RE : How to Format & use DVD-RAM discs in XP

[Trimble Bracegirdle]

@@This is a follow on update from a thread of same issue week or 2 back ...
got a useful answer now. Things with VISTA are maybe different @@@

I want to format to FAT32 some DVD-RAM discs...they are supplied UDF format.
I'm finding how to do this surprisingly difficult .
Nero 6 writes Data to them but seems to use UDF .
You can get an Nero Add-On INCD that will format to FAT 32
Partition Manager 8 (very similar to PQ Magic or Disc Director) ignores the
drive with DVD-RAM .
WINDOWS XP claims to offer FAT 32 format but gives an error MSG when trying.
XP WILL use the disc as a random access read / write (like its a slow hard
drive),
once the disc has a FAT 32 Format ..But need some utility to do this.

Have a look at this forum thread on this Issue:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=113829
This contains a link to a modified (so it will work on non-Panasonic)
version of a Panasonic DVD-RAM driver..
http://www.geocities.com/xkodi/dvdram/
I've installed this & find I can now Drag n Drop, Copy n Paste files from
within XP to a standard
'as supplied' UDF formatted disc.
To make a bootable disc tho it would have to be changed to FAT32 (or FAT16,
or NTFS).

The INCD utility has a low level Format option. I tried this & the disc is
now declared faulty /
not useable by all NERO / Win XP / INCD / & The above mentioned driver.
What happened here ???

NOTE: When working in UDF it takes a x3 speed disc 30 mins to
take a copy of 3 Gigs (in 5 x700 meg files)
To read / copy the same 3 gig the other way from DVD to H/D took 10 mins
SOOO! there is the same Windows 'Write catching enabled" issue that slows up
USB Flash Drives.
Any one know how to turn this of here ??
DVD-RAM is clearly NOT direct alternative to Floppy discs ...which is my
main hope.

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") mouse

 

[Jim Howes]

@@This is a follow on update from a thread of same issue week or 2 back ...
got a useful answer now. Things with VISTA are maybe different @@@

I want to format to FAT32 some DVD-RAM discs...they are supplied UDF format.
I'm finding how to do this surprisingly difficult .
Nero 6 writes Data to them but seems to use UDF .
You can get an Nero Add-On INCD that will format to FAT 32
Partition Manager 8 (very similar to PQ Magic or Disc Director) ignores the
drive with DVD-RAM .
WINDOWS XP claims to offer FAT 32 format but gives an error MSG when trying.
XP WILL use the disc as a random access read / write (like its a slow hard
drive),
once the disc has a FAT 32 Format ..But need some utility to do this.

Turn off the built-in CD-Writing support, and the FAT32 filesystem appears in
the format dialog. With CD-Writing support turned on, the only option is UDF.

Bear in mind that writing to DVD-RAM formatted FAT32 in windows will wear the
disk somewhat faster than UDF. While DVD-RAM has built-in defect management,
windows seems either unable or reluctant to actually maintain a credible
filesystem on the disks I've tried. Strangely, I have written and rewritten
similarly formatted disks on a linux box without trouble, using both Ext2 and
FAT32 filesystems (although the normal mkfs.vfat does not format DVD-RAM, but I
hacked together a fix for it which I really must get around to submitting...)

Jim

 

[Trimble Bracegirdle]

@@""Turn off the built-in CD-Writing support,""@@
I think you have to do this for Windows XP to work with the DVD-RAM disc
in any format...Otherwise XP tries to treat the thing as a CD.

XP's format FAT32 routine will not (widely reported) in fact work as
supplied anyway
....it starts but gives a error msg .

@@""windows seems either unable or reluctant to actually maintain a credible
filesystem on the disks I've tried""" @@
When I have had it FAT32 Windows seemed very sluggish & struggling.
With the mentioned modded Panasonic driver its working drag n drop fine as
it can
with UDF .
That is that Panasonic driver adds UDF write capability to XP .
I have a Lite-On drive
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") mouse