cdrwtool version 0.1, Jens Axboe <axboe@image.dk>


- Introduction

This little program will help you prepare CD-RW / DVD-R discs before
use with Linux' writeable CD support. It can blank discs (either
fast or full blanks), format session, retrieve info on the drive
and/or disc, and much more. cdrwtool already has a lot of options,
probably too many, that enables you to tweak every aspect of your
drive.

- Command line options, cdrwtool -h

	-d device_name, i.e. -d /dev/cdrom
	-s save the given write parameters to the drive
	-g print current drive write parameters
	-b blank disc. The blank types is either fast or full. The
	   former only blanks the TOC/PMA - the disc will appear
	   blank after this operation, but it actually still contains
	   the data previously written. A full blank erases the
	   entire disc. Typically a fast blank takes a couple of
	   minutes, where as a full blank can take upto an hour
	   (depending on the drive speed). Even most 4x CD-RW drives
	   will only blank at 2x speed.
	-m format disc. Format the disc, either by writing a new session,
	   extending an existing session, or writing one big session.
	   If no size is specified , cdrwtool will attempt
	   to write one big session that takes up the entire disc
	   space. The session option (-l) is used to modify the
	   behaviour of the format option.
	-t set cd write speed. -t 4 will set write speed to 4x.
	-p packet write type. If 1 is specified, the packet write
	   type is fixed packets. The size of the fixed packets can
	   be given with the -z option. If 0 is specified, variable
	   packet writing is activated. Fixed packets are generally
	   used with CD-RW and DVD-R media, while variable packets
	   are handy for CD-R media.
	-z packet size. Specifies the size of fixed packets written.
	   A good choice is 32 for CD-RW media and 16 for DVD-R media.
	   Although fixed packets can be used with CD-R media, it
	   is recomended to use variable packets.
	-l border/session type. The session type controls how a
	   format command works. A session type of 0 writes one
	   session on the drive and closes it, while a session type
	   of 3 leaves the disc open. Then you can add sessions to
	   the disc later.
	-w write type. The argument is either mode1 or mode2, depending
	   on the write type desired. Just select mode1.
	-f write file to disc. Write file directly to the media. Is
	   mainly used for testing writing with your drive and as
	   such has little real life use. Use the -o option to
	   specify beginning write offset.
	-o offset for file write.
	-i print info on the disc and last track on disc. An optional
	   argument specifies track to list.
	-h a brief help page.

- Getting a disc ready for use.

This is probably the section you are interested in. The easiast way to get
started is to use the Quick Start option (-q), which will format the disc
with one session extending the total CD/DVD capacity and write the necessay
UDF structures at the same time. Once the operation has completed, the
disc is ready to be mounted rw :

	mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom -t udf -o rw

Now you can copy files to /mnt/cdrom as with any other disc and the driver
will write out files as you go along.
