DVD-buckets and file size difference between operating systems

[dtraughber]

Using Apple Tiger and Leopard operating systems, I have been careful to keep data in buckets (for backup) at, or below 4.3 GB as per Peter's recommendation.

When I installed Snow Leopard (upgraded from Tiger) my Mac Pro would not recognize my archive drives, both internal and externals. All drives had initially been erased by writing zeros, then formatted to HFS Journal extended so the formatting was the same. Therefore I had to rebuild the archive on new drives by using buckets on DVDs. I noticed that the file size shown in "Get Info" is now different for these buckets, and the size can run well over 4.3 GB. For example, a 4.3 GB dvd might now show as 4.6 GB or more.

Does anyone know the reason for difference in file size between operating systems? Should we continue to use a 4.3 GB size limit per dvd, no matter what the bucket size might show later?

This is rather disconcerting. I don't relish re-working the buckets previously made.

Thank you for any input,

Dadre Traughber

[markpirozzi]

Apple changed the way they compute the total number of bits.  They don't round down like everyone else and it is sometimes a pain, but drive capicity more closely matches that shown on the drive.

However, the actual number of bits is the same.  Try to burn a folder and see if doesn't fit on one DVD disc.

When I'm filing up a folder to fit on a DVD, I use John's Lightroom plugin 'Size and count' - it computes the MB count the traditional way.  Another method would be to use trial and error to find out what 4.3 GB translates to on a Mac and make a note of it.

Mark

[dtraughber]

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your timely answer. And thank you for the tip about John's "Size and Count". I'd like to give that a try.
Yes the change in bit count is a pain, but then it's good to have a better idea of drive capacity.

Thanks again. I appreciate your consideration!

Dadre Traughber

[DrewFulton]

When Mac changed the way they computed drives it blew my mind for a few minutes.  A bit of trial and error now shows me that my buckets need to be below 4.63GB to fit on my normal 4.3 GB disks...

Hope that helps!

[dtraughber]

Hi Drew,

Yes this does help. It was like shooting in the dark when burning DVDs with Snow Leopard.

Tiger OS used to give a message before burning, that a DVD of XX.X GB size was needed to burn the data. Snow Leopard does not give any DVD size information before burning. Have no idea how Lion handles this.

Just "one more thing", isn't it?

Thanks for your comment!

Dadre

[DrewFulton]

The 4.6 works on Lion as well.