This commit was manufactured by cvs2svn to create branch 'vserver'.

[linux-2.6.git] / Documentation / cdrom / packet-writing.txt

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+Getting started quick
+---------------------
+
+- Select packet support in the block device section and UDF support in
+  the file system section.
+
+- Compile and install kernel and modules, reboot.
+
+- You need the udftools package (pktsetup, mkudffs, cdrwtool).
+  Download from http://sourceforge.net/projects/linux-udf/
+
+- Grab a new CD-RW disc and format it (assuming CD-RW is hdc, substitute
+  as appropriate):
+       # cdrwtool -d /dev/hdc -q
+
+- Setup your writer
+       # pktsetup dev_name /dev/hdc
+
+- Now you can mount /dev/pktcdvd/dev_name and copy files to it. Enjoy!
+       # mount /dev/pktcdvd/dev_name /cdrom -t udf -o rw,noatime
+
+
+Packet writing for DVD-RW media
+-------------------------------
+
+DVD-RW discs can be written to much like CD-RW discs if they are in
+the so called "restricted overwrite" mode. To put a disc in restricted
+overwrite mode, run:
+
+       # dvd+rw-format /dev/hdc
+
+You can then use the disc the same way you would use a CD-RW disc:
+
+       # pktsetup dev_name /dev/hdc
+       # mount /dev/pktcdvd/dev_name /cdrom -t udf -o rw,noatime
+
+
+Packet writing for DVD+RW media
+-------------------------------
+
+According to the DVD+RW specification, a drive supporting DVD+RW discs
+shall implement "true random writes with 2KB granularity", which means
+that it should be possible to put any filesystem with a block size >=
+2KB on such a disc. For example, it should be possible to do:
+
+       # mkudffs /dev/hdc
+       # mount /dev/hdc /cdrom -t udf -o rw,noatime
+
+However, some drives don't follow the specification and expect the
+host to perform aligned writes at 32KB boundaries. Other drives do
+follow the specification, but suffer bad performance problems if the
+writes are not 32KB aligned.
+
+Both problems can be solved by using the pktcdvd driver, which always
+generates aligned writes.
+
+       # pktsetup dev_name /dev/hdc
+       # mkudffs /dev/pktcdvd/dev_name
+       # mount /dev/pktcdvd/dev_name /cdrom -t udf -o rw,noatime
+
+
+Notes
+-----
+
+- CD-RW media can usually not be overwritten more than about 1000
+  times, so to avoid unnecessary wear on the media, you should always
+  use the noatime mount option.
+
+- Defect management (ie automatic remapping of bad sectors) has not
+  been implemented yet, so you are likely to get at least some
+  filesystem corruption if the disc wears out.
+
+- Since the pktcdvd driver makes the disc appear as a regular block
+  device with a 2KB block size, you can put any filesystem you like on
+  the disc. For example, run:
+
+       # /sbin/mke2fs /dev/pktcdvd/dev_name
+
+  to create an ext2 filesystem on the disc.
+
+
+Links
+-----
+
+See http://fy.chalmers.se/~appro/linux/DVD+RW/ for more information
+about DVD writing.