[Debburn-devel] dvd+rw-format, DVD-RW media, wodim errors, unusable disk.

[Thomas Schmitt]

Hi,

I wrote:
> > If you ever want to retry that stunt, then i would
> > propose you do not use cdrecord or wodim for writing
> > to the formatted media.
Leif wrote:
> I'm confused here.  Do growisofs and genisoimage both use
> wodim on backend to write?

No. The usage model is rather like this:

genisomage does not refer to any burn program directly.
It writes its output to a disk file or to standard output
for piping.

Burn programs are wodim, cdrecord, cdrskin, growisofs.

The first three programs fewly refer to mkisofs
resp.  genisomage. They take files or standard input
and write that into one or more tracks on media.

growisofs is different. It not only burns but also
controls the run of genisoimage.
Nevertheless you can use it as plain burn program
via its option -Z /dev/dvd=...image.file... 
or -Z /dev/dvd=/dev/fd/0 .


> growisofs man page says it's a front-end for genisoimage,
> genisoimage says it must use other software for recording
> and mentions wodim by name.

growisofs is user of genisoimage and provides itself
as "other software for recording".


> Should I bark on cdwrite [@] other.debian.org about the dvd+rw-format
> program that breaks my DVD-RW? 

You may well ask for advise over there. But you should
not bark because it is not Andy Polyakov's fault.

dvd+rw-format works according to the MMC specs to which
all DVD burners promise to comply. I've studied both
for learning about DVD burning.

The standard explanation for your experiences is
poor drive-media compatibility.
My statement "If it is a software error" is more
about a theoretical possibility that the combination
of dvd+rw-format and wodim would do unusual things.

Meanwhile i rather suspect that the formatting
plainly went wrong and did not bring the media
into overwriteable state at all.


> > Just for curiosity: how did you use them before ?
> > Write and blank by wodim ?
> Before, I used growisofs only, and it worked to burn iso images from HDD

But what did you do to re-use the DVD-RW media ?
(Sequential ones need to be blanked before you can
use them from scratch again.)


Have a nice day :)

Thomas