How to tell a CD's filesystem format?
Is there an easy way in Linux to determine whether a compact disc is an
audio CD or a data CD, and if it's a data CD, which filesystem is on it?
One would think that the "file" command would say, but it just tells you
that the CDROM device file is a device file, rather than saying anything
about the media that is accessed through it:
# file /dev/scd0
/dev/scd0: block special (11/0)
What I want to know is the type of data recorded on the media that's
inserted into the device. I know that if I can mount the filesystem,
then the "mount" command will tell me what kind it is. I'd like to know
if there is a way to tell without having to mount it. Extra credit if
one doesn't have to be root.
I ask because I'm writing an article about why the CDs that one burns
might not play in audio CD players. One common reason is that one might
have burnt and ISO 9660 CD-ROM and not a CD-DA (Compact Disc Digital
Audio) CD. It's easy for naive users to burn the wrong kind, but it
turns out not to be immediately obvious how to tell which kind of CD one
*has* burned. The first draft of my article is here:
Why Can't I Play the CDs That I Burn?
http://www.oggfrog.com/howto/cds-wont-play/
Please note that it's meant for a very non-technical audience.
It will have the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 license
when I finish writing it, as will all the future articles that appear in
the "howto" subdirectory.
Ogg Frog is both Free Software and a (mostly) Free website. The
software is still in the very early stages of development, and is to be
a GPL compact disc ripping, encoding and backup program. It will be
cross-platform, including Linux. My aim is to make it as easy to use as
existing Free Software solutions unfortunately usually aren't.
Ogg Frog the website aims to be a source of free help on how to get more
out of digital music, especially how to do it with Free Software, and
with Free formats like Ogg Vorbis and FLAC.
One reason I am writing the articles and HOWTOs is that I'm surveying
much of the available digital music software so that I can understand
each program's strengths and weaknesses. By putting what I learn on the
web I enable others to do more with the software we already have, rather
than having to wait until I have my software ready, which I don't expect
to be until this summer at the earliest.
Thanks for your help.
Rippit the Ogg Frog
rippit@oggfrog.com
http://www.oggfrog.com/
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