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Question Profile
| DATE | Oct 14, 2006 |
| TICKET | #29282 |
| STATUS | Closed |
| SUBJECT | Windows can't read CDs burned on iMac |
| CAT | Computers, Operating Systems, Applications or Connected Devices |
| TYPE | Operating System Features, Bugs and Problems |
| DESC | Apple |
| DESC | 10.4.X (Tiger) |
| PLATFORM | Apple Macintosh (Intel) |
| MODEL | Apple iMac |
| PROC | Intel |
| RAM | 1 GB |
| DRIVE | 150 GB |
| NAME | John |
| USERNAME | John Varela |
| TECHNICAL | Expert |
| ISSUE | Stumped |
Question Details
TICKET ARCHIVE -> Windows can't read CDs burned on iMac
John Varela - Oct 14, 2006 - 9:29 am
CDs burned on the iMac can't be read in a Windows machine. Neither our old HP running Win Me nor the drugstore's photo printer, presumably running XP, can read the CD.
The format window in Disk Utility is always greyed out on both our iMac G5 and the Intel iMac. It reads "Mac OS Extended (journaled)".
How can I get Disk Utility to format in FAT or whatever is Windows-compatible?
The format window in Disk Utility is always greyed out on both our iMac G5 and the Intel iMac. It reads "Mac OS Extended (journaled)".
How can I get Disk Utility to format in FAT or whatever is Windows-compatible?
DeltaMac - Oct 14, 2006 - 11:15 am
From your Mac help files -
By default, Mac OS X burns discs in a format that can also be used on Windows computers and other types of computers.
Insert a blank disc into the optical drive of your computer.
If you see a dialog, you can choose an action from the pop-up menu and select "Make this action the default" if you want the same thing to happen every time you insert a blank disc.
The disc appears on your desktop.
Double-click the disc to open it, and drag the files and folders you want on it to its window. The Finder places aliases to the files in the disc's window. The original files are not moved or deleted.
Arrange and rename the files exactly as you want them.
When burning the disc, the Finder gives the items on the disc the same names and locations as the aliases in the disc window. After the disc is burned, you cannot change them.
Choose File > Burn Disc, and follow the instructions.
The files that the aliases point to are burned to the disc. In addition, if any folder you copied contains aliases, the original files for those aliases are burned to the disc as well.
Unless you are using CD-RW, there is nothing you can do in Disk Utility. All burning is done from the Finder, or using some other app that assists with the burning process. Your default burn should be readable on both Macs and PCs
What process are you using to burn the disk - with iPhoto? (you mentioned photo use)
By default, Mac OS X burns discs in a format that can also be used on Windows computers and other types of computers.
Insert a blank disc into the optical drive of your computer.
If you see a dialog, you can choose an action from the pop-up menu and select "Make this action the default" if you want the same thing to happen every time you insert a blank disc.
The disc appears on your desktop.
Double-click the disc to open it, and drag the files and folders you want on it to its window. The Finder places aliases to the files in the disc's window. The original files are not moved or deleted.
Arrange and rename the files exactly as you want them.
When burning the disc, the Finder gives the items on the disc the same names and locations as the aliases in the disc window. After the disc is burned, you cannot change them.
Choose File > Burn Disc, and follow the instructions.
The files that the aliases point to are burned to the disc. In addition, if any folder you copied contains aliases, the original files for those aliases are burned to the disc as well.
Unless you are using CD-RW, there is nothing you can do in Disk Utility. All burning is done from the Finder, or using some other app that assists with the burning process. Your default burn should be readable on both Macs and PCs
What process are you using to burn the disk - with iPhoto? (you mentioned photo use)
John Varela - Oct 14, 2006 - 11:31 am
I am unfamiliar with the Mac way of doing things. In my prior operating system (not Windows, OS/2), to erase the contents of a CDRW and write new, I would open the CD in one or the other of a couple of utilities, erase it, then drag files to its window, then burn.
Trying to follow a similar procedure, I used Disk Utility to erase the CDRW. As I said, it gave me no option on how the disk would be formated. Then created a new disk image and copied photos to it from a folder on another computer, over the 802.11g net. Told Disk Utility to burn the image. PC couldn't read it.
Trying to follow a similar procedure, I used Disk Utility to erase the CDRW. As I said, it gave me no option on how the disk would be formated. Then created a new disk image and copied photos to it from a folder on another computer, over the 802.11g net. Told Disk Utility to burn the image. PC couldn't read it.
DeltaMac - Oct 14, 2006 - 11:47 am
That's the hard way, and too many options, so try doing this the easy way, as I listed above. You don't have to create a disk image unless you need to do that. The blank disk simply mounts on the desktop. Drag the files/folders to the disk, and choose Burn from the File menu. Even simpler is to drag the disk to the trash, and the burn begins at that time. The disk then ejects when the burn is complete.
when you erase a CD-RW in Disk Utility, the partition on the disk is removed, and the disk is left completely blank, without any partition. That's why you don't have any available choices.
The disk will be prepared when you next use it, as part of the burn process.
Use a CD-R, which will be a much faster burn.
- Dale
when you erase a CD-RW in Disk Utility, the partition on the disk is removed, and the disk is left completely blank, without any partition. That's why you don't have any available choices.
The disk will be prepared when you next use it, as part of the burn process.
Use a CD-R, which will be a much faster burn.
- Dale
John Varela - Oct 16, 2006 - 12:20 pm
(Why would I use a CD-R to transport a couple of dozen photos to the drugstore and then trash the disk, when I can use (and have used) a CDRW over and over again?)
Okay, I have a CDRW with a bunch of JPEGs on it. I drag them to the trash and get an error box that says I don't have sufficient privileges to do that.
Now what?
Okay, I have a CDRW with a bunch of JPEGs on it. I drag them to the trash and get an error box that says I don't have sufficient privileges to do that.
Now what?
DeltaMac - Oct 16, 2006 - 1:27 pm
If the CD-RW is burned, then you can't drag files to the trash, but you can erase the CD-RW.
If you want to erase the CD-RW - Erase your CD-RW through Disk Utility.
I suggested a CD-R, mostly so you could test with that. If you normally use CD-RWs, then great! Just keep in mind that you have to erase before you can re-use the CD-RW. Here's some software that makes the process quite simple. http://www.maconnect.ch/index.php?page=liquidcd&lang=en
If you want to erase the CD-RW - Erase your CD-RW through Disk Utility.
I suggested a CD-R, mostly so you could test with that. If you normally use CD-RWs, then great! Just keep in mind that you have to erase before you can re-use the CD-RW. Here's some software that makes the process quite simple. http://www.maconnect.ch/index.php?page=liquidcd&lang=en
DeltaMac - Oct 16, 2006 - 1:29 pm
I suggested using a CD-R, because the burning process is much faster with a CD-R.
- Dale
- Dale
John Varela - Oct 16, 2006 - 4:09 pm
"If the CD-RW is burned, then you can't drag files to the trash, but you can erase the CD-RW.
If you want to erase the CD-RW - Erase your CD-RW through Disk Utility."
And that takes us back where we started. The disk disappears from the desktop and from the Finder. If I partition it with Disk Utility it insists on formatting in Mac OS Extended (journaled). The only way I have found to put the disk back into service is to take it to the Windows Me machine.
If you want to erase the CD-RW - Erase your CD-RW through Disk Utility."
And that takes us back where we started. The disk disappears from the desktop and from the Finder. If I partition it with Disk Utility it insists on formatting in Mac OS Extended (journaled). The only way I have found to put the disk back into service is to take it to the Windows Me machine.
John Varela - Oct 16, 2006 - 4:10 pm
DeltaMac - Oct 16, 2006 - 5:04 pm
Don't partition the CD-RW.
Simply erase it.
Follow these steps in Disk Utility after inserting your CD-RW
Select the disc in the column on the left (Click on the disk, and not its partition)and then click Erase.
Select Quick Erase if you don't want to overwrite the old contents with zeros.
Click Erase.
The CD-RW then disappears from the desktop, because it has no partition.
This is normal, so just eject the disk.
When you are ready to use it again, insert the CD-RW, and copy the files that you would use, and eject the disk to burn it.
Don't partition the CD-RW, the burn process will take care of that for you.
- Dale
Simply erase it.
Follow these steps in Disk Utility after inserting your CD-RW
Select the disc in the column on the left (Click on the disk, and not its partition)and then click Erase.
Select Quick Erase if you don't want to overwrite the old contents with zeros.
Click Erase.
The CD-RW then disappears from the desktop, because it has no partition.
This is normal, so just eject the disk.
When you are ready to use it again, insert the CD-RW, and copy the files that you would use, and eject the disk to burn it.
Don't partition the CD-RW, the burn process will take care of that for you.
- Dale
John Varela - Oct 17, 2006 - 5:12 am
As said earlier, and as confirmed by your latest, after erasing the disk it disappears from the desktop and the Finder. Ejecting and reinserting does not bring it back. So how does one copy files to it?
Since my previous response, I tried using LiquidCD, which seems to work. Thank you for pointing me to it. I used LiquidCD to put files on a CDRW that had been erased with Disk Utility and that was not present either on desktop nor in Finder, and burned it. After burning, I was able to view the files in Preview. I was about to take the disk to the basement to verify its readability in Windows, when I read your latest. So I erased it in Disk Utility to verify that indeed it is not present on the desktop nor in Finder, and that ejecting and reinserting does not bring it back.
The next thing I'm going to do is to again put some files on the CDRW using LiquidCD and test them on the WinMe box. If that works, then the futility of Disk Utility will be moot. I won't use it.
While I have your attention, maybe you can help me with a recurring problem with Airport. This has been going on for some time with my wife's iMac G5: after booting, the status icon in the menu bar is often greyed out. Diagnostics shows that Airport is no longer selected, and Ethernet is. There is no Ethernet connection to this machine. Now my four-month-old Intel iMac has started doing the same thing.
Any ideas why the Network Preferences would change of themselves? The preferences are always left locked.
Since my previous response, I tried using LiquidCD, which seems to work. Thank you for pointing me to it. I used LiquidCD to put files on a CDRW that had been erased with Disk Utility and that was not present either on desktop nor in Finder, and burned it. After burning, I was able to view the files in Preview. I was about to take the disk to the basement to verify its readability in Windows, when I read your latest. So I erased it in Disk Utility to verify that indeed it is not present on the desktop nor in Finder, and that ejecting and reinserting does not bring it back.
The next thing I'm going to do is to again put some files on the CDRW using LiquidCD and test them on the WinMe box. If that works, then the futility of Disk Utility will be moot. I won't use it.
While I have your attention, maybe you can help me with a recurring problem with Airport. This has been going on for some time with my wife's iMac G5: after booting, the status icon in the menu bar is often greyed out. Diagnostics shows that Airport is no longer selected, and Ethernet is. There is no Ethernet connection to this machine. Now my four-month-old Intel iMac has started doing the same thing.
Any ideas why the Network Preferences would change of themselves? The preferences are always left locked.
John Varela - Oct 19, 2006 - 11:25 am
no-reply@macosx.com keeps sending me reminders to respond, but there is nothing to respond to. The latest item here is from me.
DeltaMac - Oct 19, 2006 - 12:39 pm
The response system at this site sometimes has long delays, and I don't have anything to do with that. I get the same delayed responses also.
Here's something that may help keep your default connection.
Open your Network preference pane, and click on the Show line.
Choose Network Port Configurations
If your primary connection is Airport, drag that to the top of the list. Then click the Apply Now button.
Here's something that may help keep your default connection.
Open your Network preference pane, and click on the Show line.
Choose Network Port Configurations
If your primary connection is Airport, drag that to the top of the list. Then click the Apply Now button.
John Varela - Oct 19, 2006 - 12:51 pm
That sounds like it might do the trick. Thank you.
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