Mass Storage Devices (DVD Writer)

GNU/Linux Desktop Survival Guide
by Graham Williams

Mass Storage Devices (DVD Writer)

Connect a Sony DRX-500ULX, DVD+/-RW+/-R to Debin GNU/Linux using USB. Plugging it in results in a coule of beeps as usbmgr recognises it. You can also run usbview or lsusb to check that it is properly recognised. The device will be treated as a SCSI CD so you should be able to mount it as:

# mount -t iso9660 /dev/scd1 /mnt

Create a specific mount point for it, such as /dvdrw:

# mkdir /dvdrw

Add an appropriate line to your /etc/fstab:

/dev/scd1 /dvdrw auto defaults,user,noauto 0 0

With cdrdao and cdrecord the CD write functionality works just fine:

# cdrdao disk-info --device 4,0,0 --driver generic-mmc

For a DVD first create an image to burn on to the DVD.

# mkisofs -R -o cdimage.raw dvd/

Now install dvdrecord to write to a DVD-RW with:

# dvdrecord -v speed=2 dev=4,0,0 cdimage.raw

Note that dvdrecord does not appear to be actively maintained. Also, this dvdrecord command will fail for a DVD+RW (it only works for DVD-RW presently), so use the dvd+rw-tools instead. This package is actively maintained and also supports DVD-R(W). Format the DVD+RW with:

# dvd+rw-format /dev/scd1

Now growisofs is meant to work but failed with this particular drive with a message indicating that the drive does not support TAO (Track At Once) mode.

# growisofs /dev/scd1 -R -J dvd/

So instead use the pre-mastered CD image to burn the DVD+RW:

# growisofs -Z /dev/scd1=cdimage.raw

So, to recap, to burn a DVD+RW:

# mkisofs -R -o cdimage.raw dvd/ # dvd+rw-format /dev/scd1 # growisofs -Z /dev/scd1=cdimage.raw

Check out the -dvd-compat option as well