On media and drive incompatibility

This issue might be obvious to some, but MacNN yesterday had a short article bringing to light the complications of media and drive compatibility with older PowerBook SuperDrives, and I figured it would make for a good public service announcement refresher: kids, use the right media for the right drive.

MacNN's article points to a discussion thread and knowledge base article at Apple's site that both deal with some older PowerBook drives creating coasters instead of good burns when using 8x media in their 2x drives. The KB article recommends using media that matches the speed of your drive, or is at the least not much faster. The article also gives instructions on an easy way to access the System Profiler (Apple menu > About This Mac > System Profiler button) and where to find the "Disc Burning" section to find out exactly how fast your drive is if you don't know or don't remember.

While I've gotten away with jamming faster media into a slower drive on occasion, it's usually just a good rule of thumb to stick to the right tools for the right job. Your supply of Advil will thank you.