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News Archive for: Monday Nov. 17, 2008 (later added items first)
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| Mac Pro owner notes on updating DVD Burner firmware via Fusion 2.0.1/Windows |
(from one of today's drive upgrades/compat. database reports)
...It has been hard for mac users to upgrade firmware for DVD writers. I have had to use a windows machine or a Mac with Bootcamp with windows XP. I tried using parallels Desktop v3 but it did not work (it said target machine not found).
(Reader FYI: Although not as easy as using the standard PC updaters, for several years the FAQ's DVD section has had info/links on OS X flashers for Pioneer drives (DVR_Flash for OS X - you can use stuffit Expander (v8 and later) to uncompress the PC exe pioneer updater downloads to get the firmware files or use the terminal tip from the July 20th, 2005 news page) and OS X compatible flashers for -some- NEC and -some- Plextor drives). For PPC Mac owners, VirtualPC also has been noted to work in the past IF using a USB adapter (some used USB adapters like NT's Universal drive adapter), although VPC will not update onboard IDE or FW connected drives.-Mike)
However I just tried VMware Fusion 2.01 and it works very well. I was able to use my MacPro dual 2.66GHz ( OS X 10.5 ) with VMware fusion 2.01 and was able to upgrade to newer firmware for my Pioneer DVR-115D to firmware 1.22 and LG (DVD burner + DVD-RAM) H55N to firmware 1.06 (they are in the two bays on the MacPro.)
I was also able to upgrade an External Pioneer DVD Writer DVR-112D to firmware 1.28 using USB.
VMware Fusion only sees one cd drive so you have to choose each drive separately. You have to select the external drive by choosing USB in the menu.
-Robert"
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| Mac Drive Upgrades/Compatibility Reports Database Updated |
| The Mac Drive/Storage Upgrades Database had 4 more reports added. Current total - 16,533. (Searching by drive type, brand, mac model etc. listed below will show full reports, most recent first)
DVD+R/RW + DVD-R/RW Drives (notes on using VM Fusion 2.01/Windows to update drive firmware - see copy above)
- IDE Pioneer DVR-115D in Mac Pro (OS X 10.5.x)
- IDE LG GSA-H55N in Mac Pro (OS X 10.5.x)
Hard Drives:
- SATA (onboard) Samsung HM500LI 500GB in MacBook Pros (OS X 10.5.x)
- SATA (onboard) Western Digital WD5000BEVT 500GB Scorpio Blue (9.5mm high) in MacBook Pro (OS X 10.5.x)
You can read full reports (latest shown first) by searching the database by drive type/brand/interface/mac models. Includes reports on Optical Drives (Blu-Ray, DVD, CD/CDR, etc.), Hard Drives, SSD, Tape drives, Removable media (ORB, ZIP, MO drives), NAS (Network Attached Storage), in all interface types (IDE, SATA, Firewire, SCSI, USB, adapters). To widen search results you can leave drive brand, OS version (or other fields) blank.
If you've added/upgraded a drive in your Mac send me the details (drive info/speed rating/mac model/OS version used, etc.). Note: Please use the drive for at least a week before reporting on it and test for booting from Disc with Optical Drives (as well as burning discs). Thanks.
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