Comments on: Faulty Apple Superdrives.

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 22:28:15 +0000

One more thing. Do an erase and install or before that try burning from a different user account, create a new account and burn a DVD and quality branded media.

What else? Run software update, see if there are any updates for your machine, especially firmware updates for your optical drive, I doubt the latter exists

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:53:18 +0000

I think you’re drive is slowly or quickly on it’s way out. My drive of the exact same make started with loads of sense key errors when burning from Toast, now even brand new commercial DVDs are beginning to rattle the drive, it has sincere trouble reading movie dvds. Luckily I’m under AppleCare (bought 3 years with my mac) – will take it in for replacement.

I think you should do the same…call AppleCare in your country, give them your serial number and report the issue. AppleCare will know if you are under warranty or not.

By: Loopydloop

Loopydloop — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:23:09 +0000

Well, this is a very interesting site, but for all the talk of updating firmware and whether or not to do this and whether or not it works, there is never a mention of where to find this non Apple firmware. Any links to where I might download and try firmware for my MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846 Superdrive. It suddenly will not recognize blank DVD media it has used for years and it also has a good deal of trouble playing CDs, both home made and store bought. Very annoying. Any help here in the way of links?

Thanks,

Loopy

By: Jay Goober

Jay Goober — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 16:36:50 +0000

My ibook had a superdrive to begin with, it was replaced due to failure, and now the new drive is failing. All of this within two years, I think next time I’m buying a Thinkpad, I love OS X, but no way I’m putting up with this crap!

By: Lespix

Lespix — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:25:08 +0000

Hi all, it’s been a while but just as a matter of interest with regard to the UJ-846, I have used the following disks with no problems whatsoever at 8x and being Taiyo Yuden, not a single duffer!!

” ‘Taiyo Yuden FF White Printable 16x speed DVD-R (100 tub) These Full-Face White Inkjet Printable DVD-R discs use the ‘Taiyo Yuden’ dye formulation for superior compatability and archival live. They support 8x max burning speed and have a standard 4.7Gb data or 120min video capacity. Supplied in tubs of 100 discs.

£19.79 Inc VAT ”

http://www.ukdvdr.co.uk/shop/Printable-DVD-R-c-293.html

By: Cameron

Cameron — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 06:16:13 +0000

I own a Powerbook & a PowerMac G4 and I am furious that I have to only buy Apple Media Disks to burn DVD’s. The Apple disk are ridiculously expensive compared to most other brands on the market.

Apple should have disclosed this information to all buyers. They need to drop the prices on their Media Disks and release a software patch to fix the problem or replace both of my superdrives for free.

By: luis

luis — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 09:52:05 +0000

I have the same problem with the fucking Mashita DVD-R-UJ-846.
It´s the fourth Superdrive I have in my iMac G5 in one year!!!!! and I´m fed up.
I haven´t warranty now , and I´m not going to spend my money in another superdrive. I preffer less design and more quality with the crap you put inside the computer. Burn your ass slowly Steve Jobs.

By: Reseller

Reseller — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 06:19:19 +0000

Out of the box you are better buying a DVD burner from China than buying a Media Center run on MAC!!!
On top of burning issues, the drive Region Code for DVD’s and Hollywoods/Apples has unfair firmware/DVD disk codeing. I run a media center in my home based on a MacMini that has a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-846 that there is no way of stopping the Region Code counter. Whats more is that there is no way to automate so you do not see the drive region change. So who does this efect, well for one my kids that got a leggal version of Bob the Builder from thier grandmar in the UK. Makes people want to use aMule or Torrents and bypass all the bullshit.

By: Ben SB

Ben SB — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 20:18:05 +0000

I totally agree, the Apple Superdrives are appallingly picky about the media you use and what burn speed you get. I have the 8x UJ-846 in my iMac G5 and i’ve encountered problems with a variety of different brands, the most recent of which are the Verbatim (Mitsubisi) 16x DVD-R discs. “drutil status” does identify the burn speed as 8x and the write process (i use Toast 7.0.2 btw) will appear to be sucessful at that speed but the verification process always fails and subsequently nothing can be read off the DVD after burning.

Other labels i’ve encountered many medium errors with are Datawrite Titanium 8x -R, Mitubishi 8x -R, PC-Line 4x -R, and Philips 4x +RW. I’ve also used BeAll Best “White Top” 16x DVD-R’s which will only burn at 2x in my UJ-846 but will burn at 8x in a collegues iBook G4 UJ-845-E.

It really is appalling that Apple supply such restrictive firmware, the only reason i can think as to why they do is to shift their own label DVD-R’s at £45 for a spindle of 25!

By: Tom Lee

Tom Lee — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 08:30:51 +0000

Thanks, Darko, but if you read through the posts carefully, you’ll see data that contradicts your assertion. Not all “first rate” media will burn at the rated speeds. That is in fact the entire problem! I’m glad you found media that works; I have, too. But that does not affect the original argument, which is simply this: Apple’s firmware causes the Matsushita drives to be much fussier than their Windows counterparts about what media they’ll work with. Media quality is unquestionably important, but not all highly-rated media will burn at rated speeds in Apple drives. Hence the petition, and hence all the sturm and drang about this issue.