Subj : Re: CDRWing
To   : comp.os.linux,comp.os.linux.misc
From : Geoffrey King
Date : Tue Jul 27 2004 01:59 am

On Sun, 25 Jul 2004 05:01:09 -0700, tonekd92 wrote:

> I'm confused about rewriting a cdrw.
> What is the "way" to rewrite on linux?
> Info: I've read cd writing howto, and the cdrecord man page.
> My CDRW drive is setup and works properly and can burn
> CDRs. I've read, and know, that rewriting may or may not be good
> for important data.
> What confuses me are the different ways.
> I have many questions, and an answer to any would
> be greatly appreciated.
> I want to copy and/or delete files repeatedly on the same
> CDRW. I'm not concerned about how many times a CDRW is capable
> of doing this.
> 
> 1. To copy and/ or delete files on a CDRW, is packet writing
> the way to go, or is it putting a UDF file system on the CDRW?
> I have done a multi session, but I don't believe you
> can delete files this way.

You need to be doing packet writing. The stock kernel does not support
this. You need to patch your kernel to support it. As for the file system,
its adviseable to use UDF if you want to use the CDRW's on other
platforms. If your using it on just you Linux machine, you can use any
standard fs. ext2 is a reasonable choice.

> 2. For multi, packet, and UDF, which mode still allows blanking a CDRW?

This is irrelevent. You can blank a CDRW regardless of how your wrote to
it.

> 3. What is the mode that windows based programs use (which I
> have not used) that allow copying and deleting files repeatedly
> on the same CDRW?

Packet writing with the UDF fs

Here's a guide explaining what you need to do to get packetwriting and UDF
fs support going on Linux.

http://cvs.linuxfromscratch.org/index.cgi/hints/Attic/cdrw-hint.txt?rev=1.3

note, if your a Gentoo user like me 'emerge udftools' will get the
userland binaries you need for cdrw support. You will still need to patch
your kernel though as the linuxfromscratch article says.

-- 
He's like a function -- he returns a value, in the form of his opinion.
It's up to you to cast it into a void or not.
		-- Phil Lapsley

.