Packet writing to CDRWs and DVDs

You need to apply the following patches in the following order:

The CDRW packet writing patch from here.
Note The previous version of this patch destroyed some LG CDROM drives which had a firmware bug. This updated version is safe.
A modified DVD+RW patch from here.
My patch from here.
Finally, a patch here to make it work with DVD-RW; this patch was published by Dyson on the Suse packet-writing mailing list.

This has been tested for kernel version 2.4.22; it should work with 2.4.21 and 2.4.23 also, but I haven't tried it.

What does this do?

The CDRW packet writing patch allows you to mount a CDRW and treat it just like any other disk - you can copy files to it, delete them, rename them,... and so on. Of course the performance is slow. Read the instructions on how to do this here.
The DVD+RW patch allows you to do the same thing with DVD+RW disks. The instructions (with a link to the original version of this patch) are here. The above link is to a modified version of the DVD+RW patch which is source-compatible with the CDRW patch.
My patch fixes two problems with the previous two patches:
- The DVD+RW patch causes the CDRW patch to stop working.
- The DVD+RW patch only works with some DVD writers. In particular, it doesn't work with my NEC ND1300 writer. If you have this problem, apply all three patches, follow the instructions for making the /dev/pktcdvd0 device and running the pktsetup program, and then use /dev/pktcdvd0 instead of /dev/scd0 for mounting your dvd+rw disk.
Finally, Dyson's patch makes it all work with DVD-RW disks.

The big problem at the moment is performance. Copying a lot of small files onto a packet-written CDRW or DVD is very slow. If you've got enough patience, you'll find that it does work, but it is certainly not usable. Copying a few large files is fine, though.

You might also like to look at the links below, especially if you're using the 2.4.23 kernel. It looks like the more recent versions of the CDRW and DVD+RW patches incorporate my changes, so that they now work together nicely. The instructions below on how to format and mount disks are still relevent, though.

Instructions

Once you've applied the first patch, you can write to CDRWs as though they were very large, slow floppy disks. You format the disk and make a file system on it with the command
```
cdrwtool -d /dev/scd0 -q
```
and then mount it with
```
mount /dev/pktcdvd0 /mnt/cdrom -t udf -o noatime
```
The second patch allows you to do the same sort of thing with DVD+RWs, but it only works with some DVD writers (Sony but not NEC). Once you've applied this patch, you can make a file system on the DVD+RW with the command
```
mkudffs /dev/scd0
```
and mount the disk with
```
mount /dev/scd0 /mnt/cdrom -t udf -o noatime
```
When you apply the second patch, the first (CDRW) patch stops working. The third patch repairs this; once you've applied the third patch, you can use both CDRWs and DVD+RWs as described above.
If you've got a DVD writer for which the second patch does not work (such as an NEC ND1300) all is not lost. Just apply the third patch. Then format the disk with the command
```
dvd+rw-format /dev/scd0
```
and make a file system with the command
```
mkudffs /dev/pktcdvd0
```
and mount the disk with
```
mount /dev/pktcdvd0 /mnt/cdrom -t udf -o noatime
```
Finally, if you want to use a DVD-RW disk, you need to apply all four patches. Then you need to put the disk into restricted-overwrite mode by typing
```
dvd+rw-format /dev/scd0
```
and then fill the disk with binary zeros
```
growisofs -Z /dev/scd0=/dev/null
```
and make a file system on it
```
mkudffs /dev/pktcdvd0
```
and finally mount it with
```
mount /dev/pktcdvd0 /mnt/cdrom -t udf -o noatime
```

Links:

Linux CDRW packet writing
DVD+RW/+R/-R[W] for Linux
Another collection of DVD and CDRW patches, more recent than mine
suse packet-writing mailing list
cdwrite mailing list
The author