Now I have to write a little wrapper script for growisofs to add -use-the-force... to the command line generated by the frontend.Did you try whether growisofs does not use DAO automatically if the media is blanked fast ?You cannot reliably ask whether the media was blanked fast.
It doesn't mean that you can't try. If given firmware tells difference between minimally and fully blanked media, then it tells you that *every* time, i.e. reliably. In other words it's one-time test for user, then [s]he knows that it works reliably or does
blank=fast works only correctly if the medium was written on SAO mode before.
I can't second this. To start with there is no such thing as SAO in DVD-R[W] context. SAO is a CD recording mode, which means that unit records session lead-in prior user data. There are only two DVD-RW Sequential recording modes: DAO and Incremental. In latter mode structures describing track structure for given recording are written *after* user data is transferred, so it can't be qualified as SAO. But even if we assume, that it was "DAO" that was intended to stand above, I can't confirm "only." Specification only says that DAO is the only applicable recording mode after fast blanking procedure, and telling from own experience, it's not a problem to perform DAO recording after fast blanking procedure applied to DVD-RW media previously recorded in Incremental or Restricted Overwrite mode. I.e. fast blanking worked in compliance with specification regardless previous recording mode. At least in units I've tested. Or should it have read "blank=fast *might* work incorrectly *unless* media was recorded in DAO mode before"? Where "might" refers to few firmwares? In which case can we have an example? A.