Re: Non-RW media; WORM hopes

On Thu May 31 2007 07:38, RB wrote:
> 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
There was a MS Windows program called "Direct CD" that provided "letter 
access" access to a CD-RW media.  I do not believe it worked with CD-R, as 
the media would be getting smaller and smaller as files are deleted, and with 
the media costing $0.15 for CD-R and about $0.24 for CD-RW, it is not worth 
it anyway. 

In the mean time re: "Worm", I would seriously consider DVD-RAM.  This is a 
$50 drive with $8.00 media, that reads/writes as if it were a hard disk.  The 
media is perported to be of better quality than the other CD DVD media.  Some 
drives use a cartridge, the newer ones do not.  You can format (via MS 
Windows only, I believe) as FAT32, UDF 1.5 or UDF 2.0.  UDF 2.0 has larger 
"clusters" so it is more efficient with very large files (multimedia).  I use 
FAT32, not because I use MS Windows, as I use Suse Linux, but because I can 
use it easily in Dosemu to run DOS programs (Foxpro mainly) under Suse.

Hope this input helps,

-- 
John R. Sowden
AMERICAN SENTRY SYSTEMS, INC.
Residential & Commercial Alarm Service
UL Listed Central Station
Serving the San Francisco Bay Area Since 1967
[email protected]
www.americansentry.net