From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 20 22:43:39 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 08CCF16A4CE for ; Tue, 20 Jan 2004 22:43:39 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp.covadmail.net (mx08.covadmail.net [63.65.120.68]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 860C243D45 for ; Tue, 20 Jan 2004 22:43:37 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from strick@covad.net) Received: (covad.net 7518 invoked from network); 21 Jan 2004 06:43:32 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mist.nodomain) (strick@covad.net@67.101.99.4) by sun-qmail08 with SMTP; 21 Jan 2004 06:43:31 -0000 Received: from mist.nodomain (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mist.nodomain (8.12.9p2/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i0L6hLrD000403; Tue, 20 Jan 2004 22:43:21 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from dan@mist.nodomain) Received: (from dan@localhost) by mist.nodomain (8.12.9p2/8.12.9/Submit) id i0L6hLYi000402; Tue, 20 Jan 2004 22:43:21 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from dan) Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 22:43:21 -0800 (PST) From: Dan Strick Message-Id: <200401210643.i0L6hLYi000402@mist.nodomain> To: fbsd_user@a1poweruser.com cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG cc: dan@mist.nodomain Subject: Re: using cd rw drive X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 06:43:39 -0000 >> > Can I format an rw cd with > > disklabel -w -r /dev/acd0c cd9660 > newfs /dev/acd0c > > and then use it just like an hard drive? > > Cp /etc/rc.conf /cdrom > > Or is burncd the only way to write to it? >> I don't know for sure, but I doubt this would work very well. Two reasons: 1) You would probably have to somehow format the medium before using it. As far as I know, the only mechanism used with CD-RW for random-access defect management is something called "Mount Ranier". I don't really know much about it, but some modern CD writers are advertised as supporting Mount Ranier. This implies that most CD writers don't. I would also expect that it requires special device driver support. 2) The CD-RW medium can only be rewritten a limited number of times, something on the order of a thousand times or perhaps much less. There are probably some well trampled blocks in a UFS file system that would wear out very quickly. Dan Strick strick@covad.net