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| Generic OS9 drivers for external USB CD-R | |
| Posted by: devius on 2022-04-11 14:42:40 I have an iMac G3 450 DV+ and would like to burn CDs with it, so I got an external USB CD-R drive for cheap. Unfortunately I didn't check well enough which drives would be compatible with OS9, and so I bought an HP cd-writer cd4e:  When I plug it in to the computer it just says that there's no driver for it and if I want to search the internet for a compatible driver. The drive does not work at all without a driver, not even reading CDs. Is there any kind of generic external USB CD-RW driver that I could use? I already tried searching to the best of my abilities and most people seem to be able to at least read CDs from any drive without any effort, so looks like I got the worst possible drive for this purpose. | |
| Posted by: MacKilRoy on 2022-04-11 15:01:32 Have you tried downloading Toast CD Pro, preferably version 4.5+ (if on Mac OS 9 or below), or a version higher that works with OS X (if that's what you're using)? The built-in CD burning software only supports the Apple-supported drives. Toast CD supported many more drives. | |
| Posted by: devius on 2022-04-12 14:05:22 I haven't. I tried Toast 3 but it said there was no CD burner in my system. I'll try with version 4.5 as suggested and report back. | |
| Posted by: Skate323k137 on 2022-04-12 15:16:16 This is the guy I use with my 1st gen iMac. How I found one in a store a few years ago, on the shelf, I have no idea (like, a grocery store), but the back of the box says MacOS 8.6 and up! If you would like me to test a certain program or function I suppose I can 🙂 Model is Memorex MDW128B for future browsers if the auction is no longer cached. (not my auction, but several available for a good price in the US) 
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| Posted by: Cory5412 on 2022-04-12 18:09:37 That's a neat find. Memorex appears to still be selling USB based disc writers, for example: https://memorex.com/at-home/mdw218b.html - the web site also still says 8.6 and up. It was probably pretty easy to find, Memorex has sort of become the default CD stuff in a lot of markets (USB cd writer, portable CD player, jewel cases, disc binders, etc etc) as other players have fallen out as CD and even CD-R and CD-RW fall out of popular use. | |
| Posted by: Skate323k137 on 2022-04-13 02:49:10 That makes sense. It was at my regional large grocery chain next to the CDRs and movies. Amazing it still supports back that far! | |
Posted by: zefrenchtoon on 2022-04-13 08:09:55I haven't. I tried Toast 3 but it said there was no CD burner in my system. I'll try with version 4.5 as suggested and report back.Hi! Toast 5 is the last version supporting OS 9: Toast 5 Titanium - Macintosh GardenFast efficient utility for mounting, burning and creating image files! Archive now contains versions 5.0.2, the last version compatible with OS 8.6, through 5.2.3, which requires OS 9.1 and will work with 10.1.2 or later, on PPC. Please do not upload any more versions without asking on this page...
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| Posted by: devius on 2022-04-13 14:58:21 Thanks for the tips everyone. I tried Toast versions 3.8 USB, 4.0.2, 4.1.3, 5.2.1 and 5.2.3 and none detected the cd-writer. Verdict: not compatible with Mac OS 9. Model is Memorex MDW128B for future browsers if the auction is no longer cached. (not my auction, but several available for a good price in the US) That looks perfect, but I'm not in the US, so I'll see what I can find locally. Still good to know there are possibly new drives that are OS9 compatible. | |
| Posted by: mikes-macs on 2023-04-12 20:07:54 You can install Mac OS X 10.2.8 and use it with roxio toast 6.1 titanium. | |
| Posted by: s_pupp on 2023-04-12 20:24:45 Intech has a CD driver for os9, if you can find it. It’s called CD/DVD Speed Tools. | |
Posted by: Romko23 on 2023-04-15 06:59:14Intech has a CD driver for os9, if you can find it. It’s called CD/DVD Speed Tools.Here, try macintoshgarden.org - most if not all OS 9 apps and older are on this site. The entire intech tools for OS 9 is there also. | |
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