Client unable to open Photo DVD in Vista

studio1972 · December 15, 2009

Strange problem,

I've burnt a DVD with all the photos for a client on my mac. Exported full size jpgs onto the empty dvd-r disk then butnt it in the finder. The client now says he cannot access the images on his vista laptop. He can see the DVD and that it has 850MB used on it that is correct, but instead of being able to view the image files he just gets a message telling him to drag files onto the disk?!

I don't think he is very computer literate so it is probably just something he is doing incorrectly, any ideas? When you insert a DVD of jpg images into a vista PC can you not just open it in a 'finder' window like on a mac?:scratch

Much appreciated.

Richard · December 15, 2009

studio1972 wrote:

Strange problem,

I've burnt a DVD with all the photos for a client on my mac. Exported full size jpgs onto the empty dvd-r disk then butnt it in the finder. The client now says he cannot access the images on his vista laptop. He can see the DVD and that it has 850MB used on it that is correct, but instead of being able to view the image files he just gets a message telling him to drag files onto the disk?!

I don't think he is very computer literate so it is probably just something he is doing incorrectly, any ideas? When you insert a DVD of jpg images into a vista PC can you not just open it in a 'finder' window like on a mac?

Much appreciated.

Sarah,
You should be able to double-click on the DVD to open it, then double-click on each JPG file. This is just a guess, but some DVD writing software allows you to leave a disk "open," meaning that you can later add additional files till the disk is full, at which time the disk is finalized. This is cool, but the problem is, some DVD readers have trouble reading disks that have not been finalized. I may not be using the same terms that your recording program uses, but I hope you get the idea. Check your program for something that sounds similar. If you sent a disk that needed to be finalized, you can have your client return the disk and your program should have an option to do that.

shming · December 15, 2009

studio1972 wrote:

Strange problem,

I've burnt a DVD with all the photos for a client on my mac. Exported full size jpgs onto the empty dvd-r disk then butnt it in the finder. The client now says he cannot access the images on his vista laptop. He can see the DVD and that it has 850MB used on it that is correct, but instead of being able to view the image files he just gets a message telling him to drag files onto the disk?!

I don't think he is very computer literate so it is probably just something he is doing incorrectly, any ideas? When you insert a DVD of jpg images into a vista PC can you not just open it in a 'finder' window like on a mac?

Much appreciated.

That is odd -- did you allow the mac finder to verify the disk after it was burned? I usually cancel it during this process but maybe I should allow it to do the full run. Anyway -- if you burnt it using the finder - this should allow it to open on any operating system - doesn't sound like you did anything wrong to me. I'll bet you anything it's on the clients end (they aren't wrong - they just don't know sometimes) it's a great opp. to go that extra mile for them and develop a great trusting relationship --- are they local? does your client have a lap top - maybe you can meet up with him/her and walk them through it. Just a thought

mmmatt · December 15, 2009

Richard wrote:

Sarah,
You should be able to double-click on the DVD to open it, then double-click on each JPG file. This is just a guess, but some DVD writing software allows you to leave a disk "open," meaning that you can later add additional files till the disk is full, at which time the disk is finalized. This is cool, but the problem is, some DVD readers have trouble reading disks that have not been finalized. I may not be using the same terms that your recording program uses, but I hope you get the idea. Check your program for something that sounds similar. If you sent a disk that needed to be finalized, you can have your client return the disk and your program should have an option to do that.

I bet the disc isn't finalized. There may also be an option to write the disc so it can be read on PC or mac. PC and mac are not the same in how they write discs, and either way you should verify that the disc was finalized. File verification is something different... Burn another copy just as you did before, take it out of the drive and reinsert it. If you are able to add more files to it then it hasn't been finalized, if you can't add more files then chances are it has been finalized. If it seems as though it has been finalized, then go into program options and see if you can find a setting that will allow it to be read on pc or mac. My other thought is that the client doesn't have a DVD drive at all (CD only), but if it is a Vista computer that would be hard to believe.

matt

BradfordBenn · December 15, 2009

I have had this exact problem and it is the finalization process that was the root cause as everyone alluded to. I use Toast for Mac to do my burning and make sure to click finalize disk. I forget how to do it in Disk Utility.

Part of it can also be caused by the fact that a DVD -R or DVD +R can only be read by either Superdrives or their matching counterpart until finalized. So the finalization is the key to make it function. I found this out the hard way at work where my Win laptop is DVD-R and my Vista desktop is DVD+R so I have to finalize the DVD when archiving big files.

Client unable to open Photo DVD in Vista

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