Problems mounting burned DVDs under Mac OS X

We've received an increasing number of reports indicating problems mounting DVDs burned with via a variety of methods -- but most commonly when using Roxio's Toast or Popcorn -- on Mac OS X systems.

One reader writes:

"When I burn DVD movies using Roxio's Popcorn and mount the DVD after verifying it, it shows up in the Finder and plays just fine. However, if I eject the DVD and then reinsert it at anytime there after, it refuses to mount on. The DVDs play just fine on my home DVD player as well as on my (I'm sorry to say) PC (it's actually belongs to my company. My personal PC which is running Windows '98, sits in the corner gathering dust!)

"This weekend I burnt a data DVD using Toast 7.01 and encountered the same problem listed above. I can't mount the DVD on my Mac, but it mounts on my PC. This is of particular concern because I back up my clients photos on DVD for archival purposes, and think it would be nice to be able to retrieve the data, in the event that I need it! I don't think that this problem is caused by Roxio's software, but I could be wrong."

In addition, some users report that DVDs burned under Mac OS X 10.3.x (Panther) fail to mount on Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger) systems.

In some rare cases of this problem, the problem may be that the startup volume is missing the /Volumes directory. You can rectify this problem by open the Terminal and typing the following command then pressing return:

• mkdir /Volumes

You should also make sure that your Finder preferences are set to show CDs, DVDs, and iPods on the Desktop. You can change this setting by making the Finder the foreground application, then selecting "Preferences" from the "Finder" menu and opening the "General" pane.

You may want to try repeatedly ejecting and re-inserting the disc until it mounts. Readers also report that having the Finder as the foremost application during media insertion more often results in a successful mount.

Logging out of the current user account, then logging back in has been reported to temporarily resolve the issue in some instances.

As a last resort, you may want to try navigating to the /System/Library/ folder deleting the files Extensions.kextcache and Extensions.mkext. You'll need to then restart; OS X will recreate these files at startup.

If you are experiencing a similar issue, please let us know.

Resources