[nick_bee1]

Ok, so i was looking into buying a DVD burner for my g4 iMac. I was going to get some sort of external firewire drive. My question is say i put a dvd or cd into the internal CD Drive (iMac) can i burn directly to a DVD disc in the External Drive?? Just wondering if i can directly burn from one Media to another or do i have to Rip the files from the CD/DVD in the internal CD drive to the harddrive, then... burn them from the harddrive to the external DVD drive. thanks

[Praxis]

I haven't tried (none of my Macs have more than one CD drive), but remember, you can't use iDVD with an external drive.

[nick_bee1]

Why doesnt an external drive work with idvd?

[JackMac]

Because Apple doesn't want them too.

[albloom]

I suspect things are similar to when I tried to copy
CD-to-CD under OS9 back in the dark ages. The source
is too flipping slow.
But go ahead and try it.

[braindoc]

You can do this using Roxio's Toast Titanium. Toast will allow you to copy CD's and "unprotected" DVD's From any optical drive of your system To any optical drive of your system. E.g. You can burn from internal CD/DVD to External DVD (vice versa), from internal CD to External DVD as well. You can do some authoring as well using iMovie as the front end. It will perform the ripping necessary. However, the main menu page is no where near as slick as iDVD.
Keep in mind Toast will not allow you to copy commercially protected DVD movies and such. Lastly, the latest version will handle dual-layer DVD as well.

[nick_bee1]

Thanks alot for that information, i have toast titanium already so that should work out fine for me. I was looking for information on backing up DVDs and the only software i could find was Fast DVD copy for the mac. http://www.fastdvdcopy.com/ The problem with that program is that i do not know if it is going to be compatible with the drive i might purchase (pioneer, tdk, or plextor) There are so many options for PC users and so little for mac users. Does anyone know of any other software that i can purchase for a mac to backup some protected DVDs?
one other quick question, since i cant use iDVD with an external drive is there a way to override this? if not will, the external drive work with DVD studio pro 3? I have some home movies and other things i have created in imovie and in final cut pro that i would like to put on DVDs with menus and i just want to make sure things will run smoothly before i go out and buy the drive.
thanks so much, again.

[braindoc]

I don't have Fast DVD so I can't speak from experience. You can search these forums for alternatives, and there are a couple both free and commercial products. I don't want to stir up the legal hornets' nest again.
As to the second part of your question- DVD Studio Pro will definitely work and will work great especially if you'll be editing with Final Cut Pro. It is possible to get iDVD to work with an external drive. I direct you to an excellent source of info the DVD FAQ section of xlr8yourmac.com. BTW, which is a great place to look for answers and tips for future upgrades or enhancements.

[Rugby]

ermmm
try the free DVDBackup at:
http://www.versiontr...fo/macosx/18599

it works
and afterwards DVD2One to compress into DVD:
http://www.versiontr...fo/macosx/19238
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[swhitset]

DVD backup was a good program, but is no longer being developed.
Use Mac the Ripper instead.... it will provide more options and will jave a much higher success rate.
http://www.worminthe...macdvd/mtr.html
Also.. DVD backup requires the apple DVD player to run first because this is where it obtains the decryption Keys.
Mac the Ripper uses a brute force method of decryption that does not require DVD Player. both are about equal in speed.