DVD-RAM's and File Systems

Computer Forum Storage Devices
1

Hey guys,

Although not all DVD Burners can write to DVD-RAM discs, can all DVD drives read DVD-ram discs?

That was the impression i got from wikipedia… it also said that windoze machines would only be able to read the disc’s if i Format the disc’s as FAT32, although I’m guessing that most linux machines will be able to read it no matter the file system?

Obviously they have to support the file system to read it!!! that is assuming that file management is separate from the kernel, I’ve only seen the one representation of the layers of an OS (i have no idea if its generic or windoze orientated)

also, what file system is most suitable for general(ish) use? Lots of MP3’s, Individual Episodes of south park / rips of my DVD’s? (looking for speed, as the disc’s will be used for carrying my data, not backing it up!)

thanks

Impy.

2

In Linux, the file system ‘drivers’ are in the same object code as the kernel (whether compiled into it, or loaded as a module) so they’re one entity.

For the program that wants to access the drive, it is either simply used as a low level block device (/dev/hdc etc) or using C system calls like fopen() it can directly write to the disc as if it was a normal directory.

All hardware abstractions are provided by the kernel and udev, and so the program using the device is completely separate from the file system.

Wikipedia says that UDF is the superior disc format for DVD-RAM, but Windows pre-Vista only support FAT32 DVD-RAMs unless third party software is used.