Invisible Files & Folders Using Toast
I'm trying to create a data DVD that's useful in both Mac and PC (still have a few friends on the dark side) and as there's so much of it in many different files and folders, I want to open it with just the one pdf file that has links to open all the other files, both pdf and mp3. The whole thing is more than a gig.
I dragged all the files and folders into the window for Toast 9 to create a data disc, checked for both Mac and PC. Then I went through and using the Information button at the bottom for each folder, checked the Invisible box.
I thought I had it okay, and it works as desired on my MB, but not quite as desired on a PC.
On a PC, when I asked someone to test it, only the initial file opened, and at least some of the pdf files linked from it, but none of the mp3s would open. We got a message that said, in effect, that particular file could not be found!
Now, I know the file is on the DVD - it works on my MB, and when I open the disc and use something like Cocktail to make invisible files visible, I can see them all there.
But for some reason, the links don't open them on the PC.
Ideas? Solutions? Any help much appreciated. Maybe some way I should use a different burning application to create the desired DVD and effect.
I dragged all the files and folders into the window for Toast 9 to create a data disc, checked for both Mac and PC. Then I went through and using the Information button at the bottom for each folder, checked the Invisible box.
I thought I had it okay, and it works as desired on my MB, but not quite as desired on a PC.
On a PC, when I asked someone to test it, only the initial file opened, and at least some of the pdf files linked from it, but none of the mp3s would open. We got a message that said, in effect, that particular file could not be found!
Now, I know the file is on the DVD - it works on my MB, and when I open the disc and use something like Cocktail to make invisible files visible, I can see them all there.
But for some reason, the links don't open them on the PC.
Ideas? Solutions? Any help much appreciated. Maybe some way I should use a different burning application to create the desired DVD and effect.
Comments
I'm guessing the URLs within the PDF look like file://etc, right?
The internal links to pdf files have a pointer that basically says File:Disc Name: Folder Name: Folder Name:Folder Name; File Name.PDF
The internal links in the initial pdf have links to the mp3s which say File: Disc Name: Folder Name: Folder Name: File Name.mp3
And they work as designed on my MB but when I tried it on someone's PC laptop, the pdf file would open, but trying the link to the mp3 returned a popup that said it couldn't be found.
Strange, that it would find the invisible pdf file but not the invisible mp3.
Mac OS 9 used links like this:
Macintosh HD:Applications:Microsoft Office 2004
Mac OS X recognizes this, but its native way of seeing links is the UNIX way:
/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Microsoft\ Office\ 2004/
Windows assigns drives different letters, so it's somewhat unpredictable. Someone's optical drive is usually
C:\Program Files\Some Folder\Some Other Folder\
Notice the slashes are switched, and there's no escaping (like there was for the UNIX links).
However, all platforms can use the file:// type of links, which means something like this will work (I'll use the Mac OS X link as an example).
file:///Volumes/Macintosh%20HD/Applications/Microsoft%20Office%202004/
More information on that. If it were me, this is the style of links I'd use, but you might still need to specify different links for Mac and Windows. Plus, if you've got to name the Windows drive letter, it's bound to not work on some people's machines.
I'm sure there's a way to do this reliably, but I just don't know how to do it.
The strange thing is that the pdf links work, opening the series of linked pdf files.
Using the same procedure though, it didn't find and play the mp3s. Perhaps a player should be open first, rather than assuming that the file will kick open the app?
The files aren't in the same folder as the pdf files. There are different folders with both pdf and mp3 files in them, which are accessed from the initial pdf file. And almost all the links aren't internet url links, but to files on the disc itself. (I'll have to recheck that the url links connect, but as I recall, they did ask if the user wanted to connect to the internet.)
What seems so strange is that the links to the pdf files work, but to the mp3s don't. And the returned information is that the file couldn't be found, not that it couldn't be played.
I did create something similar a few years ago, but all the links in that one were to pdf files and internet links.
Maybe it's that I've created the mp3s with iTunes? But I did ensure that every one of them had the necessary extension, .mp3 just as I did for all the pdf files, .pdf
I'm sure there must be a way to do it, so here's hoping someone knowing it will join our discussion.
I went through lots of investigation, trying to determine other possible formats that would allow me to keep those files invisible but accessible on both the Mac and PC. I finally burned another DVD using the UDF format. As there was a PC user nearby, I asked him to test it for me.
Worked perfectly. And then, out of curiosity, we tried my original DVD. That worked perfectly, too!!
So, I think the problem was not in my DVD, but in the drive of the initial PC where I tested it. Have to wait until I meet that person again, and maybe a couple more PCers, but I think that's the resolution of the problem. It wasn't mine all along!
Thanks for your input, flak. I do keep learning.
Glad you got it figure out, dude!!