Procedure for Writing Data to DVD Disks

NOTE: ONLY DVD-R DISKS CAN BE USED!

( 1 ) Create an ISO image

The standard size quoted for DVD is 4.7GB, but the actual storage is more like 4.3GB.


(a) Identify a set of files that total at most 4.3GB. You will need disk space equal to the size of the selected files to store the ISO file.

(b) Run the "mkisofs" command to create the ISO file:


% mkisofs -o file-name.iso -J -l -R -V disk-label file-list

where:

file-name.iso is the name of the ISO file
disk-label is the user selected name for this collection of data
file-list is the names of the files and/or directories

-J Generate Joliet directory records in addition to the iso9660 filenames
-l Use full 31 character filenames
-R Generate RockRidge protocal records
-V Use a volume identification, 'my data files' as example. Use single quotes if white spaces are to be used.

( 2 ) Burn the DVD

(a) Insert the blank DVD into the drive

(b) Burn the ISO file to the DVD (example for tan at the 4-meter):


% dvdrecord -dao -dev=2,1,0 file-name.iso

where:

file-name.iso is the name of the iso file.

The "dev" values for each of the computers are:
For nutmeg and emerald: 2,0,0
For tan: 2,1,0
For sapphire: 1,0,0
For sand: 1,1,0
For mrbill: 1,0,0

To find the dev values:
% dvdrecord -scanbus


It takes about 20 minutes to burn a full disk.

( 3 ) Verify the burn (optional, but recommended)

(a) mount the disk (enabled in:/etc/fstab for user mounts)
You may need to eject the disk before mounting.

% mount /mnt/dvdrom


(b) list the files, read some, copy them all to /dev/null or anything else to verify the saved files. You may also want to load the disk in a laptop or other machine to verify.

(c) unmount the disk


% umount /mnt/dvdrom


(d) Since the disks are so cheap, it probably makes sense to make a second copy by repeating step 2.

(4) Delete the ISO file after the copies are burned and verified.

Notes:

The values for the "dev" option of dvdrecord are found with the "dvdrecord -scanbus" command.

The output of that command for tan is:


[tan]$ dvdrecord -scanbus

scsibus2:

2,0,0 200) 'ASUS ' 'CRW-4012A ' '1.0 ' Removable CD-ROM

2,1,0 201) 'PIONEER ' 'DVD-RW DVR-106D' '1.06' Removable CD-ROM


The 3 comma separated values at the beginning of the line are used in the "dev" option. These values stay constant unless the IDE or SCSI chains in the system are re-arranged.