Is anyone using this burner with a Mac? According to LG, it’s compatible with Macintosh but I’d like to hear from Mac people who are actually using it before purchasing the drive. Thanks.
Claire
Hi.
Post the detailed specifications of your Mac. There are too many Macs.
My Mac is an iBook, G3, 500MHz, dual USB, 192 MB RAM, 10 GB internal HD, 120 GB external 7200 FW 400 EZQuest Cobra Drive (boot/main drive). I have 3 partitions on the external drive with plenty of drive space available. The internal drive is used mainly as an emergency drive - right now there is 7.35 GB free space on the drive. I’m using OS 10.2.8. Also, I always use the computer on AC power.
Claire, I’m using a 5163D with my 700 mHz flat panel iMac. I connect via a Firewire cable and it works beautifully, so long as you’re using Toast for burning.
There is a utility called Patchburn that in theory allows the drive to burn direct from iMovie, the Finder, etc. In my experience it can’t handle hardware specific features like buffer underrun etc. properly. I wish Apple would give it system-level support, but so long as you plan to use Toast it won’t be an issue.
GSA-5163D is an expensive drive compared to most other external drives. You can probably buy a 512MB DRAM module, a GSA-4163B, and another 120 GB HDD, all for just the same price.