DVD-R

[Matt Graham]

After a long battle with technology, Josh Nalli wrote:
> On Sunday 22 June 2008 11:27:20 am Matt Graham wrote:
>> After a long battle with technology, Donn wrote:
>>> On Sat, Jun 21, 2008 at 11:43 AM, Josh Nalli <j.nalli at cox.net> wrote:
>>>> How come my computer doesnt recognize my dvd-r?  it recognizes a cd-r.
>> There is not quite enough information here to really diagnose the
>> problem. Is the DVD-+R IDE, SATA, or USB2?  Does it work for reading

>> Better:  Check the output of "dmesg | grep DVD" and make sure the kernel
>> has recognized the device.
> what is a DVD-+R?  I said it was a DVD-R.

A DVD-+R can read and write DVD+R and DVD-R discs.  Most modern DVD drives 
that can write discs can write both kinds.  If your drive can only write 
DVD-R discs, your drive is an old drive, and that makes things a tad more 
difficult in a number of ways.  It also means the likelihood of hardware 
failure is higher.

Post the exact output of "dmesg | grep -i dvd" so we don't have to guess as to 
what is happening here.

> What does sata or usb have to do with it?

A lot.  IDE devices were always named in the same way.  SCSI-like devices 
could be named differently in different contexts depending on a large number 
of factors.  Bad device naming may be behind the problems you are seeing.  
You have not provided enough information for me to make a good diagnosis, 
though.

> I said that it can read cd-r's.  So yes. it can read discs...

Older DVD-R and DVD+R units sometimes had trouble reading CD-Rs, while they 
could read DVD-ROM, CD-ROM, and DVD{-,+}Rs well.  Modern drives should not 
have this problem, but I have an older DVD+R drive that will not read PSX 
discs.  It'll read CD-ROM, CD-R, and CD-RW, but not PSX.  Optical drives can 
have strange and weird bugs, which should not surprise you.

-- 
   The early bird who catches the worm works for someone who comes in
   late and owns the worm farm.  --Travis McGee
  My blog: http://crow202.dyndns.org/wordpress/
Matt G|There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see