cdrw in linux.

[ursidae]

If I want to be able to blank a cdrw disc, do I burn it just like an ordinary cdr disc or is there something more to it?

Have you had any problems blanking cdrw discs? Has a certain program caused you trouble or is it a painfree procedure?

Any help appreciated.

cdrecord -v dev=x,x,x blank=help

x,x,x is the output from cdrecord -scanbus

for example:

root@ArchLinux:~> cdrecord -scanbus               
Cdrecord 1.10 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2001 Jörg Schilling
Linux sg driver version: 3.1.24
Using libscg version 'schily-0.5'
scsibus0:
        0,0,0     0) 'TEAC    ' 'CD-W524E        ' '1.0B' Removable CD-ROM
        0,1,0     1) *
        0,2,0     2) *
        0,3,0     3) *
        0,4,0     4) *
        0,5,0     5) *
        0,6,0     6) *
        0,7,0     7) *

so in my case the command would be :

cdrecord -v dev=0,0,0 blank=all

if i wanted to blank the whole cd
=help will give you other options.

[ursidae]

Thanks, I didn't think of checking cdrecords manpage heh.

I have become lazy with all gui frontends out there I guess (they all suck in some way though, one of the biggest shortcomings of linux IMO).

So I just burn it like any other disc and then blank it when I want to re-use it, right? Why I have never thought of using cdrws for backup and distro testing before I will never know :

yeah you burn like normal (basically just like the blanking line except you will just put different options in in place of the blank=foo). then just blank it as suggested above.

i don't have enough cdrws but they are indeed great for back ups and distro testing, especially the latter.

if you have any problems with the CLI tools I recommend that you install k3b (www.k3b.org) which is an awesome frontend for cdrecord/mkisofs/etc. made for KDE3.

[ursidae]

[quote author=Lovechild link=board=2;threadid=5640;start=0#54260 date=1037906810]
if you have any problems with the CLI tools I recommend that you install k3b (www.k3b.org) which is an awesome frontend for cdrecord/mkisofs/etc. made for KDE3.
[/quote]

I have k3b installed but I haven't been able to figure out how to create isos with it. I don't think it can make isos. It's nice for burning though, but I'm more comfortable with gcombust.

For some reason I can't burn discs directly, but have to make an iso of the files first. I have tried several programs but they make coasters when I try to burn a disc without making an iso first. It's probably a configuration problem (devfs sucks). I'll see if I can solve it some day.

I have a bunch of cdrw discs here but they are 650MB so using them for distro testing won't work too well. Most isos are 700MB >

perhaps it is a path problem as those apps would be using mkisofs to burn your cd. check their configuration files to make sure that the path to mkisofs is correct.

oh and fwiw i have devfs too and have had no problems with it at all. mind you i don't use graphical burners with it (well i am testing a tcdr package i made and it is having no troubles so far).

hrmmm strange I can burn directly to CD from k3b, all I had to do was tick "disk at once" or something like that... anyways, I know it's just a simply option to select..

seriously k3b is probably the best burner app I never used..

[ursidae]

When I try to burn directly to a disc the program starts the process just like when I burn an iso, but after 30 seconds or so it stops and says it's done ??? and I'm left with a coaster. I have checked the paths and they are all correct.

And it's not only one program that does this, they all do it. Well, except arson, I can burn audio cds from mp3s with it without a problem (haven't tried to burn audio cds with any other program).

I'll reinstall Gentoo when 1.4 is released and get to bottom with this, but until then I'll just create the isos first.