Re: Large Files and growisofs

[scdbackup@gmx.net]

> I am trying to write a single large tar file (3739664 blocks of 1024
> bytes) to a DVD. 

Beware. This is a mine field.

See  http://lists.debian.org/cdwrite/2004/cdwrite/2004/08/msg00019.html
and follow-ups. Whole thread in overview :
http://lists.debian.org/cdwrite/2004/cdwrite/2004/08/threads.html#00019

Any problem at write time is rather an issue of mkisofs than of growisofs.
Most nasty are the surprises at read time. Then your ISO9660 file system
driver is in charge. 

You see yourself what may happen :

>  I can mount the DVD without any
> issues.  However:
> -when I do an ls, it only shows 462 1KB blocks in the tar file and
> indicates a bad DVD
> -when I try a tar ztf file.tar.gz I get a "tar: inflate error 1" after a
> partial listing.

Conclusion: better do not write files of 2 GB or larger into ISO9660 images.

If the tar file shall only be read on Unix-like system, you may circumvent
any file system driver by writing the tar-file raw to DVD :
  growisofs -Z /dev/sr0=file.tar.gz

For untaring you would not mount but read directly from the drive device :
  tar ztf /dev/sr0

(I am still waiting for an expert telling me how to read raw under Windows)


Have a nice day :)

Thomas