nec3500 OSX firmware upgrade ?

hi everibody.
thanks for this great forum !
a friend of mine with iMac did buy a "laCie porsche firewire dvd recorder".
the recorder is a nec3500 in a firewire box....
we tried to burn a traxdata DL but the media was not recognized....
he asked me to upgrade is firmware for better compatibility.
i plugged the drive on my PC and checked the firmware with binflash and necdump to verify the strategys and compatibilitys.
firmware is 2.07 (!!) and accept ritek DL at 4X...
this is the last firmware from laCie (16.11.2004).
what should i do ?
upgrade with 2.18 ?? (nec advertizing is rather slowing me down on this possibility because it says that you can upgrade only from 2.16....)

Drive String: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG
Firmware version: 2.07
Firmware release date: 03.09.04

CD-R Version: 1.24
CD-RW Version: 1.24
DVD-R Version: 1.37
DVD-RW Version: 1.33
DVD+R Version: 1.56g
DVD+RW Version: 1.37
DVD-R9 Version: 1.24g

RipLock Status: not removed
Region Control: RPC-2

here is the speeds for DL i get with necdump :

[MKM ÿÿÿ] -> 2.4x 4x
[RICOHJPN ] -> 2.4x
[RICOHJPN ÿÿ] -> 2.4x
[RITEK ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ÿÿ000 ÿ#$%&'] ->
[ÿÿÿÿ001 ÿ()*+] ->
[R00 D00ÿÿ234] ->
[ÿD01 ÿÿÿÿÿ<=] ->
[ÿÿÿ000 >?@AB] ->
[ÿÿÿÿÿ1 2CDEÿÿ] ->
[4g___ ÿÿÿÿF] ->
[:<LLLLBHLMNOÿ] ->
[H P P ] ->
[P $PPPP] ->
[PPPPP,4<] ->
[¡Ô€ ¡Þ] ->
[¦À ¡òª@] ->
[üŠ J] ->
[3> ¨ ] ->
[€ ·*€ ] ->
[zÂô {”ÿÿÿ ] ->
[ô |zô ] ->
[hº÷ i¾ ] ->
[÷ úÔ° ] ->
[s ÷ tR þ0 ] ->
[÷ ðTº þÐ ] ->
[· mªµ $ ] ->
[¼Pø ¢ ÿª ] ->
[·@ N~” V ] ->
[¢2·@ 5à ] ->
[· ~Ä´ þ ] ->
[£ ¤ b P #] ->
[€ S¶´ P ] ->
[*&´ z * ] ->
[´ 0‚´ ü + ] ->
[4p— ¢F ¢ -] ->
[³@ ¥Þº ì ] ->
[¢n»@ ¢‚ / ] ->
[»@ $ € Ö 7 ] ->
[´"€ ²ø € ] ->
[€ ¦T€ Ô ] ->
[¡*· 5ú ] ->
[” 6 ” Z ] ->
[6 ” ¡Ô æ ] ->
[€ ¡Ô€ * ] ->
[¡Ô€ ¡Ô ] ->
[€ ’V— ôÿÿ ] ->
[9:;< ] ->
[€… ƒ ] ->
[ ] ->
[ È!] ->
[70 N_ ] ->
[CED DVR_· ' ] ->
[ WDN3-05 ] ->
[A0 G · ] ->
[ ( ] ->
[ õ] ->
[x Š G] ->
[_NEC ] ->
[DVD_RW N ` ] ->
[D-3500AGÈ È$ ] ->
[2 070409 ] ->
[ ] ->
[K310K350\ ] ->
[20041013 ] ->
[-00 _NEC ] ->
[ ã] ->
[ î Š Š] ->
[ ] ->
[ _NEC Eº È] ->
[ È ] ->
[RW ND-35 v v ] ->
[RW ND-35 v ] ->
[jb$( "ÿ ] ->
[ÿÿÿÿ ¤ ¤ ] ->
[¯5 ~z Ò ] ->
[}˜ 4 ÿ¯A ] ->
[~º }Ø #µV] ->
[¯‰ ~Î @ì ] ->
[}ì ÿ¯™4 ] ->
[~ú ~ Ò ] ->
[¯Ë i ‡ ] ->
[~ 0 ÿ° > €] ->
[?Ú ÿ¯5 ] ->
[~z }˜ 6 ] ->
[€ ] ->
[ñw)#! À] ->
[ÿÿ ÿ€ÿÿÿ] ->
[ÿÿ €ÿÿÿ] ->
[ÿ ÿÿÿ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ÿÿÿÿ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[2LV`jjjj] -> 2.4x 4x
[jj ( +] -> 2.4x 4x
[C TOC ] -> 2.4x 4x
[®Ã ƒ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[®ã È @ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[¯ i ] -> 2.4x 4x
[®Ó v ] -> 2.4x 4x
[@ì € ÿ] -> 2.4x 4x
[®óK¾ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[®Ó ¤ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[$0<HT`lx] -> 2.4x 4x
[‚ $] -> 2.4x 4x
[*06<F ] -> 2.4x 4x
[::vvHHH ] -> 2.4x 4x
[66200410] -> 2.4x 4x
[1300 „] -> 2.4x 4x
[€À @€ @@] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ÿÿ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ÿÿ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ÿÿ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ÿÿ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ÿÿ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ÿ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[" # ] -> 2.4x 4x
[1 02 ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ÿ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2B 6] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2 ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2‚ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2B ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€€ 2 ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2¢ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[‚ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2B s] -> 2.4x 4x
[€Š 2 S] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2‚ S] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2B s] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2 w] -> 2.4x 4x
[ª ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2B w] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2 W] -> 2.4x 4x
[ª ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2‚ W] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2B W] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2 W] -> 2.4x 4x
[ª ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2¢ W] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2B 6] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2¢ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2¢ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2B 6] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2 ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2¢ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[€ 2¢ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[6^^^^^^Z] -> 2.4x 4x
[$P K ] -> 2.4x 4x
[K ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ÀF Â ] -> 2.4x 4x
[Äú ÇT ] -> 2.4x 4x
[É® Ì ] -> 2.4x 4x
[Îb Ð¼ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[Ó Õp ] -> 2.4x 4x
[×Ê Ú$ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[Ü~ ÞØ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[á2 ãŒ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[åæ è@ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[êš ìô ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ïN ñ¨ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ô ö\ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ø¶ û ] -> 2.4x 4x
[ýj ÿÄ ] -> 2.4x 4x
[# %d ] -> 2.4x 4x
['¾ ° ] -> 2.4x 4x
["#$%&'()] -> 2.4x 4x
[89@ABCDE] -> 2.4x 4x
[FGHIPQRS] -> 2.4x 4x
[TUVWXY`a] -> 2.4x 4x
[bcdefghi] -> 2.4x 4x
[pqrstuvw] -> 2.4x 4x
[xy€‚ƒ„…] -> 2.4x 4x
[†‡ˆ‰‘’“] -> 2.4x 4x
[”•–—˜™ÿÿ] -> 2.4x 4x

confusing no ?

in fact this is with the last necdump (1.0RC2)...
with a previous version (0.8b2) on the same .bin i get :

MKM 001 4x
RICOHJPNR00 2.4x
RICOHJPND00 2.4x
RITEKD01 4x

strange no ?
and version 1.0RC2 crash when i load fw 2.16.bin thing that did not happen with 0.8b2...
seems that this necdump RC2 is a bit buggy :-)
anyway....

please help !!!!
thanks a lot !
sincerly
uthar