Subj : Re: CDRWing
To   : comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.misc
From : Larry I Smith
Date : Mon Jul 26 2004 05:22 pm

Linønut wrote:
> Error BR-549: MS DRM 1.0 rejects the following post from Larry I Smith:
> 
> 
>>tonekd92 wrote:
>>
>>>I'm confused about rewriting a cdrw.
>>
>>Windows programs (Easy CD, etc) use a combination of
>>packet writing and the UDF filesystem.  This allows
>>your to treat the CDRW as a 'large floppy' with
>>random access read/write and drag-and-drop abilities.
>>
>>Although the bits and pieces for Linux are improving,
>>I'm not sure if there's yet anything like "Easy CD Creator"
>>with that kind of on-the-fly random access read/write
>>capability (where a mounted CDRW is treated like any
>>other random access disk with read/write/delete/rename
>>that automatically reuses deleted space).
> 
> 
> http://www.xcdroast.org/#overview
> 

Hmm, I don't find random read/write/delete access
via packet-writing and UDF in the feature list.

With programs like "Easy CD Creator" a CD is
mounted and looks like a small hard disk.
All filesystem operations are supported (copy,
delete, mkdir, rmdir, rename, move, etc, etc).
To the OS an ALL applications, the CD looks and
acts just like any other random access disk.

You can mount it again at a latter time and
update, delete rename, change the directory
structure, etc.  Space freed by deleting files
is reused to hold new files added.

In other words it functions exactly like any
other random access read/write filesystem
where deleted space is reused to hold new
or larger files.

This missing linux capablility is the ONLY
reason that I have to keep Windows around.
You can update your backup CD's with just
today's changes in a few seconds, rather
than having to rewrite the entire CD.
Since space used by deleted files is reclaimed,
the used space grows only when you add
additional files (or a larger version of
an existing file).  Since the files are
written in blocks (via packet-writing)
large files will be written into available
free spaces scattered across the CD before
using additional free space at the end of
the CD (just like any other random access
filesystem).


Larry

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