.2.
Drive Type: CD-RW/DVD-RW
Drive Interface: Exp. Bay
Drive Brand: MATSHITA
Drive Model Number: MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-811
Driver Used: Apple Hacked by Patchburn II b1
Mac Model: PowerBook G3 2000 Rage128 Mobility
Mac OS Version: OS X 10.3.2
Now I can not found any problem on 10.3.2 and Patchburn II Beta1 driver.
iTunes : OK
DiskBurn on CD-R & CD-RW : OK
DiskBurn on DVD-RAM : OK
Regards, Masato "

(added 1/14/2004)
" No joy on a PowerBook G3 "Pismo" with 1GB of RAM and OS 10.3 along with a Matshita UJDA-710 DVD-ROM/CD-RW. It appeared that I would be able to burn in iTunes and iPhoto but once the copying process ended, I got an unsupported drive/unknown error message. No support for burning from within the Finder, either.
Eddy N.
Charlotte Apple Computer Club "

Another ULDA-710 owner reported (in the database) he didn't have any problems with Patchburn II.

(added 1/14/2004)
" Mike:
Summary: Success with PatchburnII for Matsushita UJDA740 Combo drive and Matsushita UJ-811 Multi drive for iTunes & Disk Utility in my Pismo. I don't have iDVD.

As previously discussed, I've been using the "patchable" DiscRecording.Framework from Panther Beta 7B49, in 10.3 (7B85) thru 10.3.2 (7D24). (this was the first method posted here on the Panther/10.3 burn support mods article) So far, I've seen total success with that technique, with a variety of Sony & Matsushita drives on several machines.

Chris Moeller sent me his PatchburnII beta, so I did a clean install of 10.3 on my Pismo (900MHz Powerlogix G3, 1GB Ram), & upgraded to 10.3.2. I tried both a Matsushita UJDA740 Combo drive (24X CDR) and my UJ-811 Multi drive (2X DVD-RAM, 2X DVD-R, 16X CDR). PatchburnII worked fine for iTunes & Disk Utility. I don't have iDVD since this is a G3. PatchburnII's "Remove all PatchBurn driver" function also worked fine. I did not try any of the "Advanced Settings".
Thanks for umpteenth time for all that you do!
Bill D. "

Memorex Drive Reports: (Note: they do not actually make drive mechanisms)

(added 1/14/2004)
" Memorex 52x24x52x CD-RW 52MAXX 2452AJ
iTunes: Was recognized and I was able to burn an Audio CD at high speed. Finder: Not recognized. Toast 6: Burned a Data CD at 52x. "

Mitsumi Drive Reports:

(added 1/14/2004)
" I'm so glad I found out about this program on your site! It has re-enabled my previously-working-in-10.2 CDRW. Here's the specs:
Mitsumi CR-48X8TE (sometimes called a CR-4808TE)
40x read, 16x write, 8x rewrite. 8mb buffer (most sites report only 2mb buffer, but this model has 8) IDE interface Drive Firmware: 1.1E
I'm running 10.3.2 (7D24) with 1Gb RAM. Now works in iTunes (4.2 (72)), Finder and Disc Utility.
(he later wrote)

I just did burn a data CD in the Finder and it verified w/no problems, but didn't mount until I ejected the drive and closed it again, and the cd mounted fine.

I also forgot to mention that during iTunes burning, iTunes had a hard time determining the burn speed I think because it said it would take 30min to burn a full 80min cd, but the time counted down I'd say about 3-5 "itunes seconds" for every "real" second, so it actually took _much_ less time than reported. Know what I mean?
I hope others have as much luck as I did.
Seth "

NEC Drive Reports:

(added 2/2/2004 - from drive db report)
" ND-2500A, 8x DVD+/-R, 4x DVD+/-RW, 32x CD-R in G4/AGP tower Works well with iDVD3. Using Patchburn II. Brand new, haven't tried booting...
Honkasalo "

I asked he test booting from CD and let me know if it works. (Important to test for with internal drives especially in cases that can only hold one internal CD drive.)

(added 1/14/2004)
" NEC DVD+RW ND-1100A works great in my MDD FW800
1. Slot: Philips CDD5301 (APPLE)
2. Slot NEC
great application!!!
happy burning from vienna
-strike
(I asked if he had done any actual test burns)
- finder burning (iTunes w. discburner) no problems no errors 18 mp3 to aiff file and burn in ca 19mins
(I'm not clear if he tested burning a disc in the finder, which does a verify. Sounds like iTunes only burn.) - toast 6.0.3 no problems any cds or DVDs (toast operation doesn't depend on apple burn support.)
no my NEC 1100Asupport (burning) just DVD+R read DVD-R no problems
sorry i have no iDVD :( "

Pioneer Drive Reports:

Pioneer DVR-108 (4x Dual Layer, 16x single layer DVD Burner)

From a Drive database report on August 1st, 2004.

" PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-108 (4x Dual Layer DVD+R rated, 16x DVD+R/-R rated), Firmware 1.04.
G4/AGP Tower (w/Gigadesign G4/933) running 10.3.4

Apple standard driver:
DVD Player 4.0 works. (there's no native iApps burn support for the 108 drive, too new.)
After Patchburn II:
iTunes 4.6 was supported.
iDVD 4.0.1 was burned.
Finder Burning was supported.
Apple software has not supported DVD+R DL.

Toast Ti 6.0.7 (update last week for Dual Layer burner support, including this drive model)
DVD+R DL 4x was supported.
Another Mac recognizes as DVD-ROM after burning DVD+R DL with Toast Ti 6.0.7.

Bootable from CD.
-TAKA "

Illustrated CD drive install guide here covers G4 towers up to the Digital Audio Model, Beige G3 MT and B&W G3 Macs

(from drive db report before 10.3.3 was released. with 10.3.3 and later DVR-107 owners DO NOT need to use Patchburn II.)

" IDE Pioneer DVR-A07 (actually DVR-107D) in Dual G4 (w/OS X 10.3.x)
I was in a crunch and had to get a DVD to a client, but my new Pioneer DVR-A07U 8X burner would not work with IDVD. I downloaded Patchburn II and it fixed the problem immediately. Thanks!!!
Larry Pickett
The Larry Pickett Entertainment Company "

(added 1/19/2004 - from a reader email this weekend)

"Pioneer DVR-107D/A07 drive
Hey Mike, I've been a follower of your site for some time now and have found the information there to be an indispensable aid for my Apple tinkering. I recently bought a G4 Dual 1.25 tower, dual boot, and with OS X.3. But the computer didn't come with a SuperDrive. Not a problem, I reasoned, because there's no shortage of good drives out there which offered improved performance over the stock drive Apple supplies. By improved I mean faster, of course, so when I went down to the store yesterday to find just that piece of gear, I asked the sales guy about this Pioneer model which was recently released.

I would be glad to post to your website with detailed results with this drive (post a report in the drive db) -- I reckon there will be some interest in it since it's the only one I know of which writes 8X to DVD-R (NEC's ND-2500A also has 8x DVD-R write speed per the drive specs-M.) -- and so I won't belabor this and take up too much of your time directly. The brief is that the drive appears to work completely once the Patchburn is applied. I just burned my first disk from DVD Studio Pro and it plays satisfactorily. Without the patch, no Apple applications will acknowledge it. Toast would, of course, but that was the extent of it. With the spiffy patch, the drive is working just as it should. And once the media becomes available, I'm confident it will write at 8X speed just as it's supposed to. And in a format that doesn't upset my Mac's stomach. Pretty great.
Thanks again for your link to this valuable software patch. I'll follow up with the author as well.
Yours, Doug H."

10.2.8 and later have native burn support for the previous DVR-106/A06 model but the 107/A07 is too new for apple to have added native support yet.

Plextor Drive Reports:

Firewire cased PX-708UF: (from drive db report)

(added 5/6/2004)
Firewire PX-708UF used w/PowerBook G4 1.25GHz (OS X 10.3.3)
"Intially Disc Burner would not work. Used Patchburn 2 and it worked fine. First couple burns with iTunes resulted in a buffer error. Using the "Expert Mode" in Patchburner and selecting "DRDeviceOverride CanWriteCDSAO" which it says to select if your getting Disc Burner errors seems to have solved it. All the iLife software sees the Plextor.
One strange thing though. I hooked it up via Firewire 400 first and it worked, but I encountered a strange thing with USB 2.0. When the burn button in iTunes is hit and the Plextor is hooked up via USB 2.0 it had to "Prepare Disc for Burning" vice with FW 400 an almost instant burn. It takes like 20 seconds for the Preparing for Burning to disappear and the actual burning to begin. As a result its hooked up FW400.
Jon A. "

One thing I noticed on both Tower and PowerBooks with USB 2.0 ports - a FW400/USB 2.0 interface Maxtor 200GB drive shows about twice the performance on FW400 vs USB 2.0 ports. (appx 34MB/sec benchmarks with FW400 port - about 17MB/sec using USB 2.0 port).

(from drive db report)

"SCSI PX-R412Ci (4x CDR/12x read) in 85/8600 running 10.3.3
Writing CD-Rs with an internal SCSI Plextor PX-R412Ci Firmware v1.07 (CD-R 4x write, 12x read, no CD-RW) drive is fully functional under Mac OS X 10.3 when used with PatchBurn II. However you must enable the advanced flag for DRDeviceNeedsEjectAfterBurnForCD and disable the flag for DRDeviceOverrideLoadingMechanismCanInject or a newly burned CD will remain stuck in the cd caddy until you reboot.
"

(from drive db report)

(added 3/8/2004)
IDE (internal) Plextor PX-708A (8x DVD+R, 4x DVD+RW, 4x DVD-R, 2x DVD-RW, 12x DVD ROM, 40x CD-R, 24x CD-RW, 40x CD-ROM)
This is a 733 Mhz PowerPC G4 (first system to ship with a Superdrive) (Digital Audio model tower I assume) with 1 GB of RAM. It is running 10.3.2 build 7D24. I used the current Patchburn II (beta) app to add support for the iApps.

I have successfully done the following:
* Toast 6.0.3 (burned an SVCD (at 40x) and a DVD (at 4x DVD-R) (toast does not rely on apple burn support or patchburn - it works with most drives)
* Burned an Audio CD with iTunes

* Burned an Archive of my photos to DVD-R at 4x with iPhoto 4. (iPhoto ejected the disc and I had to reinsert it and then it burned fine albiet the progress interface never seemed to update so I didn't know how long it would take.)

- Burned a DVD (DVD-R) using iDVD 4.0.1 (It also ejected the already inserted DVD-R disc, but after I re-inserted it, the app ran fine)

System Profiler has this to say about it: PLEXTOR DVDR PX-708A:

Manufacturer:PLEXTOR
Model:PLEXTOR DVDR PX-708A
Revision:1.05 (firmware version)
Drive Type:CD-RW/DVD-RW
Disc Burning:DRDeviceSupportLevelUnsupported (normal after patchburn II mod)
Removable Media:Yes
Detachable Drive:No
BSD Name:disk3
Protocol:ATAPI
Unit Number:0 (master)
Socket Type:Internal
OS9 Drivers:No

Note: Disc booting. I assume this will work as other users have indicated so, but I have yet to test it. If you want definitive word on this, let me know. (it's probably ok but always test for booting from CD with an internal drive added to a system that can only hold one CD size drive. Sometimes even drive firmware can affect this.-M.)

I also have not tested iApp compatability with DVD+R media as I don't own any yet.
Scott C. "

(from drive db report)

(added 2/18/2004)
"G5 Tower/10.3.2
Plextor PX-708A works with PatchBurn II. You must remove the drive tray faceplate by poking the two little clips underneath it and you must also shave the little triangular piece of black plastic hanging down on the right side of the front of the drive tray for it to clear the G5 drive door.

Startup from disk? Yes.

Confirmed good:
-DVD Studio Pro 2 - works like a charm
-Toast 5.2.3 - NOT Working. Stops after 5% burn. No error. (odd, my Fw cased PX-708A (latest firmware) works fine with Toast 5.2.3 and 6.0.3-M.)
-All iapps work (including iDVD?-M.)
-DVD Player works
-Will G."

He later wrote that his G5 (but be a BTO model) didn't come with iDVD but he was going to try and install iDVD for tests.

(added 1/14/2004)
" Tried succesfully with a Plextor PX-708A (8X DVD+R, 4X DVD-R, 40X CDR, 24X CDRW, 12X DVDROM)
QS G4/800, 768 MB ram, OSX 10.3.2
ASP info: PLEXTOR DVDR PX-708A:

Manufacturer: PLEXTOR
Model: PLEXTOR DVDR PX-708A
Revision: 1.04
Serial Number: 259817
Drive Type: CD-RW/DVD-RW
Disc Burning: DRDeviceSupportLevelUnsupported
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal

All iApps see the burner.

Itunes 4.2:
Let me choose the burner.
Successfully burned an audio CD.

IDVD 3:
When the burn button is chosen, the Plextor's tray opens. But iDVD still refuses to burn DVD+R discs. (I asked if he could get a DVD-R disc to test burning)

Disc Burner:
Images can be burned in the Disk Utility pane

IPhoto 2:
When the burn button is chosen, the Plextor's tray opens.

Thanks for the information and keep up the good work. Best wishes for 2004.
Yuen Chak K. "

(added 1/14/2004)
" It worked for the Plextor W4824A in my B&W G3 (running 10.3.2). I was able to burn from iTunes and the Finder with no problems. Didn't try with any other iApps.
Bob K. "

(added 1/13/2004)
" I succeeded in getting to work the Plextor CD-R W4824A. No problems, does work in the finder and with iTunes as well!
- iTunes works fine
- Finder works, but Speed is always "Maximum" and burned cd doesnt shwo up after burning. CD is burned nevertheless. Just eject and insert again.
- iPhoto 4 (!): seems to work. Device is recognized and iPhoto offers to burn on it.
- Disk Utility does work without problems. I successfully burned a CD Image (Panther ;-)) and could change burn speed as well...
Marcus "

QUE Drive Reports:

(added 1/15/2004)
" Que!Fire 12x10x32, OS X 10.3.2 on Pismo
This Que! Drive was not operable with Panther. System profiler "saw" it but said not supported. Toast (Titanium) rendered it as basically unknown (the name was symbols) - but saw it. Attempting to burn CD led to "synchronous data transmission error" (odd, googling this makes it look like a scsi error). (odd, most times Toast recorder info will show an actual drive brand/mechanism ID for drives sold by "brands" like this that do not actually make the drive mechanisms - but sometimes they use OEM drives that have firmware that only report "ATAPI" as brand for instance.This is why I never liked buying drives from "brands" that do not make the actual drive mechanism.-M.)

I tried the hack (Patchburn II beta for Panther)
All that showed in the pane was "driver - no" -- no model showed.

Rebooted.
Apple System Profiler now showed more info about the drive but still unsupported.

Hacked again. Rebooted. Now naked -- shows only in profiler as a firewire device and does not show at all in the patch. :-/ (I'd not repeat the patch process - write the author at the email address included in the patchburn II readme file in the download-M.)

Granted, it wasn't working before this, so I really had nothing to lose. But if feels like I lost.
Kathy "

(added 1/13/2004)
" I have a QUE USB 1.1 4x4x8 CDRW drive that doesn't work in Panther, and I just tried to run Patchburn II and see if that would fix it. Unfortunately, Patchburn doesn't see the drive in its selection window, and so i can't run it. I wondered if this is a known issue, or something I am doing wrong. Because of the lack of Panther support, I can't tell you what drive mechanism is inside my QUE shell. Thanks again for your effort.
Wil "

I'm guessing the USB bridge in the case may not be supported by the OS (so the drive doesn't appear).

Ricoh Drive Reports:

(added 1/14/2004)
" I've got a Ricoh MP7200A Firewire drive--a European gray-market drive, as it turns out (but it was cheap), that isn't supported by anybody or anything, much less iTunes or DiscBurner. It works in Toast, thank god, but that's about it. I'd tried a couple of the other CD-R hacks, with no luck.

But Patchburn did the trick--I've burned from iTunes and from Finder within the last 10 minutes, and I'm elated. One tiny little glitch: The discs don't seem to eject automatically after burning (as in Toast), but I can eject them--even data discs--using the disc-eject button in iTunes.

Terrific little hack--I'm about to write a note to a friend who also has an unsupported drive to tell her our years in the wilderness are now over.
Love your site! -matt "

Samsung Drive Reports:

Tip for Samsung CDRW Drive Owners: (from a reader's drive db report on May 6th, 2004)

(added 5/6/2004)
"SW-252F 52x32x52x
PowerMac G4/350/AGP/832MB/ATI 8500 (hacked PC-version)/MacOS 10.3.3

Netinfomanager enable 'root' user, login as 'root' user (you don't need to do that normally if you're the Admin user of the system in OS X), open PatchBurn II, select 'Experts mode', select 'CD-RW' as drivetype and set 'DRDeviceOverrideCanWriteDVDRW' to false (otherwise some CD-R's are recognized as DVD-R's and fail to burn).

Works like a charm: full Audio CD-R burn in iTunes (incl. MP3 to AIIF conversion) under 5 minutes; Burning in Finder full CD under 3 minutes.
Adam Y. "

Tip for Samsung Combo Drive Owners: (from a reader's drive DB report on Jan. 14th)

(added 1/15/2004)" I have a PowerMac G4 (AGP Graphics, also called Sawtooth), that originally shipped with a DVD-ROM drive. I replaced it with Samsung CDRW/DVD SM-352B drive in the internal bay, and used the patch on Accelerate Your Mac! (in the FAQ's CDROM/CDR section) for Jaguar--it worked fine. With Panther, I attempted to use the directions (also here) to give the drive full support, both in the Finder as well as in iTunes, but was unsuccessful.

I'm trying out PatchBurn II 2.0b1 now. The first thing I did after running it was to click the twisty next to "Expert Mode:". I noticed that the Device Type is listed incorrectly as CD-RW/DVD-RW. (I wonder if this may be the reason that your feedback on the SM-352B so far is inconsistent--have some people corrected that error and others not?). (I agree - I wrote the author about this but my later mails to his .mac address bounced back with a server error. the readme file has a different contact address to use-M.)
In any event, I set the Device Type to the correct value:
CD-RW/DVD-ROM.
I also set DRDeviceOverride CanWriteCDTAO to true. Oddly, the PatchBurn Log still said "Type: CD-RW/DVD-RW". Hmmmm.

It installed successfully, and I restarted. iTunes burned correctly (and quickly--about two minutes for a 74 minute audio CD to burn, which is approximately what it takes Toast with this drive.)

I can also burn from the Finder. 100% success! After burning from the Finder, the CD did not automount, nor did it eject. It was simple for me to hit the eject key twice to send the drive tray out and in, and at that point it did mount.
Trevor Z. "

Thanks for the tip/detective work.

(added 1/14/2004)
" Success! My CD burner drive is external firewire Samsung 352B. (Included screen print of ASP)
I burned 4 audio CDs with iTunes. No problem... I also burned a data CD in Finder...tested and verified as well. Thanks to the author...much appreciated!
Steve "

(added 1/14/2004)
" Optical Drive: SAMSUNG CDRW/DVD SM-352B
Awesome! Patchburn II for Panther worked for me and my drive now works with iTunes, no finder though, which I don't care about anyway.
My specs:
OS: Mac OS X 10.3.2
Hardware: Digital Audio 533 G4 upgraded with OWC Mercury Extreme 1.33GHz cpu iTunes: ver. 4.2 (72)
Thanks!!!, Kent S. "

(added 1/14/2004)
" Samsung 332B (combo drive)
iTunes Ok
Disc does not show up in finder, so no finder support
iPhoto4 (part of iLife4) sees it now too. (I lifted it at MacWorld)
Weird thing Toast 5 now verifies faster. (toast doesn't use apple's support files, so it should not be affected.) I had burned several discs before the patch this morning. Several after. This was great - I was starting to worry about the drive not being supported in 10.3
Philip S. "

(added 1/13/2004)
" G4/400 640MB ram, Samsung SM-352B combo drive
I just ran it (Patchburn II) restarted and then burned in itunes 10.3.2
(I asked he test for finder burning)
no i cant burn in the finder . but i did erase a cdrw with disk utility.
-Carbonizer "

(added 1/13/2004)
" I've successfully used the Patchburn II Beta to gain support for my Samsung SM-332B Combo Drive in iTunes, but not from the desktop. Burning from the desktop starts, and then results in an error during disc verification. In the System Profiler, Disc Burning is listed as: DRDeviceSupportLevelUnsupported. The drive has Firmware version T403.
System:
OSX 10.3.2, QS G4/733, 1.5GB ram "

(added 1/13/2004)
" Patchburn II did not work for me I have a Samsung Combo Drive Model SM-332B, using OSX 10.3.2, ASP says unsupported, Disk burner does not work neither does iTunes, Toast works fine. One thing after I ran the patch the first time it restarted I got a grayed out screen saying I needed to restart again, After hitting the restart button everything booted fine.
Mike "

(added 1/13/2004)
" I was happy to hear that they are developing the utility for Panther. I had no luck with my Samsung dvdcdrw sm-352b. 52x24x52x16.
Received the following error. "An exception of class NilObjectException was not handled. The application must shut down."
Hope there is a new release soon. Thanks
Ken S.
G4 1.42GHz tower "

Sony Drive Reports:

Although an earlier report from a DW-U14A owner (in OWC FW case) said all was ok, two other DW-U14A owner noted problems.

(added 1/26/2004 from a drive db report)
"DW-U14A in OWC FW/USB case
Using iBook G4 w/10.3.2
This Sony drive is in an OWC firewire/USB 2.0 case. It has worked perfectly with Toast 6.0.3 and OS 10.3.2. I burned several Verbatim 2X DVD-R and Maxell DVD+RW discs with no failed burns. However, since installing Patchburn II the drive - when connected via firewire - reports a Medium Error after approximately 2 GB of video or data are burned using Toast 6 on either media. This error does not occur if the drive is connected via USB 2.0.

Prior to installing Patchburn II Apple System Profiler identified the Sony drive correctly when connected either by firewire or USB 2.0. Now, when connected by firewire, it shows the drive as Manufacturer: Oxford Semiconductor Ltd.
Model: Macpower IDE Device LUN 0
I believe this must be the case's identity. (it is) The drive is correctly identified by its model number in Toast, iTunes and Disk Utility.

When connected via USB 2.0 Apple System Profiler shows the drive as
Manufacturer: SONY
Model: SONY DVD RW DW-U14A

Meanwhile, Patchburn II seems to have provided full support for Apple's burn apps. I successfully have burned cd-r with iTunes and iPhoto. Disk Utility also recognizes the Sony drive.
Thomas S. "

another Problem report

(added 1/14/2004)
" same problem (same error as a samsung combo drive owner reported)
"An exception of class NilObjectException was not handled. The application must shut down." (one reader tip for this error was to run repair permissions from disk utility)
I have a sony DW-U14A in a firewire case "made in china" When I ask apple information I receive this information

Fabricant: MAPOWER
Modele: 1394 Storage Device
Type de disque: CD-RW/DVD-RW
Gravure du disque: Non gere
Support amovible: Oui
Disque amovible: Oui
Vitesse: Vitesse de 400 Mb/s
No. d'ident. de l'unite: 24734
Version du logiciel de l'unite: 10483
Revision du programme interne: 1.0d

sorry fo my poor english
(gigabit G4/400 with 1GB RAM, firmware 4.28f1)
I'm going to try to put the burner directly in my machine to see if it works
cesar "

(added 1/13/2004)
" I used Patchburn II to get my Sony CRX220E1 in an (old QPS) firewire enclosure working great with Panther iTunes and Finder Burning. This is exactly what I've been waiting for.
Thanks, Chad "

(added 1/13/2004)
" 14" 933mhz G4 iBook, OS 10.3.2
Sony DVD+/-R/RW DW-U14A DVD
Firewire and USB 2.0 with OWC Case
Drive is now recognized in iTunes, iPhoto and Disc Utility when connected either via Firewire or USB 2.0

I've tested by burning a iPhoto library to CD-R and the burn executed perfectly. I haven't yet tried DVD-R although iPhoto rejected a previously recorded and full-erased DVD+RW disc.

Apple System Profiler shows the drive as follows when connected as firewire (which is how it was connected when I installed Patchburn II). It used to show it as the Sony Drive
-Thomas"

Macpower IDE Device LUN 0:
Manufacturer: Oxford Semiconductor Ltd.
Model: Macpower IDE Device LUN 0
Drive Type: CD-RW/DVD-RW
Disc Burning: DRDeviceSupportLevelUnsupported
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
Speed: 400 Mb/sec Speed
Unit Spec Id: 24734
Unit Software Version: 10483
Firmware Revision: 1.0c

Here is how Apple System Profiler describes the drive when connected to the USB 2.0 port

Manufacturer: SONY
Model: SONY DVD RW DW-U14A
Drive Type: CD-RW/DVD-RW
Disc Burning: DRDeviceSupportLevelUnsupported
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
Product ID: 1 ($1)
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Vendor Name: Macpower
Bus Power (mA): 500
Serial Number: 20030319000000023

(added 1/13/2004)
" Patchburn II appears to make my Sony CRX175A1 24x CDRW drive fully supported under the 10.3.2 Finder and iTunes 4.2. Successfully burned and verified a 150MB data CDR at 24x (tested and verified on another machine). Previously, the burner was only supported with Toast. I don't have any music on this machine (work machine) to test iTunes with, but the iTunes preferences show the disk as supported, and correctly reports the maximum burn speed to be 24x.
Thanks for the link, Mike!! This is why you have the best Mac site on the net!
-Cadaver "

TDK Drive Reports:

(added 1/14/2004)
" I tried Patchburn II with my setp (B&W G4 w/G4 550), X.3.2 (7D24) on a firewire TDK FE-482448 CDRW (shows up in system profiler as a TDK CDRW4008B). Did a burn in iTunes and the disc burned fine. Started in Finder & iPhoto but didn't actually burn a CD but both got to the "burn?" dailog without any problem so I assume they both work.
Jyri
I asked he try an actual burn to make sure there were no functional problems/verify errors.)
Okay, did a test burn using 258MB of files in finder. The burn itself went fine but afterwards the CD didn't show up on my desktop and trying the eject button on the CDRW didn't to anything. It was "stuck". However, I have found that sometimes using iTunes' eject button will eject "lost" CDs so when I tried that it ejected the CD and when I put it back in it showed up fine and the files all worked properly. A little weird, but I can live with that for native burning. "

(added 1/13/2004)
" I used Patchburn II with a TDK 840G in a TDK Firewire case. It seems to work with Disc burner in the finder, and Itunes now. Iphoto still tells me no device available. I don't have iDVD.
Thanks, Hugh "

(iDVD to date only works with internal drives.)