DVD-RAM File System limitations?

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DjTweed

Does DVD-RAM have the same file system limitations that
CDR/DVD-R/DVD+R have? Like 7 directories max depth, 32 character file
names, etc?

I need to back up 500gb of MP3's and I'm really tired of zipping them
into 700mb chuncks, and burning them to CD-R. (In order to preserve
the directory structure)

I purchased a DVD burner, but I have since found out that even DVD-R &
DVD+R have the same Joliet limitations. Meaning I cant store my
files in the same directory structure as the hard drive.

I heard that DVD-RAM may be the answer. I sure hope so! :)

Thanks,
George
 
DjTweed said:
I need to back up 500gb of MP3's and I'm really tired of zipping them
into 700mb chuncks, and burning them to CD-R. (In order to preserve
the directory structure)
Click to expand...

Here's a solution: You could back them up over the net to my
system. :^)

I don't know anything about the DVD-RAM, but is the backing up to cd's
a continual adding to the backups or are you re-backing up what's been
backed up as well?

If you only need one copy, have you considered purchasing a couple of
high capacity disk drives? Power down, plug one in, back up to it,
power down and remove the plug. It might be cheaper and easier in the
long run and certainly quicker. I do this now, but I'm running SCSI
drives and don't need to worry about master/slave jumpering. Something
to consider.

-JimL
 
DjTweed said:
Does DVD-RAM have the same file system limitations that
CDR/DVD-R/DVD+R have? Like 7 directories max depth, 32 character file
names, etc?
Click to expand...

Hello, George:

Yes, unfortunately; I learned this, through painful experience.
I need to back up 500gb of MP3's and I'm really tired of zipping them
into 700mb chuncks, and burning them to CD-R. (In order to preserve
the directory structure)

I purchased a DVD burner, but I have since found out that even DVD-R &
DVD+R have the same Joliet limitations. Meaning I cant store my
files in the same directory structure as the hard drive.
Click to expand...

DVD-RAM is no different from those other optical formats, in that
respect, sadly.
I heard that DVD-RAM may be the answer. I sure hope so! :)
Click to expand...

Sorry, to be the bearer of bad news. ;-)
Thanks,
George
Click to expand...

Good luck, anyhow!


Cordially,
John Turco <[email protected]>
 
I back up my MP3 collection to DVD-RAM. My directory structure does not go very
deep (3-4 max), so I can not comment on that limit. However, many (most?) of my
files have filenames well over 32 characters (as do some of the directory
names). These are backed up fine.

--Bob
 
You can easily get 255 char path names on CDs. There are no limits inherent in
either media.

The limits are due to the file system. ISO is 31, with joliet 64. UDF (default
for DVD) is 255.
 
(e-mail address removed) (DjTweed) wrote in @posting.google.com:
Does DVD-RAM have the same file system limitations that
CDR/DVD-R/DVD+R have? Like 7 directories max depth, 32 character file
names, etc?

...
Click to expand...

If you're using Windows XP, it supposedly supports formatting DVD-RAM as
FAT32 and treated the media as a removable drive:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;283588

Windows 2000 also has some DVD-RAM capabilities but I'm not sure of the
details. I don't have any direct experience with DVD-RAM under either OS,
however.

DVD-RAM has much better random access capabilities than the other, more
popular optical formats. It's more likely you can successfully use it as
you would use a hard drive so you'd only be limited by the file system.

Doug
 
Currently, I just catalog and burn the mp3's to CDR as I "aquire"
them. So far I'm up to 650 CDR's! I plan on buying a couple 300GB
drives soon, just to get it all online at once. (Spanned Volumes)
That is when I will need a solution to my problem. Best case, I can
just copy 4+ GB of music, to a DVD-RAM, without changing any directory
structure, filenames, etc. (Still not sure if this will work?)

I'm also looking into DDS4, DLT, etc tape drives. Anyone have
experience with them? Apparently, they will backup ANYTHING
perfectly. Just cost lots of $$$! (And I'm not a big fan of tapes)

Thanks again for all the replies. There has to be SOMEONE out there
who has a better way to backup massive amounts of MP3's!

Later,
George
 
Thanks for the info Bob. May I ask what OS, Burning Software, etc you
are using? Other people in this post are telling me the exact
opposite of you?

Confused...
George
 
i'm using Win XP Pro and a Panasonic LF-D201 SCSI drive primarily. I just use
the Panasonic format program to format the DVD-RAM disks, and then copy the
files using windows explorer. I've also read the disks using the LF-D211 (I
think that's the number--something similar) and SW-9751 (again, or something
similar) IDE drives.

When formatted this way, I do NOT need to load any packet writing software.

--Bob
 
In my opinion, tapes are entirely unreliable. Having had many a tape backup
unit, and feeling secure that I had everything backed up, I was disappointed
time after time when trying to restore these backups. Some part of the tape
always failed, or tapes got mangled, etc.
 
DjTweed said:
Currently, I just catalog and burn the mp3's to CDR as I "aquire"
them. So far I'm up to 650 CDR's! I plan on buying a couple 300GB
drives soon, just to get it all online at once. (Spanned Volumes)
That is when I will need a solution to my problem. Best case, I can
just copy 4+ GB of music, to a DVD-RAM, without changing any directory
structure, filenames, etc. (Still not sure if this will work?)
Click to expand...

Hello, George:

As both Eric Gisen and myself have pointed out, it won't work, if the
file path contains too many characters.
I'm also looking into DDS4, DLT, etc tape drives. Anyone have
experience with them? Apparently, they will backup ANYTHING
perfectly. Just cost lots of $$$! (And I'm not a big fan of tapes)
Click to expand...

Just stay away from "Travan" and similar, low-end tape formats, as
they're inherently unreliable and rather limited in capacity, as well.
Thanks again for all the replies. There has to be SOMEONE out there
who has a better way to backup massive amounts of MP3's!

Later,
George
Click to expand...

A massive, external hard disk would be optimal, I think. I employ
a relatively small (30GB) Micro Solutions "backpack" (model no.
154030) USB drive, to back-up my system's two Maxtor HDD's (13.6GB
and 17.2GB, respectively); I simply copy new files to it, daily.


Cordially,
 
i'm using Win XP Pro and a Panasonic LF-D201 SCSI drive primarily. I just use
the Panasonic format program to format the DVD-RAM disks, and then copy the
files using windows explorer. I've also read the disks using the LF-D211 (I
think that's the number--something similar) and SW-9751 (again, or something
similar) IDE drives.
Click to expand...

Hello, Bob:

You must mean, my own "baby," the Panasonic SW-9571 (not SW-9751); what
are you said:
When formatted this way, I do NOT need to load any packet writing software.

--Bob
Click to expand...

Indeed, DVD-RAM is like a virtual hard disk, which I believe is its
greatest advantage, over DVD-RW and DVD+RW.


Cordially,
 
DjTweed said:
Does DVD-RAM have the same file system limitations that
CDR/DVD-R/DVD+R have? Like 7 directories max depth, 32 character file
names, etc?

I need to back up 500gb of MP3's and I'm really tired of zipping them
into 700mb chuncks, and burning them to CD-R. (In order to preserve
the directory structure)

I purchased a DVD burner, but I have since found out that even DVD-R &
DVD+R have the same Joliet limitations. Meaning I cant store my
files in the same directory structure as the hard drive.

I heard that DVD-RAM may be the answer. I sure hope so! :)

Thanks,
George
Click to expand...

Hello Dj

I normally use DVD-RAM for backup and temporary storage
(like a big diskette) without any problem, but after
reading your post I became curious and ran some tests:

I created a 10-level-deep directory chain using long
filenames, copied some files to it (also using long
filenames) and I was able to write that to and read that
from two DVD-RAM discs, WITHOUT any other software,
just dragging and dropping in Windows Explorer.

Below follows some configuration info used for the test:

DVD-RAM disc #1: Panasonic 4.7 GB (formatted to UDF 1.5)
DVD-RAM disc #2: Panasonic 4.7 GB (formatted to FAT32)
Formatting software: "DVDform" from Panasonic
DVD-RAM drive: Panasonic UJ-810 (IDE interface)
Operating systems: Windows 2000 and Windows XP (dual-boot)

I hope this helps,

Rubens
 
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