- I got a dual layer (8.5GB) DVD disc
- after I inserted it to my PowerMac G5, my drive spins awhile and eject the disc automatically
- does it mean my DVD drive can't read a dual layer DVD? Happen to some of the PowerMac G5s?
- Will it solve the problem if I decided to ugrade the DVD drive? Any suggestions on the model or brand?

Thanks,

G.

I think you should be able to read commercially produced DL DVDs (like movies) with your drive. I don't know if you can read burned DL DVDs. The ability to write DL DVDs began in the early 2005 PowerMac G5 models. If you read through some of the old threads on this forum, there are a lot of complaints about SuperDrives that don't work correctly. I replaced one with a Lightscribe drive from LaCie and it worked very well for four years.

More options here, but I have no experience with either of them.
http://eshop.macsales.com/static_pages/ ... ac_g5.html

Hello Michael,

I end up getting a Pioneer DVR 118L and it works just fine, except the tray didn't come up as easy as the original one, it jams with the G5's sliding door, I have to use my hand to get the tray out, any suggestion on fixing it? Also I notice it takes long for the new drive to read a DVD, is that normal?

thanks for the help.

G.

I had the same problem with mine. I used paper shims to properly position the drive and never had another problem.

Michael, you beat me to the punch, but here is what I did. Had same problem when I upgraded my own G5 dvd player.

Problem is that replacement tray design is slightly higher than G5 case door. Top of tray gets caught by bottom of case door.

Fix - rearrange player so that tray slides through opening w/o any problems.

Solution - reopen your G5 case. Remove your DVD cradle. Loosen & remove back 2 screws. Insert 1 small pop-rivet washer between cradle & player where rear screws attach. Reattach both screws through washers & insert cradle back into computer. Washers raise back end of player enough so that tray opens w/o problems. Tray open with slight downward angle, but still holds & plays dvd/cd.

Hope this helps. Let us know.

I finally got my new DVD drive to work without stuck even though I have to kind of giving it a little push and pull. I'm happy as long as it works. Thanks for the help guys.

BTW, I got a little question on the side and please help...

-friend of mine gave me a dual layer DVD disc with a Leopard (10.5) installer inside
-inside the disc, there is a dmg file (osx-leopard105.dmg) only
-when I double click open it, a window with the big X and a “install Mac OSX” comes up
-I double click the “install Mac OSX” icon, another window with a big X and a “restart” button comes up
-I click the restart button, it has a “Authenticate” window open and ask for my login password
-I enter the info and hit ok, the PowerPC restart
-after the machine restart, boot up, it just went back to the desktop, and nothing happens, no installation, etc
-I wonder Is that a way to go around and install the OS?

any suggestion and help is deeply appreciated.

G.

You cannot install from a Disk Image (.dmg file). You need to burn the .dmg to a DVD, or restore it to an external drive (or partition on an external drive) then boot from there and run the installer.

Hi Michael, I don't really understand what it is involved to do that, could you please explain or provide a step by step on how to burn the .dmg to a DVD or restore to an external drive....BTW the .dmg file is about 6.6GB, will it be a problem with that size? Also, any burning tool I need?

apologize for so many questions....

G.

You can use Disk Utility to burn the disk image to a DVD. From the Disk Utility tool bar, select Burn, then browse to where the .dmg file is in the mini Finder window that pops up.

If you have an external firewire drive, you can use Disk Utility to transfer the .dmg to a bootable partition on the drive. Select the target partition in the Disk Utility sidebar, then click the Restore button at the top of the right frame. Drag the icon for the .dmg into the Source box, and the icon for the target partition into the Destination box. Click the Restore button at the bottom to transfer the .dmg to the target. When it is done, you should be able to select that partition as the boot disk and it will boot into the Leopard installer just like the DVD.

Thanks for the quick reply, my question is....

-my original file OS- Leopard.dmg is in a DVD (you refer it as a disk image)
- when I double click it, a hard drive like icon will mounted on the desktop, I double click that mounted icon, I will get the big X install window and so on...
- If you said I cannot install from a disk image and need to burn it to another dvd --- but what I burn to dvd is still the same .dmg file from my original DVD or did I misunderstand what you mean?

G.

you need to copy the dmg to your computer
open disk utility
drag it into the left hand panel of disk utility
click on it
hit burn top left
insert a blank dual layer dvd (i guess if its over 4.7gb) and burn

I tried it last night and it works like a charm, thanks for the help Iggy and Micheal.

G.