iMac DVD Drive shared with Mac & Win 7

Hi,

A relative newbie here in both the fields of Mac OS & Parallels, so please go easy on me. However, I am 'sort of' a confident computer user and can generally navigate my way around most problems.

The problem I have is I am using AnyDVD in a virtual environment to remove the DRM from the DVD's I purchased so I can add them to my Apple Tv. AnyDVD only works in Windows and is something I purchased before I bought a Mac.

I have connected the DVD drive to the VM which works fine and AnyDVD does it's stuff. I then run Handbrake on the native Mac OS but when I try to navigate to the DVD drive in the Handbrake Finder it obviously doesn't exist.
I did manage to fluke the situation and somehow got the DVD drive to appear within Handbrake's finder and the program encoded fine, however, I was unable to repeat this achievement.

I know I can disconnect the drive from the VM and connect it back in to Mac OS, but this then defeats AnyDVD.
I also know I can install a windows version of Handbrake but both of these options seem flawed to me.

Snookered!

I know this will work as I have fluked it once, but I need some help in navigating my way to the DVD drive in Mac OS whilst it is still active on the Windows VM.

I am running Parallel 7 with Win 7 home edition installed. My computer is a brand new shiny iMac running the latest the Mac OS (Lion I am guessing).

Looking forward to the advice I will hopefully be offered.

Smithy.

 

you ned to understand the basics: you have just one DVD rom and 2 machines - the real Mac OS and virtual Windows. In case you connect it directly to Windows - there is no way you can use it in Mac. And if you use it in Mac - you cannot connect it directly to Windows.
But if you use it in Mac you can see the content of DVD in Windows as a network drive (the same way you can see Mac Home folder in My Computer - because DVD is usually mounted to Finder as a Drive). In this way you can use DVD rom in Mac and use the content of DVD in Windows at the same time. But i am not sure if you will be able to use AnyDVD - cause i don't know if it is essential for it to read the drive as DVD but not as a network drive (i suppose so)

 

Thanks for replying so promptly.

I do understand the concept and would have normally accepted that what I was trying to do was impossible but for the fact that I actually managed to get the virtual drive to appear in finder in the sub-pane.

I have an idea on how I actually managed this feat and will try to recreate it. If I can mimic this then hopefully it might solve my problem or enable someone cleverer than me to help instigate an easier work around.

I'll post my results later.

 

I managed to replicate what i did

I opened up my computer on the virtual machine then dragged the DVD drive from the virtual machine into the finder window. This then showed the drive in the 'volumes' folder within my mac. This then enabled the mac program to access the virtual drive and the program executed fine.
Whether this utilises anyDVD or not is anyone's guess!

The other alternative I have found is to just install handbrake in windows on the virtual machine thus negating the need to navigate to the virtual drive.
The negative with this route is the time it is taking to encode. 30 mins in mac is, 14 hours in windows virtual!

Neither is a solution but at least I have optional work arounds!