K3b + multisession DVD-RW

[Botond]

Hi,
was anobody able to write a multisession DVD-RW or DVD+RW? It fails for me with error message "growisofs did not exit cleanly". K3b displays the actual growisofs command it intended to execute but that command is usually syntactically incorrect. But if I fix the volume names in that command and execute it by hand it usually succeeds.
This multisession writing doesn't work in Ubuntu Dapper Drake either (on a different machine, different burner with another type of media). I'm pretty sure that it was working in FC3, but I didn't use FC4. Could it be a kernel problem? Dapper Drake also uses 2.6.15.

[robvnl]

I have exact the same problem. k3b on fc4 ends with growisofs did not exit cleanly all the time, only when I burn a dvd-rw. Now I am very curious how to burn my dvd-rw from the command line successfully. Can you please tell us how. So I can use the command line for the time being. Many thx.

[daneel971]

Similar problems with dvd+rw, and some dvd-r with unclosed session resulted unreadable.
This occurred with dvd+rw-tools 5.21, kernel 2.6.14, K3b 0.12.10, NEC3500A, Philips DVD+RW and Verbatim DVD-R.
No problem on the same PC with a LG 4167B neither on another with the same software and two differnt NEC drives (3520 and 4550).
I recently update to dvd+rw-tools 6.1 and I'm plannig to switch the drives between the two pcs.
Could you both post your hardware and software specs?

[Botond]

Originally Posted by daneel971

No problem on the same PC with a LG 4167B neither on another with the same software and two differnt NEC drives (3520 and 4550).

You're very lucky. I have an NEC 4550 and it fails with k3b-0.12-10, dvd+rw-tools-5.21 and linux-2.6.15 (actually it is 2.6.16-rc3, I don't know why Fedora calls it 2.6.15). Should I upgrade my dvd+rw-tools package? Do you know of a Fedora RPM or do you build it yourself?

The other configuration which failed was Ubuntu Dapper Drake (also linux-2.6.15 and dvd+rw-tools-5.21) on a new IBM ThinkPad R50e. At the moment I cant't tell what type of DVD burner does it have (but it is able to write DVD-RAM).

ps.: That Mr. Spock joke isn't a fresh one, is it?

[Botond]

Originally Posted by robvnl

Now I am very curious how to burn my dvd-rw from the command line successfully. Can you please tell us how. So I can use the command line for the time being. Many thx.

Well, I don't know how to burn an image from the command line. But I managed to fix the DVD several times after "growisofs did not exit cleanly". Here's how:
- turn off automount (it's enough to stop haldaemon)
- instruct k3b to not eject the disc upon completion
- start the burning and save the temporary files (k3b creates 4 temporary files somewhere, but at the moment I don't know where - later I'll tell you how to find them)
- when k3b terminates the writing with "growisofs did no exit cleanly" don't close the window but look at the debug output: there you will see the growisofs command which has failed
- copy the growisofs command into a terminal window. Make sure the volid, setid, other "id" parameters don't contain spaces. The growisofs command refers to 4 temporary files (which contain volume information). These 4 files must have been backed up before (see above). Now restore these files and execute the growisofs command. It will fix the DVD.

In a couple of cases the manually executed growisofs command would have taken ages to complete so I've simply terminated it. But most of the time this method will fix an eventually broken DVD.

Maybe it would be worth to give dvd+rw-tools-6.1 a try.

[daneel971]

Well, I don't know how to burn an image from the command line.

It's something like:

growisofs -Z /dev/cdrecorder=myimage.iso

Do you know of a Fedora RPM or do you build it yourself?

I build it myself. It's small, so if you're interested I can upload it here tomorrow. I tried it only on my "working" pc (nec 3520 and 4550), and it works. I added even the "close" program found on the dvd+rw-tolols site (it was meant to fix the "unclosed session issue" of a previous release of the tools) and tried to fix my dvd-r, but it doesn't work.
Strangely, after using "close" on a dvd-r, the output that dvd+rw-mediainfo gives me is different from the output before using the program (and appears to be allright): but if I reload the media, it turns back to it's original state and the NEC drives can't mount the DVD.

The strange thing is that both the LG drive do work, and they even read those unclosed dvd-r i made with the NEC - It may be that my NEC 3500 is defective, but first I have to test it with new K3b/growisofs versions and with dvd+r (I don't remember having any problem with this kind of media).

[robvnl]

Thanks for all the respons. I must say that the manual burn method from Botond is genius but a lot of work...I will have a closer look at it. I saw that indeed the dvd+rw-tools delivered by fedora are some versions behind (I am at work now, so I cannot say what version but it must be the latest that ever ocured through mu yum repos). Of course I am very interested in the rpm build of daneel971.

[daneel971]

Here they are, both binary and source.
I added even the specfile for K3b 0.12.12, without sources: you have to download them from the K3b website, and maybe you have to edit the specfile ti fit your needs...
Good luck and remember: no guarantee at all

[robvnl]

daneel971: I am very happy to tell you that with updating dvd+rw tools with your rpm I could write (with k3b) a iso image on dvd-rw successfully. It was a DVD movie, tested on my dvdplayer also. Working! Thank you.
I had installed dvd+rw-tools.i386 0:5.21.4.10.8-6.2.1. Now with version 6.1 it seems to be solved. I did not do anything with the k3b-specfile because I do not understand it very well. The only strange thing I still have is that xine still complains about the MRL, But when I type xine dvd:/media/cdrom/VIDEO_TS/ it works. While with a +r disk xine does have the MRL.....does this have to do with the krb-specfile?

[daneel971]

.....does this have to do with the krb-specfile?

nothing, AFAIK. I includede that specfile because the problem could have been related to the K3b version instead of the dvd+rw-tools. I remember a previous K3b version that didn't close the cd sessions....

[robvnl]

anyway thanks again. At least I can write the dvd-rw's successfully with the 6.1 set dvd+rw-tools above. I am curious if it has been solved now for Botond either.

[Botond]

OK, dvd+rw-tools 6.1 and the same old k3b can now properly write a DVD-RW. However I got strange results with multisession DVD-RWs. I didn't know so far that DVD-RW discs can be formatted two ways.
When the disc was formatted in sequential mode k3b reported "Writer doesn't support incremental streaming - Engaging DAO". While the specification clearly states that the NEC ND-4550 is capable of writing incrementally. Neverthless k3b + growisofs-6.1 finished the disc properly while growisofs-5.21 exited abnormally.
When the disc was formatted in resctricted overwrite mode multisession burning worked but 2 out of 4 attempts failed (with "growisofs didn't exit cleanly"). But the disc was readable all the time. I've written 4 sessions onto the disc, the 2nd and the 4th attempt has failed but I was always able to mount the disc and read the files. Even a file larger than 2GB was written properly (I've verified it). I didn't try this kind of writing with growisofs-5.21 yet.

One more thing: the official dvd+rw-tools-5.21.4.10.8-6.2.1.src.rpm contains an "open exclusive" patch wich I didin't apply to my 6.1...rpm. As I saw daneel971 didn't apply it either. If I will have time I'll apply this patch to dvd+rw-tools-6.1 and check wether the above mentioned not so critical growisofs problem disappears. And of course I'll check out other media.

[mmaster]

Last night I updated dvd+rw-tools to 6.1 using the rpms above and updated k3b to 0.12.12 via yum.

prior to updating, I had the same problems everyone else has - the disk burned but failed at the very end and was unreadable.

Then I updated the software as listed above.

Finally, I created a new data dvd project, started the burn and the disk immediately ejected. K3b claimed it successfully burned the disc even though it didn't write a single byte to the dvd. There was a growisofs error - something about ulimit exceeded, I think. I will post the real error message (which I've forgotten to bring to work) when I get home.

[mmaster]

here's the error I got tonight... its different than the first error I got:

System
-----------------------
K3b Version: 0.12.12

KDE Version: 3.5.1-2.3.fc4.kde
QT Version: 3.3.5
Kernel: 2.6.14-1.1656_FC4smp
Devices
-----------------------
_NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A 1.05 (/dev/hdb, ) at /media/cdrom [CD-R; CD-RW; CD-ROM; DVD-ROM; DVD-R; DVD-RW; DVD-R DL; DVD+R; DVD+RW; DVD+R DL] [DVD-ROM; DVD-R Sequential; DVD-R Dual Layer Sequential; DVD-RW Restricted Overwrite; DVD-RW Sequential; DVD+RW; DVD+R; DVD+R Double Layer; CD-ROM; CD-R; CD-RW] [SAO; TAO; RAW; SAO/R96P; SAO/R96R; RAW/R16; RAW/R96P; RAW/R96R; Restricted Overwrite]

Used versions
-----------------------
growisofs: 6.1
mkisofs: 2.1

growisofs
-----------------------
:-( unable to anonymously mmap 67108864: Resource temporarily unavailable

growisofs command:
-----------------------
/usr/bin/growisofs -Z /dev/hdb -use-the-force-luke=notray -use-the-force-luke=tty -speed=8 -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:40m -gui -graft-points -volid K3b data project -volset -appid K3B THE CD KREATOR (C) 1998-2005 SEBASTIAN TRUEG AND THE K3B TEAM -publisher -preparer -sysid LINUX -volset-size 1 -volset-seqno 1 -sort /tmp/kde-root/k3bwFtxra.tmp -rational-rock -hide-list /tmp/kde-root/k3by3Iiob.tmp -joliet -hide-joliet-list /tmp/kde-root/k3b40AcQa.tmp -full-iso9660-filenames -iso-level 2 -path-list /tmp/kde-root/k3blvS8Ua.tmp





Edit: I reproduced the error of last night, where it didn't write anything but thought it was successful. The error is the same as above, however.

[daneel971]

The error you encountered should affect version 6.0 of the dvd+rw-tools...
anyway, here is a workaround
http://fy.chalmers.se/~appro/linux/DVD+RW/tools/?M=D