This is an introduction to using CD and DVD recorders under Linux and UNIX systems. Its main focus is on command line based tools. It will give you an idea how the powerful tools and utilities behind the fancy GUIs work and what they can do for you. Recording CDs and DVDs from the command line can be useful in many situations, for example if you access to the host only via the network; if your host does not have X11 available; or perhaps your favorite GUI won't start for some reason. Another reason for using the command line based tools is that they can be used in scripts to automate repetitive tasks such as backups.
To create images and record them onto a CD/DVD, we need to have some programs available on our system. All programs used in this guide are open source, released under licenses that make them free to download and use. Please make sure that you have all of these programs installed and working before you continue reading this guide.
cdrecord
Creating ISO images
Mkisofs from cdrtools can pre-master ISO images so they can be
written to CDs at a later time. Mkisofs has a large set of options
available, but we will only use the most common ones to create a normal mage. For more details on the accepted options, please see the manpage.
Syntax:
mkisofs -o image.iso -J -r /path/to/data/
-o Output file
-J This will create an image using Joliet
file naming, Useful for Windows . Allows for longer thatn 8.3
file names
-r Rock Ridge (-r) extensions. Unix
version of allowing for longer filenames. This standard has been
around for a long time.
Creates ISO9660 filesystem
Example:
root@linux:~# mkisofs -o mycd.iso -J -r /a/data/
Working with CDs
Note that DVD recorders can be used to record data to normal
CD-R(W) discs too, not just DVDs. This part will cover the basics
of recording files and images to CD-R(W) discs.
Determining devices for cdrecord
We provide cdrecord with an option that specifies
which device it should use when performing the requested actions.
(recording, reading etc) This is done with the --device argument.
Depending on your system and setup, you will need to address the
recorder in different ways. The format for the --device argument
is: [prot:]bus,id .
This is because of atapi cd record devices using a translation
from atapi to scsi. This was done originally because all of the
original cdreorders were scsi. Thus all the programs that
communucated with them were written expecting a scsi device.
Newer versions of cdrecord allow for native ATAPI support .
With the device entry of the form ATAPI:0,1,0 or
ATA:0,1,0.
To find out how to address your recorder, cdrecord
offers a scanbus argument, that will try to find all
available recorders and CD players connected to your system, and
display them along with their bus id. To scan for devices, simply
execute cdrecrord --scanbus.
Example:
From the example below, we see that our recorder should be
addressed as ATA:1,0,0.
root@linux:~#cdrecord --scanbus
Using libscg version 'schily-0.8'
1,0,0
_NEC ,DVD_RW ND-3500AG, 2.1
root@linux:~#
Note: In our examples, we will use device
0,1,0, which you should replace with the identifier
for your recorder.
Recording ISO image to CD
Recording an image from iso image using cdrecord
is rather straight forward. Just issue cdrecord with
the iso image name along with cdrecord options.
Syntax:
cdrecord –dev=0,1,0 -speed=10 –eject
-v something.iso
There are also some common options that might
be useful:
--speed <speed>
Force a given write-speed.
--eject CDRECORD
will eject the CD after it's finished writing to it.
-v
Verbose messages
Example:
root@linux:~# cdrecord -dev=0,1,0 -speed=10 -eject
something.iso
Making ISO images from CDs
The creation of ISO-images from CDs is done in the same way as
for DVDs, using the readcd. Syntax:
readcd dev=device f=image
This example will make an image named mycd.raw from the disc
inserted into device addressed at ATAPI:0,1,0:
root@linux:~# readcd dev=ATAPI:0,1,0 f=mycd.raw
Erasing a CD-RW disc
Erasing a CD-RW disc with cdrecord is pretty straight forward,
all needed is to issue it's 'blank' option, followed by
information on what drive to erase the media in, using the
--device option.
Can include this on the normal burn line.
Sometimes cdrecord will be unable to blank your media at the
drivers default speed, if this is the case, you can force it to
use a lower speed with the --speed option. (Example:
--speed 10)
Example:
root@linux:~# cdrecord –blank=fast –device=0,1,0
-speed=10 something.iso
Working with DVDs
Below are descriptions of how to do the more common tasks
related to recording of DVDs.
Note on + and - medias
Today most DVD recorders support both DVD-R(W) and
DVD+R(W) medias, and even though this guide refers to DVD-R(W)
discs the same instructions could just as well be used with DVD+R
discs.
Dvdrecord
Dvdrecord is a fork of cdrecord which is part of the cdrtools
package. Modifications were added to support writing to dvd-r/rw
.
DVD+RW-Tools
This is a package containing tools used when working with DVDs
and images. In this guide, we will focus on the
growisofs-application provided with this package.
However, it does also provide a utility that erases DVD-RW discs
(dvd+rw-format) that we will use for this purpose.
http://fy.chalmers.se/~appro/linux/DVD+RW/
Determinng devices for dvd+RW tools
Growisofs has a different way of addressing it's
recording-device. It uses a UNIX-path to a device under /dev that
is connected to the recorder. For more information on how to
locate the path to use for your recorder, please see the
setup-notes for DVD-recorders/readers for your particular system
and distribution.
Note: On some systems, a softlink named /dev/dvd will be
set up at installation to point to your DVD-reader/writer if
available, so this could be a good place to start.
Note: In this guide, we will use /dev/dvd whenever a device
needs to be specified when recording DVDs. If this does not work
on your system, please replace it with the appropriate path for
your system in all examples related to DVD-recording.
Recording a DVD image
To record an image to a DVD-R disc, we will use the growisofs
software. To do this, we run growisofs with a set of
arguments instructing it about our intentions. We execute
growisofs with the following syntax:
growisofs -Z /dev/dvd=image
-Z ZERO time used for this media.
Example: The example below shows how to record the image
'mydvd.img' to a DVD-R(W) disc.
root@linux:~# growisofs -Z /dev/dvd=mydvd.img
Storing files on a DVD disc
DVDs can be used to store files in the same way as ordinary
CDs, with the major difference that DVDs can store quite a lot
more data. DVDs even use the same filesystem (ISO9660) with the
same common extensions (Joliet and Rock Ridge) as normal CDs.
Growisofs offers an easy way to store a set of directories
and/or files on a DVD. It uses mkisofs to create an
image, and writes it to the DVD recorder without needing to store
a copy of the image on the harddrive before recording it.
For example:
growisofs -Z /dev/dvd -J -R /path/to/disc/root
-J Joliet file naming
-R Rock Ridge Unix naming allowed
Note that these are really options to mkisofs.
Blanking DVD-RW discs
Working with rewritable media is no different from working with
ordinary DVD-R media aside from the obvious fact that every now
and then you may want to erase the data on them and start over.
From the DVD+RW-Tools package we get the dvd+rw-format
command that does this for us. It has two modes that can be used
when erasing discs, either quick or full mode. In
most cases, a quick erase is enough, and this will only take a
minute or two (depending on your recorder), compared to the
full-erase mode, that takes about the same time as writing a
full-size to the media. (Or even longer, depending on the recorder
you are using)
To perform a quick format, issue the following command:
dvd+rw-format -blank /dev/dvd
And here is the syntax for erasing the entire disc:
dvd+rw-format -blank=full /dev/dvd
Master and record a DVD Video image
In some cases, you might have a Video DVD stored as a series of
normal files in your filesystem, perhaps from some DVD authoring
software, and want to write this to a disc for usage in your
DVD-player.
To do this, we yet again turn to growisofs for
help, which as usual provides an easy solution to our problem.
In the example below, the disc-root refers to a directory
containing any, or both of the AUDIO_TS/ and VIDEO_TS/
directories. The main difference from writing an ISO image is the
-dvd-video option, that instructs growisofs that it
should prepare the disc to be used as a DVD Video disc.
growisofs -Z /dev/dvd -dvd-video /path/to/disc/root
Below is a sample listing of what the filestructure of a Video
DVD might look like:
AUDIO_TS/
VIDEO_TS/
VIDEO_TS/VIDEO_TS.BUP
VIDEO_TS/VIDEO_TS.IFO
VIDEO_TS/VIDEO_TS.VOB
VIDEO_TS/VTS_01_0.BUP
VIDEO_TS/VTS_01_0.IFO
VIDEO_TS/VTS_01_0.VOB
VIDEO_TS/VTS_01_1.VOB
...
Making image from a DVD
Sometimes you might need to create an ISO image from an
existing DVD disc. To do this, we use the readcd-tool
provided with cdrtools. Readcd can also be used to make images
from normal CDs.
Syntax:
readcd dev=device f=image
The device is given in the same was as when using cdrdao.
For more options, please see the manpage for readcd.
This example will make an image named mydvd.raw from the disc
inserted into device addressed at ATAPI:0,1,0:
root@linux:~# readcd dev=ATAPI:0,1,0 f=mydvd.raw
CCD and NRG images
You may run into .nrg- or .ccd images that you wish to write to
a CD. This can be quite tricky in the Linux/Unix-world, since none
of the programs available today have support for this. Currently,
the only way to do this is to convert them to ISO images first. To
do this, there are two small utilities available, nrg2iso
and ccd2iso.
Although these two tools do their best to convert NRG and CCD
images to ISOs, there is no guarantee that the resulting images
will be fully usable since the ISO-image format does not support
all the features used by NRG and CCD images.
NRG2ISO
Nrg2iso will convert Nero image files to ISO files. If it is
not provided with your installation, it can be downloaded from:
http://gregory.kokanosky.free.fr/v4/linux/nrg2iso.en.html
Usage: nrg2iso image.nrg image.iso
CCD2ISO
CloneCD images can be converted into ISO's with ccd2iso, that
can be downloaded from:
http://ccd2iso.sourceforge.net/
Usage: ccd2iso [.img filename] [.iso filename]
Converting video-files to (S)VCD
Sometimes you might have a set of MPEG streams from which you
would like to create a (Super) VideoCD (SVCD or VCD) to be
recorded with CDRDAO and used in your VCD/DVD-player. To do this,
we will use the GNU VCDImager software.
Use the following syntax for VCDImager to create a set of
bin/cue-files from an MPEG stream. Replace “type”
with the appropriate type for the output image, based on the type
MPEG-stream you are recording. The more common types are 'vcd' for
mpeg1-streams, and 'svcd' for mpeg2-streams. VCDImager will notify
you if it believes that you have selected the wrong type for the
given stream.
Syntax: vcdimager -t type --update-scan-offsets
video.mpg
The following example will create a bin/cue-image in SuperVCD
format, containing the stream found in myshow.mpg. (That in this
case is an MPEG2 stream)
root@linux:~# vcdimager -t svcd --update-scan-offset
myshow.mpg
The MPEG streams needs to be in somewhat appropriate formats to
be used as (S)VCDs, but this is beyond the scope of this guide.
There is more information about this on VCDImager's website. (See
the “Software” section)
Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)
Over the years, more and more graphical frontends for various
terminal-based CD/DVD recording programs have appeared. Many of
these provides great features and really make things easier when
performing basic tasks. Here we will mention a few of the
best-known GUIs for CD and DVD recording, along with links to more
information about them.
X-CD-Roast
This is one of the oldest programs in this category. It has
been around for quite some time now, and offers a good set of
functions without being hard or complex to use. X-CD-Roast is a
frontend for the tools found in the cdrtools-package.
Замечание: Это неофициальная форма поддержки пользователей. Это не официальный сервис Red Hat. Эти вещи могут решить ваш самых худший кошмар, или они могут съесть весь сыр в вашем доме. Я не даю гарантий.
Ни одна из этих файловых систем официально не поддерживается Fedora Porject. (Это означает, что вы можете использовать их, но если что-то пойдет не так, вы не найдете много официальной информации по ним от Fedora Project.)