cdrecord(1)
NAME
cdrecord - record audio or data CD, DVD or BluRay
SYNOPSIS
cdrecord [ general options ][ dev=device ][ track options ]
track1...trackn
DESCRIPTION
Cdrecord is used to record data or audio Compact Discs on an Orange
Book CD-recorder, to write DVD media on a DVD-recorder or to write Blu-
Ray media on a BluRay-recorder.
Device naming
Most users do not need to care about device naming at all. If no dev=
option was specified, cdrecord implements auto target support and
automagically finds the drive in case that exactly one CD-ROM type
drive is available in the system. In case that more than one CD-ROM
type drive exists on the system, a list of possible device name parame-
ters may be retrieved with cdrecord -scanbus or from the target example
from the output of cdrecord dev=help, then the dev= parameter may be
set based on the device listing.
The device parameter to the dev= option explained below refers to the
SCSI CAM standard notation for scsibus/target/lun of the CD/DVD/BluRay-
recorder. If a file /etc/default/cdrecord exists, the parameter to the
dev= option may also be a drive name label in said file (see FILES sec-
tion).
Constraints for running cdrecord
On SVr4 compliant systems, cdrecord uses the real-time class to get the
highest scheduling priority that is possible (higher than all kernel
processes). On systems with POSIX real-time scheduling cdrecord uses
real-time scheduling too, but may not be able to gain a priority that
is higher than all kernel processes.
In order to be able to use the SCSI transport subsystem of the OS, run
at highest priority and lock itself into core cdrecord either needs to
be run as root, needs to be installed suid root or must be called via a
fine grained privileges mechanism, such as the Solaris privileges(5)
mechanism via exec_attr(4) or the Linux capabilities(7) mechanism via
setcap(8) to allow cdrecord to be used as an ordinary user.
File to track mapping
In Track At Once mode, each track corresponds to a single file that
contains the prepared data for that track. If the argument is `-',
standard input is used for that track. Only one track may be taken
from stdin. In the other write modes, the direct file to track rela-
tion may not be implemented. In -clone mode, a single file contains
all data for the whole disk. To allow DVD writing on platforms that do
not implement large file support, cdrecord concatenates all file argu-
ments to a single track when writing to DVD media.
GENERAL OPTIONS
General options must be before any track file name or track option.
Informative options
-help display version information for cdrecord on standard output.
-version
Print version information and exit.
-v Increment the level of general verbosity by one. This is used
e.g. to display the progress of the writing process.
Media write mode options
-dummy The -dummy option modifies the current write strategy. The
CD/DVD/BluRay-recorder will go through all steps of the record-
ing process, but the laser is turned off during this procedure.
It is recommended to run several tests before actually writing
to a Compact Disk or Digital Versatile Disk, if the timing and
load response of the current system is not yet known.
The -dummy option does not work with all media and write modes.
DVD+ media and BluRay media does not support dummy writes and
most CD-recorders do not support dummy writes in raw mode.
-multi Allow multi-session CDs or multi-border DVDs to be made. This
flag needs to be present on all sessions of a multi-session or
multi-border disk, except you want to create a session on a CD
that will be the last session on the CD-media.
For CD-media, the fixation will be done in a way that allows the
CD/DVD/BluRay-recorder to append additional sessions later. This
is done by generating a TOC with a link to the next program
area. The so generated media is not 100% compatible to manufac-
tured CDs (except for CDplus). Use only for recording of multi-
session CDs. If this option is present, the default track type
is CD-ROM XA mode 2 form 1 and the sector size is 2048 bytes.
The XA sector subheaders will be created by the drive. The Sony
drives have no hardware support for CD-ROM XA mode 2 form 1.
You have to specify the -data option in order to create multi-
session disks on these drives. If you like to record a multi-
session disk in SAO mode, you need to force CD-ROM sectors by
including the -data option. Not all drives allow multi-session
CDs in SAO mode.
For DVD media, -multi switches the write mode to incremental
packet recording. There is currently no way to prevent the
ability to append further sessions and there is currently only
support for DVD-R/DVD-RW media. To reuse a DVD-RW that has pre-
viously been written in incremental packet recording mode for
different write modes, you need to blank the entire media
before.
-dao
-sao Set SAO (Session At Once) mode which is usually called Disk At
Once mode. This currently only works with MMC drives that sup-
port Session At Once mode. Note that cdrecord needs to know the
size of each track in advance for this mode (see the mkisofs
-print-size option and the EXAMPLES section for more informa-
tion).
There are several CD writers with bad firmware that result in
broken disks when writing in TAO or SAO mode. If you find any
problems with the layout of a disk or with subchannel content
(e.g. wrong times on the display when playing the CD) and your
drive supports to write in -raw96r or -raw16 mode, you should
give it a try.
-tao Set TAO (Track At Once) writing mode. This is the default write
mode in previous cdrecord versions. With most drives, this
write mode is required for multi-session recording.
There are several CD writers with bad firmware that result in
broken disks when writing in TAO or SAO mode. If you find any
problems with the layout of a disk or with subchannel content
(e.g. wrong times on the display when playing the CD) and your
drive supports to write in -raw96r or -raw16 mode, you should
give it a try.
-raw Set RAW writing mode. Using this option defaults to -raw96r.
Note that cdrecord needs to know the size of each track in
advance for this mode (see the mkisofs -print-size option and
the EXAMPLES section for more information).
-raw96r
Set RAW writing mode with 2352 byte sectors plus 96 bytes of raw
P-W sub-channel data resulting in a sector size of 2448 bytes.
This is the preferred raw writing mode as it gives best control
over the CD-writing process. Writing data disks in raw mode
needs significantly more CPU time than other write modes. If
your CPU is too slow, this may result in buffer underruns. Note
that cdrecord needs to know the size of each track in advance
for this mode (see the mkisofs -print-size option and the EXAM-
PLES section for more information).
-raw96p
Set RAW writing mode with 2352 byte sectors plus 96 bytes of
packed P-W sub-channel data resulting in a sector size of 2448
bytes. This is the less preferred raw writing mode as only a
few recorders support it and some of these recorders have bugs
in the firmware implementation. Don't use this mode if your
recorder supports -raw96r or -raw16. Writing data disks in raw
mode needs significantly more CPU time than other write modes.
If your CPU is too slow, this may result in buffer underruns.
Note that cdrecord needs to know the size of each track in
advance for this mode (see the mkisofs -print-size option and
the EXAMPLES section for more information).
-raw16 Set RAW writing mode with 2352 byte sectors plus 16 bytes of P-Q
sub-channel data resulting in a sector size of 2368 bytes. If a
recorder does not support -raw96r, this is the preferred raw
writing mode. It does not allow to write CD-Text or CD+Graphics
but it is the only raw writing mode in cheap CD-writers, as
these cheap writers in most cases do not support -dao mode.
Don't use this mode if your recorder supports -raw96r. Writing
data disks in raw mode needs significantly more CPU time than
other write modes. If your CPU is too slow, this may result in
buffer underruns. Note that cdrecord needs to know the size of
each track in advance for this mode (see the mkisofs -print-size
option and the EXAMPLES section for more information).
Cdrecord functional options
-abort Try to send an abort sequence to the drive. If you use cdrecord
only, this should never be needed; but other software may leave
a drive in an unusable condition. Calling cdrecord -reset may
be needed if a previous write has been interrupted and the soft-
ware did not tell the drive that it will not continue to write.
-atip Retrieve and print out the ATIP (Absolute Time In Pre-groove)
info of a CD/DVD/BluRay recordable or CD/DVD/BluRay re-writable
media. With this option, cdrecord will try to retrieve the ATIP
info. If the actual drive does not support to read the ATIP
info, it may be that only a reduced set of information records
or even nothing is displayed. Only a limited number of MMC-com-
pliant drives support to read the ATIP info.
If cdrecord is able to retrieve the lead-in start time for the
first session, it will try to decode and print the manufacturer
info from the media. DVD media does not have ATIP information
but there is equivalent prerecorded information that is read out
and printed.
blank=type
Blank a CD-RW and exit or blank a CD-RW before writing. The
blanking type may be one of:
help Display a list of possible blanking types.
all Blank the entire disk. This may take a long time.
fast Minimally blank the disk. This results in erasing
the PMA, the TOC and the pregap.
track Blank the last track.
unreserve Unreserve a reserved track.
trtail Blank the tail of a track.
unclose Unclose last session.
session Blank the last session.
Not all drives support all blanking types. It may be necessary
to use blank=all if a drive reports a specified command as being
invalid. If used together with the -force flag, this option may
be used to blank CD-RW disks that otherwise cannot be blanked.
Note that you may need to specify blank=all because some drives
will not continue with certain types of bad CD-RW disks. Note
also that cdrecord does its best if the -force flag is used but
it finally depends on the drive's firmware whether the blanking
operation will succeed or not.
-checkdrive
Checks if a driver for the current drive is present and exit.
If the drive is a known drive, cdrecord uses exit code 0.
-clone Tells cdrecord to handle images created by readcd -clone. The
-clone write mode may only be used in conjunction with the
-raw96r or -raw16 option. Using -clone together with -raw96r is
preferred as it allows to write all sub-channel data. The
-raw16 option should only be used with drives that do not sup-
port to write in -raw96r mode.
Note that copying in clone mode disables certain levels of error
correction and thus always results in a quality degradation.
Avoid copying audio CDs in clone mode for this reason.
cuefile=filename
Take all recording-related information from a CDRWIN-compliant
CUE sheet file. No track-file arguments to cdrecord are allowed
when this option is present and one of the following options:
-dao, -sao, -raw, -raw16, -raw96r is needed in addition.
defpregap=#
Set the default pre-gap size for all tracks except track number
1. This option currently only makes sense with the following
drives:
Teac CD-R50S, Teac CD-R55S, JVC XR-W2010, Pinnacle RCD-5020
when creating track-at-once disks without the 2-second silence
before each track.
This option may go away in the future.
driver=name
Allows the user to manually select a driver for the device. The
reason for the existence of the driver=name option is to allow
users to use cdrecord with drives that are similar to supported
drives but not known directly by cdrecord. All drives made
after 1997 should be MMC-standard-compliant and thus supported
by one of the MMC drivers. It is most unlikely that cdrecord is
unable to find the right driver automatically. Use this option
with extreme care. If a wrong driver is used for a device, the
possibility of creating corrupted disks is high. The minimum
problem related to a wrong driver is that the -speed or -dummy
will not work.
The following driver names are supported:
help To get a list of possible drivers together with a short
description.
mmc_bd The generic SCSI-3/mmc BluRay driver is auto-selected
whenever cdrecord finds an MMC-compliant drive that does
support to write BluRay media or a multi system that con-
tains a BluRay disk as the current medium. This driver
tries to close the tray, checks the medium found in the
tray and then branches to the driver that matches the
current medium.
mmc_bdr
The generic SCSI-3/mmc BluRay driver is auto-selected
whenever cdrecord finds an MMC-compliant drive that does
support to write BluRay BD-R media or a multi system that
contains a BluRay BD-R disk as the current medium.
mmc_bdre
The generic SCSI-3/mmc BluRay driver is auto-selected
whenever cdrecord finds an MMC-compliant drive that does
support to write BluRay BD-RE media or a multi system
that contains a BluRay BD-RE disk as the current medium.
mmc_cd The generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-ROM driver is auto-selected
whenever cdrecord finds an MMC-compliant drive that does
not identify itself to support writing at all, or that
only identifies to support media or write modes not
implemented in cdrecord.
mmc_cd_dvd
The generic SCSI-3/mmc CD/DVD/BluRay driver is auto-
selected whenever cdrecord finds an MMC-2 or MMC-3-com-
pliant drive that seems to support more than one medium
type and the tray is open or no medium could be found to
select the right driver. This driver tries to close the
tray, checks the medium found in the tray and then
branches to the driver that matches the current medium.
mmc_cdr
The generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-R/CD-RW driver is auto-selected
whenever cdrecord finds an MMC-compliant drive that only
supports to write CDs or a multi system drive that con-
tains a CD as the current medium.
mmc_cdr_sony
The generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-R/CD-RW driver is auto-selected
whenever cdrecord would otherwise select the mmc_cdr
driver but the device seems to be made by Sony. The
mmc_cdr_sony is definitely needed for the Sony CDU 928 as
this drive does not completely implement the MMC standard
and some of the MMC SCSI commands have to be replaced by
Sony proprietary commands. It seems that all Sony drives
(even newer ones) still implement the Sony proprietary
SCSI commands so it has not yet become a problem to use
this driver for all Sony drives. If you find a newer Sony
drive that does not work with this driver, please report.
mmc_dvd
The generic SCSI-3/mmc-2 DVD-R/DVD-RW driver is auto-
selected whenever cdrecord finds an MMC-2 or MMC-3-com-
pliant drive that supports to write DVDs and an appropri-
ate medium is loaded. There is no Track At Once mode for
DVD writers.
mmc_dvdplus
The generic SCSI-3/mmc-3 DVD+R/DVD+RW driver is auto-
selected whenever one of the DVD+ media types that are
incompatible to each other is found. It checks media and
then branches to the driver that matches the current
medium.
mmc_dvdplusr
The generic SCSI-3/mmc-3 DVD+R driver is auto-selected
whenever a DVD+R medium is found in an appropriate
writer. Note that for unknown reason, the DVD+RW
Alliance does not like that there is a simulation mode
for DVD+R media. The author of cdrecord tries to con-
vince manufacturers to implement a simulation mode for
DVD+R and implement support. DVD+R only supports one
write mode that is somewhere between Track At Once and
Packet writing; this mode is selected in cdrecord via the
-dao/-sao option.
mmc_dvdplusrw
The generic SCSI-3/mmc-3 DVD+RW driver is auto-selected
whenever a DVD+RW medium is found in an appropriate
writer. As DVD+RW media need to be formatted before
their first use, cdrecord auto-detects this medium state
and performs a format before it starts to write. Note
that for unknown reason, the DVD+RW Alliance does not
like that there is a simulation mode nor a way to erase
DVD+RW media. DVD+RW only supports one write mode that
is close to Packet writing; this mode is selected in
cdrecord via the -dao/-sao option.
cw_7501
The driver for Matsushita/Panasonic CW-7501 is auto-
selected when cdrecord finds this old pre-MMC drive.
Cdrecord supports all write modes for this drive type.
kodak_pcd_600
The driver for Kodak PCD-600 is auto-selected when
cdrecord finds this old pre-MMC drive which has been the
first high speed (6x) CD-writer for a long time. This
drive behaves similarly to the Philips CDD-521 drive.
philips_cdd521
The driver for Philips CDD-521 is auto-selected when
cdrecord finds a Philips CDD-521 drive (which is the
first CD-writer ever made) or one of the other drives
that are known to behave similarly to this drive. All
Philips CDD-521 or similar drives (see other drivers in
this list) do not support Session At Once recording.
philips_cdd521_old
The driver for Philips old CDD-521 is auto-selected when
cdrecord finds a Philips CDD-521 with very old firmware
which has some known limitations.
philips_cdd522
The driver for Philips CDD-522 is auto-selected when
cdrecord finds a Philips CDD-522 which is the successor
of the 521 or one of its variants with Kodak label.
Cdrecord does not support Session At Once recording with
these drives.
philips_dumb
The driver for Philips CDD-521 with pessimistic assump-
tions is never auto-selected. It may be used by hand
with drives that behave similarly to the Philips CDD-521.
pioneer_dws114x
The driver for Pioneer DW-S114X is auto-selected when
cdrecord finds one of the old non-MMC CD-writers from
Pioneer.
plasmon_rf4100
The driver for Plasmon RF 4100 is auto-selected when
cdrecord finds this specific variant of the Philips
CDD-521.
ricoh_ro1060c
The driver for Ricoh RO-1060C is auto-selected when
cdrecord finds this drive. There is no real support for
this drive yet.
ricoh_ro1420c
The driver for Ricoh RO-1420C is auto-selected when
cdrecord finds a drive with this specific variant of the
Philips CDD-521 command set.
scsi2_cd
The generic SCSI-2 CD-ROM driver is auto-selected when-
ever cdrecord finds a pre-MMC drive that does not support
writing or a pre-MMC writer that is not supported by
cdrecord.
sony_cdu924
The driver for Sony CDU-924 / CDU-948 is auto-selected
whenever cdrecord finds one of the old pre-MMC CD-writers
from Sony.
teac_cdr50
The driver for Teac CD-R50S, Teac CD-R55S, JVC XR-W2010,
Pinnacle RCD-5020 is auto-selected whenever one of the
drives is found that is known to use the non-MMC command
set used by TEAC and JVC. Note that many drives from JVC
will not work because they do not correctly implement the
documented command set and JVC has been unwilling to fix
or document the bugs. There is no support for the Ses-
sion At Once write mode yet.
tyuden_ew50
The driver for Taiyo Yuden EW-50 is auto-selected when
cdrecord finds a drive with this specific variant of the
Philips CDD-521 command set.
yamaha_cdr100
The driver for Yamaha CDR-100 / CDR-102 is auto-selected
when cdrecord finds one of the old pre-MMC CD-writers
from Yamaha. There is no support for the Session At Once
write mode yet.
bd_simul
The simulation BluRay driver allows to run timing and
speed tests with parameters that match the behavior of
BluRay writers.
cdr_simul
The simulation CD-R driver allows to run timing and speed
tests with parameters that match the behavior of CD-writ-
ers.
dvd_simul
The simulation DVD-R driver allows to run timing and
speed tests with parameters that match the behavior of
DVD writers.
There are two special driver entries in the list: cdr_simul and
dvd_simul. These driver entries are designed to make timing
tests at any speed or timing tests for drives that do not sup-
port the -dummy option. The simulation drivers implement a
drive with a buffer size of 1 MB that can be changed via the
CDR_SIMUL_BUFSIZE environment variable. The simulation driver
correctly simulates even a buffer underrun condition. If the
-dummy option is present, the simulation is not aborted in case
of a buffer underrun.
driveropts=option list
Set driver specific options. The options are specified as a
comma separated list. To get a list of valid options use
driveropts=help together with the -checkdrive option. If you
like to set driver options without running a typical cdrecord
task, you need to use the -setdropts option in addition, other-
wise the command line parser in cdrecord will complain. Cur-
rently implemented driver options are:
burnfree
Turn the support for Buffer Underrun Free writing on.
This only works for drives that support Buffer Underrun
Free technology. This may be called: Sanyo BURN-Proof,
Ricoh Just-Link, Yamaha Lossless-Link or similar.
The default is to turn BURN-Free off, regardless of the
defaults of the drive.
noburnfree
Turn the support for Buffer Underrun Free writing off.
varirec=value
Turn on the Plextor VariRec writing mode. The mandatory
parameter value is the laser power offset and currently
may be selected from -2, -1, 0, 1, 2. In addition, you
need to set the write speed to 4 in order to allow
VariRec to work.
gigarec=value
Manage the Plextor GigaRec writing mode. The mandatory
parameter value is the disk capacity ratio compared to
normal recording and currently may be selected from 0.6,
0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1.0, 1,1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4. If values < 1.0
are used, then the effect is similar to the Yamaha Audio
Master Q. R. feature. If values > 1.0 are used, then the
disk capacity is increased.
Not all drives support all GigaRec values. When a drive
uses the GigaRec feature, the write speed is limited to
8x.
audiomaster
Turn on the Yamaha Audio Master Q. R. feature which usu-
ally should result in high quality CDs that have less
reading problems in Hi-Fi players. As this is imple-
mented as a variant of the Session At Once write mode, it
will only work if you select SAO write mode and there is
no need to turn it off. The Audio Master mode will work
with a limited speed but may also be used with data CDs.
In Audio Master mode, the pits on the CD will be written
larger than usual so the capacity of the medium is
reduced when turning this feature on. A 74-minute CD
will only have a capacity of 63 minutes if Audio Master
is active and the capacity of a 80-minute CD will be
reduced to 68 minutes, the capacity in will be reduced to
85% of the original capacity. On newer Plextor drives,
this feature is also present but the capacity will be
reduced to 86.66% of the original capacity. For other
factors on Plextor drives, see the gigarec option above.
forcespeed
Normally, modern drives know the highest possible speed
for different media and may reduce the speed in order to
grant best write quality. This technology may be called:
Plextor PowerRec, Ricoh Just-Speed, Yamaha Optimum Write
Speed Control or similar. Some drives (e.g. Plextor,
Ricoh and Yamaha) allow to force the drive to use the
selected speed even if the medium is so bad that the
write quality would be poor. This option tells such a
drive to force to use the selected speed regardless of
the medium quality.
Use this option with extreme care and note that the drive
should know better which medium will work at full speed.
The default is to turn forcespeed off, regardless of the
defaults of the drive.
noforcespeed
Turn off the force speed feature.
speedread
Some ultra high speed drives such as 48x and faster
drives from Plextor limit the read speed for unknown
media to e.g. 40x in order to avoid damaged disks and
drives. Using this option tells the drive to read any
media as fast as possible. Be very careful as this may
cause the media to break in the drive while reading,
resulting in damaged media and drive!
nospeedread
Turn off unlimited read speed.
singlesession
Turn the drive into a single-session only drive. This
allows to read defective or non-compliant (illegal) media
with extremely non-standard additional (broken/illegal)
TOC entries in the TOC from the second or higher session.
Some of these disks become usable if only the information
from the first session is used. You need to enable Sin-
gle Session mode before you insert the defective disk!
nosinglesession
Turn off single-session mode. The drive will again behave
as usual.
hidecdr
Hide the fact that a medium might be a recordable medium.
This allows to make CD-Rs look like CD-ROMs and applica-
tions believe that the media in the drive is not a CD-R.
nohidecdr
Turn off hiding CD-R media.
tattooinfo
Use this option together with -checkdrive to retrieve the
image size information for the Yamaha DiskT@2 feature.
The images always have a line length of 3744 pixels.
Line number 0 (radius 0) is mapped to the center of the
disk. If you know the inner and outer radii you will be
able to create a pre distorted image that later may
appear undistorted on the disk.
tattoofile=name
Use this option together with -checkdrive to write an
image prepared for the Yamaha DiskT@2 feature to the
medium. The file must be a file with raw image B&W data
(one byte per pixel) in a size as retrieved by a previous
call to tattooinfo. If the size of the image equals the
maximum possible size (3744 x 320 pixels), cdrecord will
use the first part of the file. This first part then will
be written to the leftover space on the CD.
Note that the image must be mirrored to be readable from
the pick up side of the CD.
layerbreak
Switch a drive with DVD-R/DL medium into layer jump
recording recording mode and use automatic layer-break
position setup.
By default, DVD-R/DL media is written in sequential
recording mode that completely fills up both layers.
layerbreak=value
Set up a manual layer-break value for DVD-R/DL and
DVD+R/DL. The specified layer-break value must not be
set to less than half of the recorded data size and must
not be set to more than the remaining Layer 0 size of the
medium. The manual layer-break value needs to be a mul-
tiple of the ECC sector size which is 16 logical 2048
byte sectors in case of DVD media and 32 logical 2048
byte sectors in case of HD-DVD or BD media.
Cdrecord does not allow to write DL media in case that
the total amount of data is less then the Layer 0 size of
the medium except when a manual layer-break has been
specified by using the layerbreak=value option.
-eject Eject disk after doing the work. Some devices (e.g. Philips)
need to eject the medium before creating a new disk. Doing a
-dummy test and immediately creating a real disk would not work
on these devices.
-fix The disk will only be fixated (i.e. a TOC for a CD-reader will
be written). This may be used, if for some reason the disk has
been written but not fixated. This option currently does not
work with old TEAC drives (CD-R50S and CD-R55S).
-force Force to continue on some errors. Be careful when using this
option. Cdrecord implements several checks that prevent you
from doing unwanted things like damaging CD-RW media by improper
drives. Many of the sanity checks are disabled when the -force
option is used.
This option also implements some tricks that will allow you to
blank bad CD-RW disks.
-format
Format a CD-RW/DVD-RW/DVD+RW/BD-RE disc. Formatting is cur-
rently only implemented for DVD+RW and BD-RE media. A 'maiden'
DVD+RW or BD-RE medium needs to be formatted before you may
write to it. However, as cdrecord autodetects the need for for-
matting in this case and auto formats the medium before it
starts writing, the -format option is only needed if you like to
forcibly reformat a DVD+RW or BD-RE medium.
fs=# Set the FIFO (ring buffer) size to #. You may use the same syn-
tax as in dd(1), sdd(1) or star(1). The number representing the
size is taken in bytes unless otherwise specified. If a number
is followed directly by the letter `b', `k', `m', `s' or `f',
the size is multiplied by 512, 1024, 1024*1024, 2048 or 2352.
If the size consists of numbers separated by `x' or `*', multi-
plication of the two numbers is performed. Thus fs=10x63k will
specify a FIFO size of 630 kBytes.
The size specified by the fs= argument includes the shared mem-
ory that is needed for administration. This is at least one page
of memory. If no fs= option is present, cdrecord will try to
get the FIFO size value from the CDR_FIFOSIZE environment. The
default FIFO size is currently 4 MB.
The FIFO is used to increase buffering for the real-time writing
process. It allows to run a pipe from mkisofs directly into
cdrecord. If the FIFO is active and a pipe from mkisofs into
cdrecord is used to create a CD, cdrecord will abort prior to do
any modifications on the disk if mkisofs dies before writing
starts. The recommended FIFO size is between 4 and 128 MBytes.
As a rule of thumb, the FIFO size should be at least equal to
the size of the internal buffer of the CD/DVD/BluRay-recorder
and no more than half of the physical amount of RAM available in
the machine. If the FIFO size is big enough, the FIFO statis-
tics will print a FIFO empty count of zero and a FIFO min fill
not below 20%. It is not wise to use too much space for the
FIFO. If you need more than 8 MB to write a CD at a speed less
than 20x from an image on a local file system on an idle
machine, your machine is either underpowered, has hardware prob-
lems or is mis-configured. If you like to write DVDs or to
write CDs at higher speed, it makes sense to use at least 16 MB
for the FIFO.
On old and small machines, you need to be more careful with the
FIFO size. If your machine has less than 256 MB of physical
RAM, you should not set up a FIFO size that is more than 32 MB.
The sun4c architecture (e.g. a Sparcstation-2) has only MMU page
table entries for 16 MBytes per process. Using more than
14 MBytes for the FIFO may cause the operating system in this
case to spend much time to constantly reload the MMU tables.
Newer machines from Sun do not have this MMU hardware problem.
The author has no information on PC hardware reflecting this
problem.
Old Linux systems for non-x86 platforms have broken definitions
for the shared memory size. You need to fix them and rebuild the
kernel or manually tell cdrecord to use a smaller FIFO.
If you have buffer underruns or similar problems (like a con-
stantly empty drive-buffer) and observe a zero fifo empty count,
you have hardware problems that prevent the data from flowing
fast enough from the kernel memory to the drive. The FIFO size
in this case is sufficient, but you should check for a working
DMA setup.
gracetime=#
Set the grace time before starting to write to # seconds. Val-
ues below 3 seconds are not allowed in order to prevent the vol-
ume management from interrupting the write process.
-ignsize
Ignore the known size of the medium. This option should be used
with extreme care, it exists only for debugging purposes so do
not use it for other reasons. It is not needed to write disks
with more than the nominal capacity. This option implies -over-
burn.
-immed Tell cdrecord to set the SCSI IMMED flag in certain commands
(load, eject, blank, close_track, close_session). This can be
useful on broken systems with ATAPI hard-disk and CD/DVD/BluRay
writer on the same bus or with SCSI systems that do not use dis-
connect/reconnect. These systems will freeze while blanking or
fixating a CD/DVD/BluRay or while a DVD writer is filling up a
session to the minimum amount (approx. 800 MB). Setting the
-immed flag will request the command to return immediately while
the operation proceeds in background, making the bus usable for
the other devices and avoiding the system freeze. This is an
experimental feature which may work or not, depending on the
model of the CD/DVD/BluRay writer. A correct solution would be
to set up a correct cabling but there seem to be notebooks
around that have been set up the wrong way by the manufacturer.
As it is impossible to fix this problem in notebooks, the -immed
option has been added.
A second experimental feature of the -immed flag is to tell
cdrecord to try to wait short times while writing to the media.
This is expected to free the IDE bus if the CD/DVD/BluRay writer
and the data source are connected to the same IDE cable. In this
case, the CD/DVD/BluRay writer would otherwise usually block the
IDE bus for nearly all the time making it impossible to fetch
data from the source drive. See also the minbuf= and -v options.
Use both features at your own risk. If it turns out that it
would make sense to have a separate option for the wait feature,
write to the author and convince him.
-inq Do an inquiry for the drive, print the inquiry info for the
drive and exit.
-load Load the media and exit. This only works with a tray-loading
mechanism but seems to be useful when using the Kodak disk
transporter.
-lock Load the media, lock the door and exit. This only works with a
tray-loading mechanism but seems to be useful when using the
Kodak disk transporter.
mcn=med_cat_nr
Set the Media Catalog Number of the CD to med_cat_nr.
minbuf=value
The minbuf= option allows to define the minimum drive-buffer
fill ratio for the experimental ATAPI wait mode that is intended
to free the IDE bus to allow hard disk and CD/DVD/BluRay writer
to be on the same IDE cable. As the wait mode currently only
works when the verbose option -v has been specified, cdrecord
implies the verbose option in case the -immed or minbuf= option
has been specified. Valid values for minbuf= are between 25 and
95 for 25%...95% minimum drive-buffer fill ratio.
-media-info
-minfo Retrieve and print information about the state of the medium.
This option currently only works for MMC-compliant drives.
-msinfo
Retrieve multi-session info in a form suitable for mkisofs-1.10
or later.
This option makes only sense with a CD that contains at least
one closed session and is appendable (not finally closed yet).
Some drives create error messages if you try to get the multi-
session info for a disk that is not suitable for this operation.
-noclose
Do not close the current track, useful only when in packet writ-
ing mode. This is an experimental interface.
-nofix Do not fixate the disk after writing the tracks. This may be
used to create an audio disk in steps. An un-fixated disk can
usually not be used on a non CD-writer type drive but there are
audio CD-players that will be able to play such a disk.
-overburn
Allow cdrecord to write more than the official size of a medium.
This feature is usually called overburning and depends on the
fact that most blank media may hold more space than the official
size. As the official size of the lead-out area on the disk is
90 seconds (6750 sectors) and a disk usually works if there are
at least 150 sectors of lead out, all media may be overburned by
at least 88 seconds (6600 sectors). Most CD-recorders only do
overburning in SAO or RAW mode. Known exceptions are TEAC CD-
R50S, TEAC CD-R55S and the Panasonic CW-7502. Some drives do
not allow to overburn as much as you might like and limit the
size of a CD to e.g. 76 minutes. This problem may be circum-
vented by writing the CD in RAW mode because this way the drive
has no chance to find the size before starting to burn. There
is no guarantee that your drive supports overburning at all.
Make a test to check if your drive implements the feature.
-packet
Set Packet writing mode. This is an experimental interface.
pktsize=#
Set the packet size to #, forces fixed packet mode. This is an
experimental interface.
-prcap Print the drive capabilities for SCSI-3/mmc-compliant drives as
obtained from mode page 0x2A. Values marked with kB use 1000
bytes as kilo-byte, values marked with KB use 1024 bytes as
Kilo-byte.
-setdropts
Set the driveropts specified by driveropts=option list, the
speed of the drive and the dummy flag and exit. This allows
cdrecord to set drive specific parameters that are not directly
used by cdrecord like e.g. single session mode, hide cdr and
similar. It is needed in case that driveropts=option list
should be called without planning to run a typical cdrecord
task.
speed=#
Set the speed factor of the writing process to #. # is an inte-
ger, representing a multiple of what has been defined as single
speed for the medium.
For CD-media, single speed is the audio playback speed. This is
about 150 KB/s for CD-ROM and about 172 KB/s for CD-Audio. Sin-
gle speed is about 1385 kB/s for DVD media and about 4496 kB/s
for BluRay media.
If no speed option is present, cdrecord will try to get a drive
specific speed value from the file /etc/default/cdrecord and if
it cannot find one, it will try to get the speed value from the
CDR_SPEED environment and later from the CDR_SPEED= entry in
/etc/default/cdrecord. If no speed value could be found,
cdrecord uses a drive specific default speed. The default for
all new (MMC-compliant) drives is to use the maximum supported
by the drive. If you use speed=0 with a MMC-compliant drive,
cdrecord will switch to the lowest possible speed for drive and
medium. If you are using an old (non-MMC) drive that has prob-
lems with speed=2 or speed=4, you should try speed=0.
-text Write CD-Text information based on information taken from a file
that contains ascii information for the text strings. Cdrecord
supports CD-Text information based on the content of the *.inf
files created by cdda2wav and CD-Text information based on the
content from a CUE sheet file. If a CUE sheet file contains
both (binary CDTEXTFILE and text based SONGWRITER) entries, then
the information based on the CDTEXTFILE entry will win.
You need to use the -useinfo option in addition in order to tell
cdrecord to read the *.inf files or cuefile=filename in order to
tell cdrecord to read a CUE sheet file in addition. If you like
to write your own CD-Text information, edit the *.inf files or
the CUE sheet file with a text editor and change the fields that
are relevant for CD-Text.
textfile=filename
Write CD-Text based on information found in the binary file
filename. This file must contain information in a data format
defined in the SCSI-3 MMC-2 standard and in the Red Book. The
four-byte-sized header that is defined in the SCSI standard is
optional and allows to make the recognition of correct data less
ambiguous. This is the best option to be used to copy CD-Text
data from existing CDs that already carry CD-Text information.
To get data in a format suitable for this option use cdrecord
-vv -toc to extract the information from disk. If both,
textfile=filename and CD-Text information from *.inf or *.cue
files are present, textfile=filename will overwrite the other
information.
-toc Retrieve and print out the table of contents or PMA of a CD.
With this option, cdrecord will work with CD-R drives and with
CD-ROM drives.
-waiti Wait for input to become available on standard input before try-
ing to open the SCSI driver. This allows cdrecord to read its
input from a pipe even when writing additional sessions to a
multi-session disk. When writing another session to a multi-
session disk, mkisofs needs to read the old session from the
device before writing output. This cannot be done if cdrecord
opens the SCSI driver at the same time.
-useinfo
Use *.inf files to overwrite audio options. If this option is
used, the pregap size information, the index information, the
pre-emphasis information and the CD-Text information is read
from the *.inf file that is associated with the file that con-
tains the audio data for a track.
If used together with the -audio option, cdrecord may be used to
write audio CDs from a pipe from cdda2wav if you call cdrecord
with the *.inf files as track parameter list instead of using
audio files. The audio data is read from stdin in this case.
See EXAMPLES section below. Cdrecord first verifies that stdin
is not connected to a terminal and runs some heuristic consis-
tency checks on the *.inf files and then sets the track lengths
from the information in the *.inf files.
If you like to write from stdin, make sure that cdrecord is
called with a large enough FIFO size, reduce the write speed to
a value below the read speed of the source drive and switch the
burn-free option for the recording drive on.
SCSI options
dev=target
Set the SCSI target for the CD/DVD/BluRay-recorder, see notes
above. A typical target device specification is dev=1,6,0 . If
a filename must be provided together with the numerical target
specification, the filename is implementation specific. The
correct filename in this case can be found in the system spe-
cific manuals of the target operating system. On a FreeBSD sys-
tem without CAM support, you need to use the control device
(e.g. /dev/rcd0.ctl). A correct device specification in this
case may be dev=/dev/rcd0.ctl:@ .
General SCSI addressing
The target device to the dev= option refers to the SCSI CAM
standard notation for scsibus/target/lun of the CD/DVD/BluRay-
recorder. Communication on SunOS is done with the SCSI general
driver scg. Other operating systems are using a library simula-
tion of this driver. Possible syntax is: dev= scsibus,tar-
get,lun or dev= target,lun. In the latter case, the CD/DVD/Blu-
Ray-recorder has to be connected to the default SCSI bus of the
machine. Scsibus, target and lun are integer numbers. Some
operating systems or SCSI transport implementations may require
to specify a filename in addition. In this case the correct
syntax for the device is: dev= devicename:scsibus,target,lun or
dev= devicename:target,lun. If the name of the device node that
has been specified on such a system refers to exactly one SCSI
device, a shorthand in the form dev= devicename:@ or dev= devi-
cename:@,lun may be used instead of dev= devicename:scsibus,tar-
get,lun.
Remote SCSI addressing
To access remote SCSI devices, you need to prepend the SCSI
device name by a remote device indicator. The remote device
indicator is either REMOTE:user@host: or REMOTE:host: A valid
remote SCSI device name may be: REMOTE:user@host: to allow
remote SCSI bus scanning or REMOTE:user@host:1,0,0 to access the
SCSI device at host connected to SCSI bus # 1,target 0, lun 0.
In order to allow remote access to a specific host, the rscsi(1)
program needs to be present and configured on the host.
Alternate SCSI transports
Cdrecord is completely based on SCSI commands but this is no
problem as all CD/DVD/BluRay writers ever made use SCSI commands
for the communication. Even ATAPI drives are just SCSI drives
that inherently use the ATA packet interface as SCSI command
transport layer build into the IDE (ATA) transport. You may
need to specify an alternate transport layer on the command
line if your OS does not implement a fully integrated kernel
driver subsystem that allows to access any drive using SCSI com-
mands via a single unique user interface.
To access SCSI devices via alternate transport layers, you need
to prepend the SCSI device name by a transport layer indicator.
The transport layer indicator may be something like USCSI: or
ATAPI:. To get a list of supported transport layers for your
platform, use dev= HELP:
Portability Background
To make cdrecord portable to all UNIX platforms, the syntax dev=
devicename:scsibus,target,lun is preferred as it hides OS spe-
cific knowledge about device names from the user. A specific OS
may not necessarily support a way to specify a real device file
name nor a way to specify scsibus,target,lun.
Scsibus 0 is the default SCSI bus on the machine. Watch the boot
messages for more information or look into /var/adm/messages for
more information about the SCSI configuration of your machine.
If you have problems to figure out what values for scsibus,tar-
get,lun should be used, try the -scanbus option of cdrecord
described below.
Using logical names for devices
If no dev option is present, cdrecord will try to get the device
from the CDR_DEVICE environment.
If a file /etc/default/cdrecord exists, and if the argument to
the dev= option or the CDR_DEVICE environment does not contain
the characters ',', '/', '@' or ':', it is interpreted as a
device label name that was defined in the file
/etc/default/cdrecord (see FILES section).
Autotarget Mode
If no dev= option and no CDR_DEVICE environment is present, or
if it only contains a transport specifier but no address nota-
tion, cdrecord tries to scan the SCSI address space for CD-ROM
drives. If exactly one is found, this is used by default.
debug=#, -d
Set the misc debug value to # (with debug=#) or increment the
misc debug level by one (with -d). If you specify -dd, this
equals to debug=2. This may help to find problems while opening
a driver for libscg as well as with sector sizes and sector
types. Using -debug slows down the process and may be the rea-
son for a buffer underrun.
kdebug=#, kd=#
Tell the scg-driver to modify the kernel debug value while SCSI
commands are running.
-reset Try to reset the SCSI bus where the CD-recorder is located. This
does not work on all operating systems.
-scanbus
Scan all SCSI devices on all SCSI busses and print the inquiry
strings. This option may be used to find SCSI address of the
CD/DVD/BluRay-recorder on a system. The numbers printed out as
labels are computed by: bus * 100 + target
scgopts=list
A comma separated list of SCSI options that are handled by lib-
scg. The implemented options may be uptated indepentendly from
applications. Currently, one option: ignore-resid is supported
to work around a Linux kernel bug.
-silent, -s
Do not print out a status report for failed SCSI commands.
timeout=#
Set the default SCSI command timeout value to # seconds. The
default SCSI command timeout is the minimum timeout used for
sending SCSI commands. If a SCSI command fails due to a time-
out, you may try to raise the default SCSI command timeout above
the timeout value of the failed command. If the command runs
correctly with a raised command timeout, please report the bet-
ter timeout value and the corresponding command to the author of
the program. If no timeout= option is present, a default time-
out of 40 seconds is used.
ts=# Set the maximum transfer size for a single SCSI command to #.
The syntax for the ts= option is the same as for cdrecord fs=#
or sdd bs=#.
If no ts= option has been specified, cdrecord defaults to a
transfer size of 63 kB. If libscg gets lower values from the
operating system, the value is reduced to the maximum value that
is possible with the current operating system. Sometimes, it
may help to further reduce the transfer size or to enhance it,
but note that it may take a long time to find a better value by
experimenting with the ts= option.
-V Increment the verbose level in respect of SCSI command transport
by one. This helps to debug problems during the writing
process, that occur in the CD/DVD/BluRay-recorder. If you get
incomprehensible error messages you should use this flag to get
more detailed output. -VV will show data buffer content in
addition. Using -V or -VV slows down the process and may be the
reason for a buffer underrun.
TRACK OPTIONS
Track options may be mixed with track file names.
-audio If this flag is present, all subsequent tracks are written in
CD-DA (similar to Red Book) audio format. The file with data
for this tracks should contain stereo, 16-bit digital audio with
44100 samples/s. The byte order should be the following: MSB
left, LSB left, MSB right, LSB right, MSB left and so on. The
track should be a multiple of 2352 bytes. It is not possible to
put the master image of an audio track on a raw disk because
data will be read in multiple of 2352 bytes during the recording
process.
If a filename ends in .au or .wav the file is considered to be a
structured audio data file. Cdrecord assumes that the file in
this case is a Sun audio file or a Microsoft .WAV file and
extracts the audio data from the files by skipping over the non-
audio header information. In all other cases, cdrecord will
only work correctly if the audio data stream does not have any
header. Because many structured audio files do not have an
integral number of blocks (1/75th second each) in length, it is
often necessary to specify the -pad option as well. cdrecord
recognizes that audio data in a .WAV file is stored in Intel
(little-endian) byte order, and will automatically byte-swap the
data if the CD-recorder requires big-endian data. Cdrecord will
reject any audio file that does not match the Red Book require-
ments of 16-bit stereo samples in PCM coding at 44100 sam-
ples/second.
Using other structured audio data formats as input to cdrecord
will usually work if the structure of the data is the structure
described above (raw pcm data in big-endian byte order). How-
ever, if the data format includes a header, you will hear a
click at the start of the track.
If neither -data nor -audio have been specified, cdrecord
defaults to -audio for all filenames that end in .au or .wav and
to -data for all other files.
-cdi If this flag is present, the TOC type for the disk is set to
CDI. This only makes sense with XA disks.
-copy If this flag is present, all TOC entries for subsequent audio
tracks of the resulting CD will indicate that the audio data has
permission to be copied without limit. This option has no
effect on data tracks.
-data If this flag is present, all subsequent tracks are written in
CD-ROM mode 1 (Yellow Book) format. The data size is a multiple
of 2048 bytes. The file with track data should contain an
ISO-9660 or Rock Ridge filesystem image (see mkisofs for more
details). If the track data is an ufs filesystem image, fragment
size should be set to 2 KB or more to allow CD-drives with 2 KB
sector size to be used for reading.
-data is the default, if no other flag is present and the file
does not appear to be of one of the well known audio file types.
If neither -data nor -audio have been specified, cdrecord
defaults to -audio for all filenames that end in .au or .wav and
to -data for all other files.
index=list
Sets an index list for the next track. In index list is a comma
separated list of numbers that are counting from index 1. The
first entry in this list must contain a 0, the following numbers
must be an ascending list of numbers (counting in 1/75 seconds)
that represent the start of the indices. An index list in the
form: 0,7500,15000 sets index 1 to the start of the track, index
2 100 seconds from the start of the track and index 3 200 sec-
onds from the start of the track.
-isosize
Use the ISO-9660 file system size as the size of the next track.
This option is needed if you want cdrecord to directly read the
image of a track from a raw disk partition or from a TAO master
CD. In the first case the option -isosize is needed to limit the
size of the CD to the size of the ISO filesystem. In the second
case the option -isosize is needed to prevent cdrecord from
reading the two run-out blocks that are appended by each CD-
recorder in track-at-once mode. These two run-out blocks cannot
be read and would cause a buffer underrun that would cause a
defective copy.
Note that if this option is used on files created by mkisofs,
the padding data that was added by mkisofs is lost and replaced
by padding added by cdrecord. This may also change the amount
of padding.
In case cdrecord reads the track data from stdin, only the first
track may be used with the -isosize option.
If -isosize is used for a track, cdrecord will automatically add
padding for this track as if the -pad option had been used but
the amount of padding may be less than the padding written by
mkisofs. Note that if you use -isosize on a track that contains
Sparc boot information, the boot information will be lost.
Note also that this option cannot be used to determine the size
of a file system if the -multi option is present.
isrc=ISRC_number
Set the International Standard Recording Number for the next
track to ISRC_number.
-mode2 If this flag is present, all subsequent tracks are written in
CD-ROM mode 2 format. The data size is a multiple of 2336 bytes.
-nocopy
If this flag is present, all TOC entries for subsequent audio
tracks of the resulting CD will indicate that the audio data has
permission to be copied only once for personal use - this is the
default.
-nopad Do not pad the following tracks - the default.
-nopreemp
If this flag is present, all TOC entries for subsequent audio
tracks will indicate that the audio data has been mastered with
linear data - this is the default.
-noshorttrack
Re-enforce the Red Book track length standard. Tracks must be at
least 4 seconds.
-pad If the track is a data track, 15 sectors of zeroed data will be
added to the end of this and each subsequent data track. In
this case, the -pad option is superseded by the padsize= option.
It will remain however as a shorthand for padsize=15s. If the
-pad option refers to an audio track, cdrecord will pad the
audio data to be a multiple of 2352 bytes. The audio data pad-
ding is done with binary zeroes which is equal to absolute
silence.
-pad remains valid until disabled by -nopad.
padsize=#
Set the amount of data to be appended as padding to the next
track to #. Opposed to the behavior of the -pad option, the
value for padsize= is reset to zero for each new track.
Cdrecord assumes a sector size of 2048 bytes for the padsize=
option, independent from the real sector size and independent
from the write mode. The megabytes mentioned in the verbose
mode output however are counting the output sector size which is
e.g. 2448 bytes when writing in RAW/RAW96 mode. See the fs=
option for possible arguments. To pad the equivalent of 20 min-
utes on a CD, you may write padsize=20x60x75s. Use this option
if your CD-drive is not able to read the last sectors of a track
or if you want to be able to read the CD on a Linux system with
the ISO-9660 filesystem read-ahead bug. If an empty file is
used for track data, this option may be used to create a disk
that is entirely made of padding. This may e.g. be used to find
out how much overburning is possible with a specific medium.
-preemp
If this flag is present, all TOC entries for subsequent audio
tracks will indicate that the audio data has been sampled with
50/15 microsec pre-emphasis. The data however is not modified
during the process of transferring from file to disk. This
option has no effect on data tracks.
pregap=#
Set the pre-gap size for the next track. This option currently
only makes sense with the TEAC drive when creating track-at-once
disks without the 2-second silence before each track.
This option may go away in the future.
-scms If this flag is present, all TOC entries for subsequent audio
tracks of the resulting CD will indicate that the audio data has
no permission to be copied anymore.
-shorttrack
Allow all subsequent tracks to violate the Red Book track length
standard which requires a minimum track length of 4 seconds.
This option is only useful when used in SAO or RAW mode. Not
all drives support this feature. The drive must accept the
resulting CUE sheet or support RAW writing.
-swab If this flag is present, audio data is assumed to be in byte-
swapped (little-endian) order. Some types of CD-writers e.g.
Yamaha, Sony and the new SCSI-3/mmc drives require audio data to
be presented in little-endian order, while other writers require
audio data to be presented in the big-endian (network) byte
order normally used by the SCSI protocol. Cdrecord knows if a
CD-recorder needs audio data in big- or little-endian order, and
corrects the byte order of the data stream to match the needs of
the recorder. You only need the -swab flag if your data stream
is in Intel (little-endian) byte order.
Note that the verbose output of cdrecord will show you if swap-
ping is necessary to make the byte order of the input data fit
the required byte order of the recorder. Cdrecord will not show
you if the -swab flag was actually present for a track.
tsize=#
If the master image for the next track has been stored on a raw
disk, use this option to specify the valid amount of data on
this disk. If the image of the next track is stored in a regular
file, the size of that file is taken to determine the length of
this track. If the track contains an ISO-9660 filesystem image
use the -isosize option to determine the length of that filesys-
tem image.
In Disk At Once mode and with some drives that use the TEAC pro-
gramming interface, even in Track At Once mode, cdrecord needs
to know the size of each track before starting to write the
disk. Cdrecord now checks this and aborts before starting to
write. If this happens you will need to run mkisofs -print-size
before and use the output (with `s' appended) as an argument to
the tsize= option of cdrecord (e.g. tsize=250000s).
See fs= option for possible arguments.
-xa If this flag is present, all subsequent tracks are written in
CD-ROM XA mode 2 form 1 format. The data size is a multiple of
2048 bytes. The XA sector sub-headers will be created by the
drive. With this option, the write mode is the same as with the
-multi option.
-xa1 If this flag is present, all subsequent tracks are written in
CD-ROM XA mode 2 form 1 format. The data size is a multiple of
2056 bytes. The XA sector sub-headers are part of the user data
and have to be supplied by the application that prepares the
data to be written.
-xa2 If this flag is present, all subsequent tracks are written in
CD-ROM XA mode 2 form 2 format. The data is a multiple of 2324
bytes. The XA sector sub-headers will be created by the drive.
-xamix If this flag is present, all subsequent tracks are written in a
way that allows a mix of CD-ROM XA mode 2 form 1/2 format. The
data size is a multiple of 2332 bytes. The XA sector sub-head-
ers are part of the user data and have to be supplied by the
application that prepares the data to be written. The CRC and
the P/Q parity ECC/EDC information (depending on the sector
type) have to be supplied by the application that prepares the
data to be written.
EXAMPLES
For all examples below, it will be assumed that the machine includes
two drives. The reader is assumed to be target 1 on the primary SCSI
bus. The CD/DVD/BluRay-recorder is assumed to be target 2 on the pri-
mary SCSI bus of the machine.
If there is only one drive in the machine, the dev= option may be omit-
ted in the examples below, but in this case the examples for replica-
tion without intermediate files do not apply.
Replicating an Audio CD
To copy an audio CD in the most accurate way, first run
cdda2wav dev=1,0 paraopts=proof -vall cddb=0 -B -Owav
and then run
cdrecord dev=2,0 -v -dao -useinfo -text *.wav
This will try to copy track indices and to read CD-Text information
from disk. If there is no CD-Text information, cdda2wav will try to
get the information from freedb.org instead.
To copy an audio CD from a pipe (without intermediate files), first run
cdda2wav dev=1,0 -vall cddb=0 -info-only
and then run
cdda2wav dev=1,0 -no-infofile -B -Oraw - | \
cdrecord dev=2,0 -v -dao -audio -useinfo -text *.inf
This will get all information (including track size info) from the
*.inf files and then read the audio data from stdin.
If you like to write from stdin, make sure that cdrecord is called with
a large enough FIFO size (e.g. fs=128m), reduce the write speed to a
value below the read speed of the source drive (e.g. speed=12), and
switch the burn-free option for the recording drive on by adding
driveropts=burnfree. For the same reason, it is not recommended to
extract the audio data in paranoia mode in this case.
Replicating a simple CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/BD-ROM
To copy a simple disk, first read the master using:
readcd dev=1,0 f=somefile
Then write the disk using:
cdrecord dev=2,0 -v somefile
Replicating a CD-ROM in clone mode
To copy a CD in clone mode, first read the master CD using:
readcd dev=1,0 -clone f=somefile
or (in case the CD contains many sectors that are unreadable by inten-
tion) by calling:
readcd dev=1,0 -clone -nocorr f=somefile
This will create the files somefile and somefile.toc. Then write the
CD using:
cdrecord dev=2,0 -raw96r -clone -v somefile
Creating an Audio CD
To record a pure CD-DA (audio) at single speed, with each track con-
tained in files named track01.cdaudio, track02.cdaudio, etc.:
cdrecord -v speed=1 dev=2,0 -dao -audio track*.cdaudio
To check if it will be OK to use double speed for the example above,
use the dummy write option:
cdrecord -v -dummy speed=2 dev=2,0 -dao -audio track*.cdaudio
Creating a mixed Audio-Data CD
To record a mixed-mode CD with an ISO-9660 filesystem from cdimage.raw
on the first track, the other tracks being audio tracks from the files
track01.cdaudio, track02.cdaudio, etc.:
cdrecord -v dev=2,0 -dao cdimage.raw -audio track*.cdaudio
Creating a CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/BD-ROM
To record a pure disk at double speed, using data from the file cdim-
age.raw:
cdrecord -v speed=2 dev=2,0 -dao cdimage.raw
To create an image for an ISO-9660 filesystem with Rock Ridge exten-
sions:
mkisofs -R -o cdimage.raw /home/joerg/master/tree
To check the resulting file before writing to disk on Solaris:
mount -r -F fbk -o type=hsfs /dev/fbk0:cdimage.raw /mnt
The fbk driver first appeared in 1988.
Solaris 9 or newer comes with a variant of the original fbk idea called
lofi. The command for the lofi variant is:
mount -r -F hsfs ` lofiadm -a /tmp/cdimage.raw ` /mnt
Note that lofiadm needs absolute path names.
On Linux:
mount cdimage.raw -r -t iso9660 -o loop /mnt
Go on with:
ls -lR /mnt
umount /mnt
If the overall speed of the system is sufficient and the structure of
the filesystem is not too complex, cdrecord will run without creating
an image of the ISO-9660 filesystem. Simply run the pipeline:
mkisofs -R /master/tree | cdrecord -v -dao fs=6m speed=2 dev=2,0 -
The recommended minimum FIFO size for running this pipeline is 4
MBytes. As the default FIFO size is 4 MB, the fs= option needs to be
present only if you want to use a different FIFO size. If your system
is loaded, you should run mkisofs in the real-time class too. To raise
the priority of mkisofs replace the command
mkisofs -R /master/tree
by
priocntl -e -c RT -p 59 mkisofs -R /master/tree
on Solaris and by
nice --18 mkisofs -R /master/tree
on systems that do not have UNIX International-compliant real-time
scheduling.
Cdrecord runs at priority 59 on Solaris, you should run mkisofs at no
more than priority 58. On other systems, you should run mkisofs at no
less than nice --18.
Creating a CD-ROM without file system image on disk has been tested on
a Sparcstation-2 with a Yamaha CDR-400. It did work up to quad speed
when the machine was not loaded. A faster machine may be able to han-
dle quad speed also in the loaded case.
To handle drives that need to know the size of a track before starting
to write, first run
mkisofs -R -quiet -print-size /master/tree
and then run
mkisofs -R /master/tree | cdrecord -v -dao speed=2 dev=2,0
tsize=XXXs -
where XXX is replaced by the output of the previous run of mkisofs.
Setting drive options
To set drive options without writing a disk (e.g. to switch a drive to
single-session mode), run
cdrecord dev=2,0 -setdropts driveropts=singlesession
If you like to do this when no disk is in the drive, call
cdrecord dev=2,0 -force -setdropts driveropts=singlesession
ENVIRONMENT
CDR_DEVICE
This may either hold a device identifier that is suitable to the
open call of the SCSI transport library or a label in the file
/etc/default/cdrecord.
CDR_SPEED
Sets the default speed value for writing (see also -speed
option).
CDR_FIFOSIZE
Sets the default size of the FIFO (see also fs=# option).
CDR_FORCERAWSPEED
If this environment variable is set, cdrecord will allow you to
write at the full RAW encoding speed a single CPU supports.
This will create high potential of buffer underruns. Use with
care.
CDR_FORCESPEED
If this environment variable is set, cdrecord will allow you to
write at the full DMA speed the system supports. There is no
DMA reserve for reading the data that is to be written from
disk. This will create high potential of buffer underruns. Use
with care.
If this environment variable is set to the value any, cdrecord
allows to write at any speed even though it may fail later with
a buffer underrun.
RSH If the RSH environment is present, the remote connection will
not be created via rcmd(3) but by calling the program pointed to
by RSH. Use e.g. RSH=/usr/bin/ssh to create a secure shell
connection.
Note that this forces cdrecord to create a pipe to the rsh(1)
program and disallows cdrecord to directly access the network
socket to the remote server. This makes it impossible to set up
performance parameters and slows down the connection compared to
a root-initiated rcmd(3) connection.
RSCSI If the RSCSI environment is present, the remote SCSI server will
not be the program /opt/schily/sbin/rscsi but the program
pointed to by RSCSI. Note that the remote SCSI server program
name will be ignored if you log in using an account that has
been created with a remote SCSI server program as login shell.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit codes are used:
0 No error appeared.
-1 A specific error appeared. This may be a usage error caused by
an illegal command line or another error with a problem specific
error message from cdrecord.
-2 An unspecified error appeared during the process of talking to
the drive. See SCSI error message for more informations. The
section DIAGNOSTICS below contains an explanation on how to read
SCSI error messages.
other The errno value from a failed system call.
Note that older operating systems and older shells may not support the
full 32 bit range of the exit code and mask the value with 0xFF. This
results in shortened exit codes in the range 0..255 where -1 is mapped
to 255.
FILES
/etc/default/cdrecord
Default values can be set for the following options in
/etc/default/cdrecord. For example: CDR_FIFOSIZE=8m or
CDR_SPEED=2
CDR_DEVICE
This may either hold a device identifier that is suitable
to the open call of the SCSI transport library or a label
in the file /etc/default/cdrecord that allows to identify
a specific drive on the system.
CDR_SPEED
Sets the default speed value for writing (see also -speed
option).
CDR_FIFOSIZE
Sets the default size of the FIFO (see also fs=# option).
CDR_MAXFIFOSIZE
Sets the maximum size of the FIFO (see also fs=# option).
Any other label
is an identifier for a specific drive on the system.
Such an identifier may not contain the characters ',',
'/', '@' or ':'.
Each line that follows a label contains a TAB separated
list of items. Currently, four items are recognized: the
SCSI ID of the drive, the default speed that should be
used for this drive, the default FIFO size that should be
used for this drive and drive specific options. The val-
ues for speed and fifosize may be set to -1 to tell
cdrecord to use the global defaults. The value for
driveropts may be set to "" if no driveropts are used. A
typical line may look this way:
teac1= 0,5,0 4 8m ""
yamaha= 1,6,0 -1 -1 burnfree
This tells cdrecord that a drive named teac1 is at scsi-
bus 0, target 5, lun 0 and should be used with speed 4
and a FIFO size of 8 MB. A second drive may be found at
scsibus 1, target 6, lun 0 and uses the default speed and
the default FIFO size.
*.inf The *.inf files are created by cdda2wav where * is replaced by
the actual audio file prefix. They are read and used by
cdrecord in case cdrecord was called with the -useinfo option.
There are three general types of parameters:
numerical parameters
A numerical parameter is a number and directly follows
the tag label without any quoting.
unquoted string type parameters
An unquoted parameter is make from one or more words that
directly follow the tag label. How many words from the
parameter list are used by cdrecord depends on the tag
label.
quoted string type parameters
A string type parameter is enclosed in single quotes. The
string starts after the first single quote character that
follows the tag label and ends before the last single
quote on the same line. It needs no escape sequences in
case that a single quote appears inside the string. Any
text to the right of the rightmost single quote character
is ignored.
The order of the tag labels in the file is not important.
The following tag labels may appear in a *.inf file:
CDINDEX_DISCID=
The cdindex disk ID is used by the musicbrainz CD-data-
base.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
This tag label is ignored by cdrecord.
CDDB_DISCID=
The cddb disk ID is used by the cddb and the freedb CD-
database.
This tag label uses a numerical parameter.
This tag label is ignored by cdrecord.
MCN= The Media Catalog Number (MCN) is a 13 digit number that
follows UPC/EAN-13 rules.
The data is used by cdrecord to create sub-channel data.
ISRC= The International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) is a 12
byte string that is created from two uppercase characters
for the country code, followed by three uppercase charac-
ters for the owner, followed by two digits for the year
of recording followed by five digits for the recording
serial number.
To increase the readability of the ISRC tag, there may be
a minus sign between every two fields of the ISRC string.
The data is used by cdrecord to create sub-channel data.
Albumtitle=
The Album Title is the name of the disk in the CD-Text
information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Tracktitle=
The Track Title is the name of the current track in the
CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Albumperformer=
The Album Performer is the global name of the of the per-
former of the disk in the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Performer=
The Performer is the name of the of the performer of the
current track in the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Albumsongwriter=
The Album Songwriter is the global name of the of the
songwriter of the disk in the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Songwriter=
The Songwriter is the name of the of the songwriter of
the current track in the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Albumcomposer=
The Album Composer is the global name of the of the com-
poser of the disk in the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Composer=
The Composer is the name of the of the composer of the
current track in the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Albumarranger=
The Album Arranger is the global name of the of the
arranger of the disk in the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Arranger=
The Arranger is the name of the of the arranger of the
current track in the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Albummessage=
The Album Message is the global message text of the disk
in the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Message=
The Message is the message text of the current track in
the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Albumclosed_info=
The Album Closed_info is the global closed info text of
the disk in the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Closed_info=
The Closed_info is the closed info text of the current
track in the CD-Text information.
This tag label uses a quoted string type parameter.
Track= The parameter contains the relative number of the current
track on the original disk. The first track always has
the track number 1, a hidden track uses track number 0.
This tag label uses a numerical parameter.
This tag label is ignored by cdrecord except when check-
ing the the Trackstart for track #1.
Tracknumber=
The parameter contains the absolute number of the current
track, taken from the TOC on the original disk. The
first track on the original disk may have a number
greater than 1, a hidden track always uses track number
0.
This tag label uses a numerical parameter.
This tag label is currently ignored by cdrecord as
cdrecord assigns track numbers when compiling the disk
information.
Trackstart=
The parameter contains the track start offset in sectors
on the original disk. If the current track becomes the
first track on the new disk and if the track was the
first track on the original disk. cdrecord uses this
number to set up the offset for index 1 on the new disk.
This tag label uses a numerical parameter.
Tracklength=
The parameter is used by cdrecord to set up the size of
the track on the new disk.
This tag label uses an unquoted string type parameter in
the form "sectors, samples".
This label is mandatory for cdrecord.
Pre-emphasis=
The pre-emphasis parameter controls whether the related
pre-emphasis bit in the sub-channel data is set by
cdrecord. Permitted values for this parameter are yes
and no.
This tag label uses an unquoted string type parameter.
Valid values are yes and no.
Channels=
The parameter of this tag is the number of channels on
the disk. All CD-audio disks use stereo recording and
thus a 2 is the correct parameter.
This tag label uses a numerical parameter.
This label is currently ignored by cdrecord.
Copy_permitted=
The parameter for this tag label contains information
about the copyright state of a track on the original
disk.
This tag label uses an unquoted string type parameter.
Valid values are:
yes The digital copy permitted bit is set in the TOC
and in the sub-channel data. If this bit is set,
the related track is not copyright protected and
may be copied infinitely.
no The digital copy permitted bit is not set in the
TOC. The digital copy permitted bit in the sub-
channel data alters with 9.375 Hz. This is called
Serial Copy Management System (SCMS). The sense
of this track state is to flag that the creator of
the CD does not have the copyright permission to
create copies of the related track. The related
track is copyright protected and the creator of
the CD thus is just given the permission to create
one single copy from fair use rights and no fur-
ther copies are permitted from this source.
once The digital copy permitted bit is not set in the
TOC and in the sub-channel data. The sense of
this track state is to flag that the related track
is copyright protected and thus may not be coped
infinitely. One single copy from fair use rights
is permitted.
Note that many CDs sold by the music industry have SCMS
flagged for one or more tracks, signalling that the
related content company does not own the copyright to
make copies from this track.
Endianess=
The parameter for this tag is the byte order used in the
audio data file that was created for this track.
This tag label uses an unquoted string type parameter.
Valid values are little and big.
This label is ignored by cdrecord as the endianess is
retrieved from the audio file format.
Index= The parameter list for this tag is a list of numbers that
are sector numbers counting relatively to the logical
beginning of the track (which always is at index #1). As
any track needs to have an entry for index #1, the first
entry in the list is always 0. If more entries are
present for this tag, there are more offset values that
correspond to index values greater than 1.
This tag label uses an unquoted string type parameter
that contains a list of space separated index offset num-
bers.
Index0=
The parameter for this tag is a number that represents
the number of sectors relatively to the beginning (index
#1) of this track. This number identifies where index #0
of the next track begins. It the parameter is set to -1,
the next track has no index #0, resulting in pregap size
0 for the next track.
Note that cdrecord strictly follows the CD-standard that
defines that the logical beginning of a track is at the
location where index #1 starts in this track. If index
#0 for track n contains audio data, the related audio
data is a logical part of track n-1.
This tag label uses a numerical parameter.
MD5-offset=
The parameter for this tag is the byte offset where the
raw audio data begins in the related audio file.
This tag label uses a numerical parameter.
This label is ignored by cdrecord.
MD5-size=
The parameter for this tag is the number of bytes of raw
audio data in the related audio file.
This tag label uses a numerical parameter.
This label is ignored by cdrecord.
MD5-sum=
The parameter for this tag is the md5 sum for the raw
audio data in the related audio file.
This tag label uses a numerical parameter.
This label is ignored by cdrecord.
*.cue The *.cue files are CD-structure description files introduced by
CDRWIN. They are read and used by cdrecord in case cdrecord was
called with the cuefile=name.cue option.
The following commands are supported in CUE files:
ARRANGER arranger-string
This command is used to specify the name of a arranger
for a disk that includes CD-Text enhancements.
The parameter is the name of a arranger. If the string
contains any spaces, it must be enclosed in quotation
marks.
If the ARRANGER command appears before any TRACK command,
the string parameter will be encoded as the arranger of
the entire disk. If the ARRANGER command appears after a
TRACK command, the string parameter will be encoded the
the arranger of the current track.
This command is only accepted if the cdrecord specific
CUE extensions are permitted.
CATALOG media-catalog-number
This command is used to specify the disc's Media Catalog
Number. The media-catalog-number is a 13 digit number
that follows UPC/EAN-13 rules.
This command can appear only once in the CUE SHEET file.
It must appear before any TRACK command.
CDTEXTFILE filename
This command is used to specify the name of a file that
contains binary encoded CD-Text information. CDRWIN only
accepts headerless binary encoded CD-Text information,
but cdrecord also accepts binary encoded CD-Text informa-
tion with an MMC-compliant header. The CD-Text informa-
tion is ignored by cdrecord unless the -text option is
used.
If the filename contains spaces, it must be enclosed in
quotation marks.
COMPOSER composer-string
This command is used to specify the name of a composer
for a disk that includes CD-Text enhancements.
The parameter is the name of a composer. If the string
contains any spaces, it must be enclosed in quotation
marks.
If the COMPOSER command appears before any TRACK command,
the string parameter will be encoded as the composer of
the entire disk. If the COMPOSER command appears after a
TRACK command, the string parameter will be encoded the
the composer of the current track.
This command is only accepted if the cdrecord specific
CUE extensions are permitted.
FILE filename filetype
This command is used to specify a data or audio file that
contains data to be written to the medium.
If the filename contains spaces, it must be enclosed in
quotation marks.
The following values are allowed for the file type param-
eter:
BINARY Intel binary file (LSB first)
MOTOTOLA Motorola binary file (MSB first)
AIFF Audio AIFF file
WAVE Audio WAVE file
MP3 Audio MP3 file
AU Audio AU file (only permitted if cdrecord CUE
extensions are enabled)
OGG Audio OGG file (only permitted if cdrecord
CUE extensions are enabled)
All audio files (WAVE, AIFF, MP3, AU and OGG) must be in
44100 Hz 16 bit stereo format. MP3 and OGG is currently
unsupported.
If an audio file is not an exact multiple of a CDROM sec-
tor (2352 bytes), then is is padded with zeroes to fill
up to the needed size.
All FILE commands need to be before a related TRACK com-
mand and after the last INDEX command or POSTGAP command
for the previous track.
If the cdrecord specific CUE extensions are enabled, then
a FILE command may also appear between an INDEX 00 and an
INDEX 01 command. This allows to let the user create one
file per track where the file starts at INDEX 01 of the
track and ends after INDEX 00 of the following track. In
this case, no FILE command is allowed before the related
TRACK command.
FLAGS flags
This command is used to set special subcode flags within
a track.
The following flags are supported:
DCP Digital copy permitted
4CH Four channel audio
PRE Pre-emphasis enabled (audio tracks only)
SCMS Serial copy management system (not supported
by all recorders)
More than one flag type argument may appear after the
FLAGS command (e.g FLAGS DCP PRE).
The FLAGS command must appear after a TRACK command but
before any INDEX command. Only one FLAGS command is
allower per TRACK command.
The fourth subcode flag that marks data tracks is set
automatically for data tracks.
INDEX number mm:ss:ff
This command is used to specify indexes within a track.
The first parameter is the index number in the range
0-99.
The second parameter is a relative time in minutes, sec-
onds and frames (there are 75 frames/second).
All index numbers must be between 0 and 99 inclusive.
The first index for a track must be either 0 or 1 with
all indexes being sequential to the first one. The first
index for a file must start at 00:00.00.
INDEX 00 specifies the starting time of the pregap of
the track.
INDEX 01 specifies the starting time of the track. This
is the index that is stored in the table of
content for the disk as the track start.
INDEX > 1 specifies a subindex within a track.
ISRC recording code
This command is used to specify the International Stan-
dard Recording Code (ISRC) of a track. This is a code
that should exist for all commercial audio tracks.
The ISRC code must be 12 characters in length. The first
two characters are characters that are from the two char-
acter country code. The next three characters are
alphanumeric and describe the studio code. The next two
characters are the last two digits from the recording
year. The last 5 characters are digits that form a
serial number that is unique for the same studio and
year.
If cdrecord specific CUE extensions are permitted, the
four fields of the ISRC may be separated by a minus sign.
If the ISRC command is used, it must appear after a TRACK
command but before any INDEX command.
MESSAGE message-string
This command is used to specify the test of a message for
a disk that includes CD-Text enhancements.
The parameter is the test of a message. If the string
contains any spaces, it must be enclosed in quotation
marks.
If the MESSAGE command appears before any TRACK command,
the string parameter will be encoded as the message of
the entire disk. If the MESSAGE command appears after a
TRACK command, the string parameter will be encoded the
the message of the current track.
This command is only accepted if the cdrecord specific
CUE extensions are permitted.
PERFORMER performer-string
This command is used to specify the name of a performer
for a disk that includes CD-Text enhancements.
The parameter is the name of the performer. If the string
contains any spaces, it must be enclosed in quotation
marks.
If the PERFORMER command appears before any TRACK com-
mand, the string parameter will be encoded as the per-
former of the entire disk. If the PERFORMER command
appears after a TRACK command, the string parameter will
be encoded the the performer of the current track.
POSTGAP mm:ss:ff
This command is used to specify the length of a postgap
at the end of a track. The postgap data is generated
internally by cdrecord. No data is consumed from the
current data file.
The parameter specifies the postgap length in minutes,
seconds and frames.
The POSTGAP command must appear after all INDEX commands
for the current track. Only one POSTGAP command is
allowed per track.
PREGAP mm:ss:ff
This command is used to specify the length of a pregap at
the beginning of a track. The pregap data is generated
internally by cdrecord. No data is consumed from the
current data file.
The parameter specifies the postgap length in minutes,
seconds and frames.
The PREGAP command must appear after a TRACK command but
before any INDEX command. Only one PREGAP command is
allowed per track.
REM comment
This command is used to put comments into a CUE file.
The text that appears in the line after a REM command is
usually ignored. There is an exception: The special com-
ment REM CDRTOOLS is used to enable cdrecord specific CUE
extensions in the parser.
SONGWRITER songwriter-string
This command is used to specify the name of a songwriter
for a disk that includes CD-Text enhancements.
The parameter is the name of a songwriter. If the string
contains any spaces, it must be enclosed in quotation
marks.
If the SONGWRITER command appears before any TRACK com-
mand, the string parameter will be encoded as the song-
writer of the entire disk. If the SONGWRITER command
appears after a TRACK command, the string parameter will
be encoded the the songwriter of the current track.
TITLE title-string
This command is used to specify a title for a disk that
includes CD-Text enhancements.
The parameter is the title for a track or for the disk.
If the string contains any spaces, it must be enclosed in
quotation marks.
If the TITLE command appears before any TRACK command,
the string parameter will be encoded as the title of the
entire disk. If the TITLE command appears after a TRACK
command, the string parameter will be encoded the the
title of the current track.
TRACK number datatype
This command is used to start a new TRACK.
The first parameter is a track number in the range 1-99.
The second parameter specifies the track data type.
The following datatypes are permitted:
AUDIO Audio/Music (2352)
CDG Karaoke CD+G (2448)
MODE1/2048 CDROM Mode1 Data (cooked)
MODE1/2352 CDROM Mode1 Data (raw)
MODE2/2336 CDROM-XA Mode2 Data
MODE2/2352 CDROM-XA Mode2 Data
CDI/2336 CDI Mode2 Data
CDI/2352 CDI Mode2 Data
All track numbers must be between 1 and 99 inclusive.
The first track number can be greater than one, but all
track numbers after the first must be sequential. There
must be at least one track per file.
SEE ALSO
cdda2wav(1), readcd(1), scg(7), fbk(7), mkisofs(8), rcmd(3), ssh(1).
NOTES
Not all options described in this manual may be supported by the Open-
Source variant of cdrecord. Cdrecord issues a warning if an attempt is
made to use an option that has been disabled in the OpenSource variant.
On Solaris before Solaris 10 Update 1, you need to stop the volume man-
agement if you like to use the USCSI fallback SCSI transport code. Even
things like cdrecord -scanbus will not work if the volume management is
running.
Disks made in Track At Once mode are not suitable as a master for
direct mass production by CD-manufacturers. You will need the disk at
once option to record such disks. Nevertheless the disks made in Track
At Once will normally be read in all CD-players. Some old audio CD-
players however may produce a two second click between two audio
tracks.
The minimal size of a track is 4 seconds or 300 sectors. If you write
smaller tracks, the CD-recorder will add dummy blocks. This is not an
error, even though the SCSI-error message looks this way.
Cdrecord has been tested on an upgraded Philips CDD-521 recorder at
single and double speed on a SparcStation 20/502 with no problems,
slower computer systems should work also. The newer Philips/HP/Plas-
mon/Grundig drives as well as Yamaha CDR-100 and CDR-102 work also. The
Plasmon RF-4100 works, but has not been tested in multi-session. A
Philips CDD-521 that has not been upgraded will not work. The Sony
CDU-924 has been tested, but does not support XA-mode2 in hardware.
The Sony therefore cannot create conforming multi-session disks. The
Ricoh RO-1420C works, but some people seem to have problems to use them
with speed=2, try speed=0 in this case.
The Yamaha CDR-400 and all new SCSI-3/mmc conforming drives are sup-
ported in single and multi-session.
You should run several tests in all supported speeds of your drive with
the -dummy option turned on if you are using cdrecord on an unknown
system. Writing a CD is a real-time process. NFS will not always
deliver constantly the needed data rates. If you want to use cdrecord
with CD-images that are located on a NFS mounted filesystem, be sure
that the FIFO size is big enough. The author used cdrecord with medium
load on a SS20/502 and even at quad speed on a Sparcstation-2 which was
heavily loaded, but it is recommended to leave the system as lightly
loaded as possible while writing a CD. If you want to make sure that
buffer underruns are not caused by your source disk, you may use the
command
cdrecord -dummy dev=2,0 padsize=600m /dev/null
to create a disk that is entirely made of dummy data. Cdrecord needs
to run as root to get access to the /dev/scg? device nodes and to be
able to lock itself into memory.
If you don't want to allow users to become root on your system,
cdrecord may safely be installed suid root. This allows all users or a
group of users with no root privileges to use cdrecord. Cdrecord in
this case checks if the real user would have been able to read the
specified files. To give all users access to use cdrecord, enter:
chown root /opt/schily/bin/cdrecord
chmod 4711 /opt/schily/bin/cdrecord
To give a restricted group of users access to cdrecord enter:
chown root /opt/schily/bin/cdrecord
chgrp cdburners /opt/schily/bin/cdrecord
chmod 4710 /opt/schily/bin/cdrecord
and add a group cdburners on your system.
Never give write permissions for non root users to the /dev/scg?
devices unless you would allow anybody to read/write/format all your
disks.
You should not connect old drives that do not support disconnect/recon-
nect to either the SCSI bus that is connected to the CD-recorder or the
source disk.
A Compact Disc can have no more than 99 tracks.
When creating a disc with both audio and data tracks, the data should
be on track 1 otherwise you should create a CDplus disk which is a
multi-session disk with the first session containing the audio tracks
and the following session containing the data track.
Many operating systems are not able to read more than a single data
track, or need special software to do so.
More information on the SCSI command set of a HP CD-recorder can be
found at:
http://www.hp.com/isgsupport/cdr/index.html
If you have more information or SCSI command manuals for currently
unsupported CD/DVD/BluRay-recorders please contact the author.
The Philips CDD 521 CD-recorder (even in the upgraded version) has sev-
eral firmware bugs. Some of them will force you to power cycle the
device or to reboot the machine.
When using cdrecord with the Linux SCSI generic driver, you should note
that cdrecord uses a layer, that tries to emulate the functionality of
the scg driver on top of the drives of the local operating system.
Unfortunately, the sg driver on Linux has several flaws:
o It cannot see if a SCSI command could not be sent at all.
o It cannot get the SCSI status byte. Cdrecord for that reason
cannot report failing SCSI commands in some situations.
o It cannot get real DMA count of transfer. Cdrecord cannot tell
you if there is a DMA residual count.
o It cannot get number of bytes valid in auto sense data.
Cdrecord cannot tell you if device transfers no sense data at
all.
o It fetches too few data in auto request sense (CCS/SCSI-2/SCSI-3
needs >= 18).
The FIFO percent output is computed just after a block of data has been
written to the CD/DVD/BluRay-recorder. For this reason, there will
never be 100% FIFO fill ratio while the FIFO is in streaming mode.
DIAGNOSTICS
You have 9 seconds to type ^C to abort cdrecord after you see the mes-
sage:
Starting to write CD at speed %d in %s mode for %s session.
A typical error message for a SCSI command looks like:
cdrecord: I/O error. test unit ready: scsi sendcmd: no error
CDB: 00 20 00 00 00 00
status: 0x2 (CHECK CONDITION)
Sense Bytes: 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 25 00 00 00 00 00
Sense Key: 0x5 Illegal Request, Segment 0
Sense Code: 0x25 Qual 0x00 (logical unit not supported) Fru 0x0
Sense flags: Blk 0 (not valid)
cmd finished after 0.002s timeout 40s
The first line gives information about the transport of the command.
The text after the first colon gives the error text for the system call
from the view of the kernel. It usually is: I/O error unless other
problems happen. The next words contain a short description for the
SCSI command that fails. The rest of the line tells you if there were
any problems for the transport of the command over the SCSI bus. fatal
error means that it was not possible to transport the command (i.e. no
device present at the requested SCSI address).
The second line prints the SCSI command descriptor block for the failed
command.
The third line gives information on the SCSI status code returned by
the command, if the transport of the command succeeds. This is error
information from the SCSI device.
The fourth line is a hex dump of the auto request sense information for
the command.
The fifth line is the error text for the sense key if available, fol-
lowed by the segment number which is only valid if the command was a
copy command. If the error message is not directly related to the cur-
rent command, the text deferred error is appended.
The sixth line is the error text for the sense code and the sense qual-
ifier if available. If the type of the device is known, the sense data
is decoded from tables in scsierrs.c . The text is followed by the
error value for a field replaceable unit.
The seventh line prints the block number that is related to the failed
command and text for several error flags. The block number may not be
valid.
The eighth line reports the timeout set up for this command and the
time that the command really needed to complete.
The following message is not an error:
Track 01: Total bytes read/written: 2048/2048 (1 sectors).
cdrecord: I/O error. flush cache: scsi sendcmd: no error
CDB: 35 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
status: 0x2 (CHECK CONDITION)
Sense Bytes: F0 00 05 80 00 00 27 0A 00 00 00 00 B5 00 00 00 00 00
Sense Key: 0x5 Illegal Request, Segment 0
Sense Code: 0xB5 Qual 0x00 (dummy data blocks added) Fru 0x0
Sense flags: Blk -2147483609 (valid)
cmd finished after 0.002s timeout 40s
It simply notifies that a track that is smaller than the minimum size
has been expanded to 300 sectors.
BUGS
Cdrecord has even more options than ls.
There should be a recover option to make disks usable, that have been
written during a power failure.
CREDITS
Bill Swartz (Bill_Swartz@twolf.com)
For helping me with the TEAC driver support
Aaron Newsome (aaron.d.newsome@wdc.com)
For letting me develop Sony support on his drive
Eric Youngdale (eric@andante.jic.com)
For supplying mkisofs
Gadi Oxman (gadio@netvision.net.il)
For tips on the ATAPI standard
Finn Arne Gangstad (finnag@guardian.no)
For the first FIFO implementation.
Dave Platt (dplatt@feghoot.ml.org)
For creating the experimental packet writing support,
the first implementation of CD-RW blanking support, the
first .wav file decoder and many nice discussions on
cdrecord.
Chris P. Ross (cross@eng.us.uu.net)
For the first implementation of a BSDI SCSI transport.
Grant R. Guenther (grant@torque.net)
For creating the first parallel port transport implemen-
tation for Linux.
Kenneth D. Merry (ken@kdm.org)
for providing the CAM port for FreeBSD together with
Michael Smith (msmith@freebsd.org)
Heiko Eiszfeldt (heiko@hexco.de)
for making libedc_ecc available (needed to write RAW
data sectors).
MAILING LISTS
If you want to actively take part on the development of cdrecord, you
may join the developer mailing list via this URL:
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/cdrtools-developers
AUTHOR
Joerg Schilling
Seestr. 110
D-13353 Berlin
Germany
Additional information can be found on:
http://cdrecord.org/private/cdrecord.html
If you have support questions, send them to:
cdrtools-support@lists.sourceforge.net
If you have definitely found a bug, send a mail to:
cdrtools-developers@lists.sourceforge.net
or joerg.schilling@fokus.fraunhofer.de
To subscribe, use:
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/cdrtools-developers
or https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/cdrtools-support
INTERFACE STABILITY
The interfaces provided by cdrecord are designed for long term stabil-
ity. As cdrecord depends on interfaces provided by the underlying
operating system, the stability of the interfaces offered by cdrecord
depends on the interface stability of the OS interfaces. Modified
interfaces in the OS may enforce modified interfaces in cdrecord.
Joerg Schilling Version 3.02 2017/09/21 CDRECORD(1)
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