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piedro
Asked: 2010-10-12 16:56:14 +0800 CST

How to setup my box for DVD-RAM media packetwriting?

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I can't find any information that's more recent than 2 years on how to setup packetwriting for my DVD-RAM drive. I like DVD-RAMs for reliable backups and hope to set it up correctly. I tried with some outdated how-tos which resulted in messing up a lot because there was no udev back then! How can I achieve this setup in the latest Ubuntu?

10.10 dvd cd-drive

2 Answers

  1. DVD-RAM does not require packet writing.

    If you are referring to DVD-RW or CD-RW packet writing, I know that there are HOWTOs all over the Internet. However, I have yet to find one that actually works with desktop environments/HAL/dbus/whatever it is that ubermodern systems are using instead of plain old fashioned manual configuration. :-)

    I'm sure it is possible. I just can't figure out how to do it reliably without killing half the things that make my system useful. Sorry, this isn't much of an answer at all, I know: I have been searching for one for the last couple of years.

    There really were some advantages to the way things were done a few or more years ago.

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  2. DVD-RAM is very old so there is no new info. Old and underestimated. DVD-RAM on Ubuntu Linux is easy. I use Ubuntu 16.10 with XFCE4 but that does not matter at all.

    Why DVD-RAM? Because it is more reliable and more stable archiving data. See Wikipedia for details on DVD-RAM.

    However, DVD-RAM is rather an external drive than a DVD to write on. Not all drives can write and read. However, most modern Laptop and Computer optical drives can.

    Careful: DVD-RAM is slow by modern means. Don't force the mount and umount to break.

    We have to format it as UDF file system. This is the appropriate FS for the DVD-RAM (I do not quote the details here, use duckduckgo.com)

    Know your CD-Writer: Mount a CD, with „mount“ watch out for the name. Like /dev/sr0.

    Take the DVD-RAM out of the cartridge if necessary, put it in your drive and reboot.

    Prepare: 

    sudo apt-get install udftools
sudo apt-get install dvd+rw-tools

    Make a mount point: 

    sudo mkdir /mnt/dvdram0

    and adapt the user rights etc. You need to adapt the rights again for the mounted DVD-RAM (different than vfat floppy or external drive).

    Adapt the fstab:

    sudo vim /etc/fstab

    For automatic mount enter a new line like

    /dev/sr0 /mnt/dvdram0 auto user,users,rw,auto,exec,utf8 0 0

    The first auto may better be "udf". The second auto depends on you: Try noauto if the boot process hangs.

    Format the DVD-RAM:

    sudo mkudffs --media-type=dvdram   /dev/sr0

    The default options for mkudffs probably match your needs. Otherwise: man mkudffs !

    Mount the DVD-RAM:

    mount /dev/sr0

    should do it, otherwise use as sudo mount /dev/sr0. With the fstab entry it will be found.

    When you ask your CLI now with mount it should answer something like:

    /dev/sr0 on /mnt/dvdram0 type udf (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,utf8,user=myname)

    Now again adapt the access rights for the mounted(!) drive: 

    sudo chown myname /mnt/dvdram0
sudo chmod u+rwx /mnt/dvdram0

    Test your access rights:

    mkdir /mnt/dvdram0/mydirectory

    without sudo it should work. Otherwise check the rights.

    Do a reboot now or restart all relevant services.

    So now we have

    • installed the tools
    • prepared to mount
    • formatted the DVD-RAM
    • mounted it in the file system
    • adapted the user access

    It shall be available in the file manager like a normal drive. Watch out for /mnt/dvdram0 (and in Nemo create a bookmark).

    Unmounting takes time because of write completion. It is done from CLI or try to find a way in your browser.

    What did I forget? What was wromng?

    Better way to unmount??

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