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BURN DVDS TO AN EXTERNAL BURNER OR A DISK IMAGE WITH iDVD:

Pour lire cette page en français, cliquetez ici.
Para leer esta página en español, chasque aquí.

If you are using iDVD 5 and would like to choose which drive you want to burn a DVD on, click here for instuctions.

NOTICE: With the release of iDVD 5, Apple has finally allowed the option for burning to disc images and to external burners to be a built-in feature of iDVD! If you have iDVD 5, you do not need this easter egg to burn to non-Superdrives.

One feature oddly absent (or so people think) from iDVD is the ability to burn to external (third party) DVD-R drives or to Disk Images... this REALLY cripples iDVD, in my humble opinion! What most people don't know, is that there is a nice easter egg (not exactly a 'hack') that allows users to do both of these wonderful things so that they aren't restricted to cheesy iDVD imitations for making DVDs for burning on an external drive.

I originally found this information in this forum thread, but thought it would be nice to put a step-by-step guide on my site for those who don't understand (or don't want to read) all they said in the forum. Note that I am not the original author of this easter egg enabler, and I don't even know exactly who is - I thank whoever it may be, though...

I have tested this with iDVD 4.0.1, and others have reported it working with versions 2.0, 3.0, 3.0.1, and 4.0 as well (on G4s and G5s of all flavors). If you have problems, please read my FAQ before emailing me a question. In addition, if you find that your external DVD burning drive is not being seen by Mac OS X, iTunes, or iDVD, you might want to try using 'PatchBurn' to see if your Mac has better luck seeing your drive.

(Note: It has come to my attention that this page is now being seen internationally... if anyone would like to offer a translation of this page into his or her own language, I would be willing to post that online :-)

Step-By-Step Instructions:

  1. Download the file 'iDVD_Egg.dmg.sit', open it to decompress it, then open the Disk Image file that is decompressed.

    After the 'iDVD Egg' white disk image appears on your desktop, place the two files (named 'Pfurz' and 'Hurz') inside it DIRECTLY into your home folder (in the same area as your 'Documents', 'Pictures', 'Library', 'Sites' and related folders are—but NOT inside those folders).
  2. Open a project in iDVD.
  3. Click the burn button once to open up the 'shutter' to reveal the radiation button. (Note: if this doesn't work, restart your computer and try again).

    Burn Button Closed Burn Button Open
  4. Hold down "control" key, then select "Burn DVD..." from the File menu (while "control" key is held down). Keep holding the control key down until the dialog box pops up (Thanks, Karl and Keith :).

    File Menu
  5. A dialog box will come up asking whether to burn to an external drive or to a Disk Image. Choose one of the two options and click Burn.

    Format Disc Dialog Box

    Note 1: if you need to burn a DVD+R disc, first create a Disk Image, then burn it to your DVD+R using another disc-burning utility - thanks, Amy!
    Note 2: If you choose to burn to a disc, you'll need to select the drive you are burning to (even if you only have one external drive) - thanks, Jacqueline!
    Note 3: The 'DVD-R Simulation Mode' is for doing a 'test burn'. the 'DLT Format' selection only applies if you are burning your DVD to a Digital Tape (some pros do this to send it to a DVD production company)
  6. After the burn/image creation is finished, the dialog box will pop up again, asking you want to burn again (or save another image); click 'Cancel' if you're finished.
  7. If you created a Disk Image on your hard drive, you will need to burn it to a DVD using a burning utility such as Disk Utility or Toast. Read #3 of my FAQ for more information.
  8. If you have any problems, please read my FAQ before emailing me a question.

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