This drive (Sony) currently is not 100% supported by the dvdrtools package. The DVD+R and +RW portion works, but not the -R -RW. The authors of dvdrtools have not yet added support or figured out the firmware (specs? what specs?) The "dash" formats for this drive *may* burn from the non-free dvdrecord-pro package (same author as cdrecord). I saw one report of success. If you're looking for a DVD recorder for Linux, the Pioneer DVR-XXX line is the best supported (I have a DVR-104 which is the OEM ver of DVR-A04). These are DVD-R/-RW burners, with the -105 model now supporting 4X DVD-R. For backups you won't care about DVD-R's greater compatability with DVD-Video... but you might care about greater compatability with DVD-ROM readers (you wouldn't want to restore from the burner as the read speed won't match a speedy ROM drive like Pioneer DVD-117). The other benefit to -R/-RW is media price: the "dash" formats typically cost half what the "plus" formats. I pay 60 cents each for a 100-DVD spindle from Meritline.

-----Original Message----- From: Robert L Krawitz [mailto:rlk@alum.mit.edu] Sent: Friday, November 22, 2002 9:23 PM To: discuss@blu.org; wlug@mail.wlug.org Subject: DVD writer

I'm thinking of getting a DVD writer. My primary intention is to use it for system backups; CD's just don't cut it any more (with about 18 GB and 11 GB respectively on my two systems). The Sony DRU-500A looks like a rather interesting one, supporting a lot of formats. Any comments on that vs. any of the others out there? This is for a pure Linux system.

-- Robert Krawitz <rlk@alum.mit.edu>

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