Burning ISOs

[Jeff Vian]

On Sat, 2006-02-25 at 17:31 -0500, Mike A. Harris wrote:
> Leon Stringer wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I'm trying to install FC5t3 on another computer, but I can't burn the
> > ISOs.
> > 
> > I've tried burning from GNOME and using cdrecord, e.g.
> > 
> > cdrecord dev=/dev/hda -eject -v -dao FC-5-Test3-i386-disc1.iso
> > 
> > (I ran this as root as it complained about setpriority when I didn't).
> > 
> > But on the resulting CDs some files can be copied but other's result in
> > I/O errors. Last time I posted about verifying CDs I was told that this
> > process was unreliable.
> > 
> > So we have unreliable CD burning and no reliable way to verify them.
> 
Works for me, using nautilus on FC4.  Everything worked and all disks
were usable.

> Yes, rather irritating. ;)
> 
> > And I have a half-installed computer.
> > 
> > Does anyone have any tips for successful burning of ISOs? (I'm burning
> > from an up-to-date FC5 test installation).
> 
Try burning at lower speeds.  When FC3 came out there were a lot of
complaints from people about cd quality when using the max possible
speed.  When the suggestion was made to try lower speeds the complaints
stopped.  I can only assume the results were favorable. 

> I'll get burned at the stake for this answer, but in lieu of additional
> conditions being specified which limit the number of available responses
> to a specific range....
> 
> Use Nero Burning ROM in Windows XP.  It more or less "just works" every
> time.
> 
> > Will CD burning ever "Just Work"?
> 
> In Linux, I'm starting to think the answer is "no".  I got my first
> CD burner about 7-8 years ago, and used it in Linux for many years.
> I also used CDRWin and another app I forget the name of now in Windows
> occasionally when I wanted to burn DAO mode, but once DAO mode was
> supported in Linux on my burner, I stuck with Linux burning using
> xcdroast for a very long time.
> 
xcdroast quality went away for me around FC1 time.  I struggled with it
and finally switched to k3b full time with FC2.  No complaints since.

> Then at some point, something changed in the kernel which broke CD
> burning for me, and it wasn't fixed for months.  During that time,
> I switched to using CDRwin for everything in Windows again.  It
> was frustrating rebooting just to burn a CD, but necessary.
> 
> Then, cd burning worked again.  Yay!  Only it failed randomly sometimes
> for some reason that I couldn't figure out.  Eventually I discovered
> it was because of autorun or magicdev or something like that, so I
> blew those away and it worked again.  Then, if I tried to mount a
> CD on CDROM unit #2, it would fry the burn happening on CDburner
> unit #1 (both on same IDE cable).
> 
That happens, and I used to get exactly the same with burning and using
another cd device on windows. (I have not tried cd burning in Windows
for over 2 years so I do not know the state there now.)  The IDE bus
apparently cannot handle 2 devices that way.

> Ever since then, which was around RHL 7.1 or maybe 7.2, CD burning
> has been working then broken, then working, then broken, etc., at
> least for me.  I've tried 3 different burners, one a DVD burner, and
> have experienced unreliable behaviour which I considered unacceptable.
> Each time, I scan the lists and bugzilla and find various reports of
> problems, and then just work around it temporarily by rebooting a box
> into XP and using Nero or CDRwin.  As much as I hate Windows totally,
> I don't remember the last time I burned a frisbee in the evil
> proprietary OS.
> 
> It's been about 6 months since I tried in Linux, on FC4, so I'm not
> sure what the current state is like.  Rather than finding out by
> endlessly experimenting, I've just kept using Nero in XP, as it
> doesn't seem to vary over time, even with various OS updates, etc.
> 
> All I can say is that hopefully all of the different aspects of
> why cd/dvd burning in Linux is currently a bumpy ride for at least
> some people, eventually get worked out, whatever the root cause(s)
> happen to be.
> 
> Another option for me I suppose, would be to set up an older machine
> running RHL 7.0 or whatever the last version was that worked flawless
> for me, and just leave it at that OS version forever just to burn
> CDs with.  ;o)
> 
> 
> > Yours depressed and surrounded by corrupt CDs,
> 
> Sometimes it is the media, and other times it may be the burn speed
> too.  Try different speeds, and different media.  I find that once
> I've found solid media, if I stick to that same brand for a long time,
> I end up making almost zero frisbees....  unless I try to burn in
> Linux.
> 
YMMV, but I have not even booted to Windows with a cd burner available
on that OS for over 2 years.  Factors involved are media quality, burner
quality, memory available, activity (both on the system as a whole and
on the file system), how you are burning (on the fly or from an image),
and probably more.  A critical one is the speed of your system and
amount of memory available.


> HTH.
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Mike A. Harris  *  Open Source Advocate  *  http://mharris.ca
>                        Proud Canadian.
>