Non-RW media; WORM hopes

RB <[email protected]> Thu, 31 May 2007 09:38:16 -0500
Newsgroups gmane.linux.suse.packet-writing
Message-ID <[email protected]>
I apologize if I'm missing the bus here, but for some reason I
recently came awake and noticed packet-writing for what it could be.
In reading the history and archives I can find, it seems most people
are concentrated on using RW media for temporary storage - "floppy
replacement" kind of stuff.  My interest is in using it with R media
as a poor-man's WORM drive substitute for storing log files, but I'm
not finding much reference to anyone doing so other than claims that
it "can be done."  I've tried a superset of all the instructions I can
find, but thus far have succeeded in nothing more than making a couple
of coasters - dvd+rw-format seems counter-intuitive on write-once
media.

This list seems to have really slowed down in the past couple of
years, but I hope there are still enough knowledgeable people watching
this list that can answer my [hopefully] elementary questions:

 - It has been stated that CD-R (and presumably CD+R) media is not
supported for use; is that due to lack of software or that the
physical medium itself cannot be abused in that manner?

 - Has anyone actually ever successfully used DVD-R (or DVD+R) media
to store 'immutable' data?  If so, can you list the precise steps,
drive, and media (if relevant) you used to do so?  The ability to
actually [physically] delete things from RW media defeats my intended
purpose.

 - Does pktcdvd gracefully handle concurrent, incremental file writes
(read: log files), i.e., can blocks be interleaved or must an entire
file's worth of blocks be allocated at once?  Note - this question is
due more to my lack of understanding of the UDF format than anything.

Whatever the answers, I'm certainly willing to learn & get my hands
dirty trying to get this working, I'd just like a few things cleared
up so I know what I'm getting into.

Thanks for your time!


RB