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Should you insert those small, 3-inch DVDs into an iMac slot drive?
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 / Hardware
Jacob,
As an owner of two iMacs purchased through PowerMax, I hope you don’t mind a really simple question: can I insert and play a small (3″ diameter) DVD–assuming it’s formatted for Macs–into the right side slot, or will it lodge inside?
Layne
I am happy you asked before trying it. Mini sized CDs or DVDs should never be used in any slot-loading drive. This is true for Apple computers and car stereos. Really they are a terrible idea and should have never been produced. Currently only tray-based drives will accept them, and the tray has to have a special indent to keep the small disc centered.
This idea came out of the initial high cost of creating a full sized CD. Now that cost is pennies so making it smaller does not reduce the cost appreciably. The best way to get data off those disc, is to find a tray loading drive and transfer the data to a USB thumb drive or full sized CD-R.
Many service techs has had to extract those little discs from a drive, at great expense.
- Jacob
November 24th, 2009 at 6:19 am
Jacob: I tried to play mini DVD (recording of a duaghter’s concert; camcorder was borrowed) on my G4 iMac, but DVD player wouldn’t play the recording. Do I need other software? I want to move the files onto the iMac (only computer I have with a tray, the other Macs only have slots) and burn a new DVD from the files. Thanks.