burncd + ioctl

[abc at ai1.anchorage.mtaonline.net]

FBSD 4.10
CREATIVE CDRW
acd0: CD-RW <CREATIVE CD-RW RW8435E> at ata1-master PIO4

after rebooting and power down and spending more time trying to
trick the CDRW into doing something, i finally tried:

$ burncd -f /dev/acd0 erase file.iso

the 'file.iso' seemed to force 'burncd' to
do something - eg - make the CD light blink.

after hitting up arrow-enter 100x,
after a lot of "-1" errors, it finally started
to erase.  and then it started to work again.
i can't make complete sense of it yet,
but possibly there are software methods
around the glitch of the previous post.

another method i had success with a few times was
to put a CD with files and a filesystem in the drive,
which would mount/list OK, and then 'detach' the CDRW
with atacontrol, and then stick a problematic
'from the store' blank in the drive, then
'attach', and then it could be 'erased'
with burncd.

the best i can figure is, there's something
funky about 700MB CDRW media, everyone seems
to have a problem with it in a freaky way:

                    RE: PCWorks: 700 MB versus 650 MB CDRW?
     _________________________________________________________________

     * From: Carol Warman
     * Subject: RE: PCWorks: 700 MB versus 650 MB CDRW?
     * Date: Sat, 22 Jun 2002 19:27:09 -0700
     _________________________________________________________________

Peter:

Yes, this was exactly the problem. They were Memorex 700MB discs, right out
of a brand new box. The firmware probably needed upgrading to see these
discs.

The issue was resolved by using Imation 650 MB discs.

Thanks so much for the input.

Carol Warman
Computers Were Us, Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
Behalf Of Peter Kaulback
Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2002 7:05 PM
Subject: RE: PCWorks: 700 MB versus 650 MB CDRW?


Some cdrw discs manufactured by Memorex in particular, my burner will not
even see. In effect they fail to exist. What drives do you have, they may
only need their firmware to be updated.

Peter Kaulback

In the hour of 11:11 AM 6/22/2002 -0700, Carol Warman spoke this:

>Gerry:
>
>Thanks for the reply and for the valuable links.
>
>Would you know whether a CD RW drive manufactured 1-2 years ago (the age of
>the two machines in question) would have a problem in writing a 700 MB
disc?
>I'm interested in tracking down the reason that the 650 MB media worked
>flawlessly and the 700 MB did not. Any thoughts?
>
>Thanks.
>
>Carol Warman
>Computers Were Us, Inc.
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>___________________________________________________
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
>Behalf Of Gerald E. Boyd
>Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2002 8:22 AM
>Subject: Re: PCWorks: 700 MB versus 650 MB CDRW?
>
>
>At 07:41 PM 6/21/02 -0700, Carol Warman wrote the following:
>
> >Could someone please explain the difference (other than the obvious
> >capacity) of a 700 MB CDRW versus a 650 MB CDRW. I am asking because we
> >helped a client back up his files today and both of his CDRW drives (in two
> >separate machines) would not recognize this media. Once we inserted a 650
> >MB CD, both drives recognized the media and the copying worked fine. I am
> >used to working with the 650 MB media and the 700 is new to me.
>
>Early CD drives hold about 74 minutes of audio, or about 650MB of data.
>Later models hold about 80 minutes of audio, or about 700MB of data.
>
>The change came about because of all the audio fans "overburning" the
>original CD (circa 1997) to achieve longer play times. Hence, the
>manufacturers just started making the newer sizes.
>
>For more info, see the CD-R FAQ (start at section 7-6)
>http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq01.html
>
>--
>Gerry Boyd