Re: dvd multi-session

[Andy Polyakov <appro@fy.chalmers.se>]

> > essentially
> > treating it as a hard drive.
> 
> This is what Andy's kernel patch is good for.

Let's not get overexcited here. Recall and keep in mind that the
original question was about Pioneer DVR-x05, DVD-dash unit. DVD+RW
kernel patch is useless with it. However! Recall how "Packet writing on
NEC1300" thread has ended! *That* might do the trick for DVR-x05, if
not, a trivial modification should suffice. Except that unlike DVD+RW,
DVD-RW media will *have to* be *fully* formatted (read 1 hour procedure)
for Restricted Overwrite prior usage.

> Your best bet for backing up new files is to use iso9660 and growing
> that by adding new files to it. Forget about tar.

I personally recommend ISO9660 as well (for incremental backups see
Patrick Ohly's patch). But I consider tar-formatted DVD as a viable
option too, as it does offer certain advantages. So that I'd re-phrase
the statement as "forget about multi-session tar or tar-per-session." If
one ought to tar-format the DVD media and incrementally add files to it,
I'd have to recommend to stick to re-writable, *a* kernel patch and 'tar
uf /dev/dvd' or even better 'tar uf /dev/raw/rawN'.

> If an iso9660 is grown with growisofs, does isoinfo -d report the new
> size correctly?

"If an ISO9660 is grown with growisofs" on which media? If on
re-writable such as DVD+RW and DVD-RW Restricted Overwrite, then the
answer is "yes." If write-once, then the answer is "as long as it
previously did." A.