Command to check if CD-R is empty

[Chris Kloiber]

On Wed, 2004-06-02 at 13:41, Steven P. Ulrick wrote:
> Hello, Everyone :)
> I am really naughty about labeling cd's and keeping unlabeled ones
> separate from blank ones.  I used to be able to check CD-R's using
> XCdroast to see if they were empty or not.  But since my only burner is
> an external USB2 drive, XCdroast doesn't even pick it up anymore, so I
> can't check CD-R's anymore to see if they are blank.  I guess I have two
> questions, both of which I have not been able to find any answers to as
> of yet:
> 1. Is there a command I can use to determine whether a CD-R is empty or
> not?  XCdroast determined that information somehow, so I figure that if
> I could find out the command that it used, I could use it myself :)
> 2. Anybody have any idea how to get my USB2 drive recognized by
> XCdroast, so that I can do it that way?  I don't usually use graphical
> programs to make cd's, but when I do, I only use XCdroast, so it would
> be nice to get it to recognize my USB2 drive.
> 
> Any help you can give me is greatly appreciated :)
> Steven P. Ulrick

I typically look at the bottom of the disk and see if there is a 'ring'
of data around the middle. Granted my visual acuity is insufficient to
determine the contents of the disk by staring at the data track, but it
will tell me if there is *something* on there.

-- 
Chris Kloiber <ckloiber at ckloiber.com>