HELP!! I tried to back up a movie using dvd shrink on the western digital my passport essential and it keeps backing up the files in .MDS files. But it backs up as ISO files on my internal hdd. Why is that and how can I fix this problem? I don't know how to use Nero to burn this format, and burn keeps failing when I mount it in daemon tools. Maybe I am not doing something right? Please help!!
Originally posted by bowbei: thanks! But I am also curious why it changes from iso format to mds format when it's backed up onto the external my passport vs. the internal hdd??
Hi,
mds is iso, it is just that mds is the small file that gives the directions as to how to burn. Usually if the file is smaller than 4480 Mb, it is just 1 file. If the file is >4480 Mb, and the file system is NTFS, then you get a mds file and the data file. In Imgburn, you pick the mds file to burn.
FYI: Following is from WD Passport Essential User Manual.
Drive Format:
This WD device is preformatted as a single FAT32 partition for compatibility with all updated Windows and Macintosh operating systems. The FAT32 file system has a maximum individual file size limit of 4 GB. To create partitions larger than 32 GB in FAT32 when reformatting the drive, download the External USB/FireWire FAT32 Formatting Utility from support.wdc.com/download.
Windows 2000 and XP users can overcome file size limitations by reformatting the drive to NTFS using the Disk Management utility. See answer ID 1287 at
support.wdc.com and article IDs 314463 and 184006 at support.microsoft.com for further details.
So, if the reformatting HD is not your choice, try limiting the target size to less than 4GB (or 3.9GB, 3.8GB) in DVD Shrink.
thanks for clarifying that, but what i still don't get is, everything in dvdshrink is the same. BUT, if i save the file to my internal hdd, the file shows up as ISO, and if i save the file to my passport (external hdd), it shows up as MDS. It makes no sense to me because everything is the SAME except where I saved the files to. They are also all under 4.5 GB
Sorry, if I did not explain well. It is not because of internal/external, but its file systems. Your file systems of your internal HD and external HD are different.
In FAT32, which is your external HD, its limit of the maximum file size is ?4 GB minus 1 byte?. You (anyone or any software) cannot write a file bigger than that on FAT32. That?s why DVDShrink create files which are smaller than 4GB (not 4.5GB). NTFS?s max file size is ?2^64 bytes (16 EiB) minus 1 KiB?.
I do not have FAT32 hard drives any more so I cannot check. But DVDShrink may be able to create a ?.iso? file on your FAT32 external HD, if you limit the target output size to 4GB. (I am not exactly sure in MB to specify in DVDShrink. 4096MB?)
