Questions about data CDs

Question (Drive shows wrong session):

I have a CD-R containing several sessions, but my drive shows the wrong session. It should show the last session written, but it always shows the previous or last but two session. How can I access the data I have just burnt?

Answer:

There are two possibilities: either your CD-ROM file system is not working properly (try a different CD-ROM file system), or your drive has a problem with multisession CDs containing too many sessions. These drives stop reading the CD from a certain session. Unfortunately there is little we can recommend here -- aside from purchasing a new drive, We have got on well with the TEAC CD516: the Teac recognized and correctly read all sessions on a CD-R that has problems when used with a Toshiba drive or CD-burner.

Question (Multivolume):

I would like to make a multivolume CD by copying the data tracks from several fairly empty CDs onto a single CD-R. I have tried this by reading the tracks from the source CDs and then copying them one after the other to the CD-R, fixing the session each time -- anyway, I have tried twice without success - both times, only the first track can be read. What am I doing wrong?

Answer:

Each multisession track or multivolume track that is not the very first track on the CD-R must be specially made since the data track is different -- according to which block the track starts at on the CD-R. Tracks set to base block 0 cannot be written to another position on the CD-R. MakeCD warns about this from V2.0 or higher - previous versions gave no warning (base blocks were not even supported then).

Question (Multivolume confusion):

I have just made a multivolume CD and experimented with a few file systems, but I can only see either the first or the last volume. Where are the other volumes?

Answer:

Unfortunately, many file systems do not support multivolume yet. At the time of writing, we are aware of just one file system with multivolume support: CacheCDFS from the IDEfix '97 pack. We expect that multivolume will be supported in future versions of AmiCDFS and AsimCDFS.

Question (Creating multisession CDs):

How do I go about burning a multisession CD?

Answer:

First read the instructions, then follow the instructions!

Question (Multisession Confusion):

I have made a multisession CD. The first session contains about 200 MB of data and in the second session I have about another 100 MB of data. Workbench displays just 100 MB - surely this should be 300 MB? I have tried fixing the CD-R, but that doesn't help.

Answer:

This is not a problem. Although the new track in the new session shows only the number of bytes contained in this track, all the data is there. Try it and see!

Question (Size of data on CD):

When I use Meeting Pearls II, Workbench says, for example: 650 MB used. But when I calculate the size in bytes using DirOpus, I do not get the anticipated 680,525,824 bytes, but about 50 MB less. What has happened to the missing 50 MB?

Answer:

A CD is written with a block size of 2048 bytes. This means that on average there are 1024 bytes waste for each file. So 50,000 files would account for a waste of about 50 MB. Well, how many files does DirOpus count for Meeting Pearls II? ;-) The system data (directory structure etc.) uses very little space under ISO9660 and RockRidge.

Question ( Protection bits cannot be seen):

I have read that MakeCD can write AMIGA protection bits and file comments. I have written an image file and selected both RockRidge and AMIGA attributes -- but when I register the image file, all files have standard protection bits. The script bits are still missing. What has gone wrong here?

Answer:

You must use a file system that supports AMIGA protection bits. AmiCDFS2, which is freely-distributable, support AMIGA protection bits from V2.30. CacheCDFS (included in the IDEfix '97 pack) also has support for the Amiga protection bits, and, in addition, also has multivolume support. AsimCDFS supports Amiga protection bits from V3.7 (L:AsimCDFS contains an old version string! "AsimCDFS 3.6 (05.11.96)").

Question (File system for CD-burner):

I have an A3000 (scsi.device V40.12) and a Yamaha CDR 100. MakeCD works brilliantly. I have no problems at all. The Yamaha seems to be a very good writer! However, my file system is unable to mount CDs on the CD-burner. MakeCD can read the data track, but my file system (BabelCDROMFS) comes up with "not a DOS disk". The same CD works fine in my CD-ROM drive -- even with the strange file system. This seems weird!

Answer:

We tested the same configuration and experienced the same problem. The Yamaha CDR 100 is indeed a very good writer and is not to blame for this problem. The scsi.device has problems controlling the writer with the trackdisk command. It is possible that the same problem will arise with the A2091 and other Commodore host adapters. We were able to solve the problem on the A3000 by installing the new V34 scsi.device. If you do not want to install scsi.device V34, use a file system that employs SCSI-direct commands. AmiCDFS (shareware) would be a good choice. In any case, make sure that the file system uses SCSI commands (check the documentation of your file system). Then, everything should be fine.

Question (Checking data CDs):

How can I check that the data CDs I create really are okay?

Answer:

We check our data CDs using `brik'. Brik is included with some versions of MakeCD. It can also be found on the Meeting Pearls III or IV CD-ROM, or on our home page. Brik generates CRC32 check sums for one or all files. You should generate the checksums for the data on your source partition. After burning, you can then check -- with the help of brik -- whether the data is identical to that on the source partition. The version of brik included with MakeCD includes a short description file to assist you in using brik.

Question (Slow image generation):

I have tried to create an image file using MakeCD. But regardless of whether I write it to the hard drive as an image, or send it directly to the CD-writer -- it is incredibly slow. Can't you optimize this a little? My processor is normally very fast and I have plenty of memory.

Answer:

MakeCD is already extensively optimized. But we have heard of such cases in the past. These problems were traced back to a configuration error in the mask value of HDToolBox. Proceed as follows -- we accept no responsibility for any damage to your rigid disk block! You make all changes at your own risk! If you destroy your RDB, don't format the whole disk -- try taking a look at Angela's RDB-Salv first. (http://home.pages.de/~Angela/rdbsalv.html). RDB-Salv can save lost AmigaDOS partitions!

1. Start HDToolBox
2. Select the hard drive containing the partition that is to be used for creating the image.
3. Click on Partition Drive.
4. Click on Advanced Options.
5. Now select the partition which you read the data from.
6. Click on Change ....
7. You should now see Mask. Your value is probably 0xfffff?, where f is often c, e, or f. Add two fs after the five fs (e. g. 0xfffffffc and then save.
8. Exit HDToolBox and restart your AMIGA.

Now try creating another image using MakeCD, storing it on the partition that you have just edited. If the process is much faster, change your other partitions in the same manner.

Question (ISO image contains MakeCD):

I have created an ISO image which contains my data. But once I had burnt it to my CD-R, I noticed that MakeCD was also recorded into the image. I am a registered user and do not find this amusing! Please help me stop this!

Answer:

We have not intentionally packed MakeCD into your image. To be more precise, you have done this. ;-) When you were in the settings and set the path to be included in the image, you probably clicked on "New" too many times. This would generate empty entries in the list and cause MakeCD to record the directory "" into the image. The directory "" usually contains MakeCD. Please make sure that you do not create empty entries in this list and you should be okay.

Question (ISO 9660 directory levels):

Before I burn an AMIGA CD, I check all directories to ensure that I do not exceed eight directory levels, so that the image is not defective. When are you finally going to install the corresponding function?

Answer:

Don't worry about this -- even if you do exceed the eight directory levels, the image is by no means ruined. In fact, such images are can be read without any problems at all on the AMIGA. It is only on DOS machines that you are unable to access the deep directories. But this is not a problem for most AMIGA users. All the same, we will install a suitable function as soon as time permits.

Question (ISO 9660 directory levels):

Okay, so I now know that the restriction to eight levels does not apply to the AMIGA. But what, then, is the directory level restriction for CDs on the AMIGA?

Answer:

There is no such absolute limit on the AMIGA. However, directories become so unwieldy at a certain depth (very long paths etc.), that many AMIGA applications will probably crash or malfunction when presented with such directories. You should be able to burn as many AMIGA directory levels as you wish on the CD-R. At a certain depth (undefined - this can be different each time), the stack for MakeCD will run out and the program will crash. But this should only happen at a very deep directory level.

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