Arch Linux

a_neutrino

Member

From: Montreal, Canada

Registered: 2010-03-14

Posts: 50

Website

[solved] How to probe blank optical media

Hi,

Is there an utility that would probe an optical disk and print details such as the type of media (blank CD-R, DVD-RW, etc.), capacity (in bytes if possible), max burn speed and so on?

Thank you,

Alexandre

Last edited by a_neutrino (2010-03-19 02:07:12)

sonoran

Member

From: sonoran desert

Registered: 2009-01-12

Posts: 192

Re: [solved] How to probe blank optical media

k3b can give you this information using the Device/Media Info menu function. For complete info you can simulate a write to a blank media, then click on the "Show Debugging Output" button on the bottom of the Burn dialogue, which will display (among a lot of other info) cdrecord's take on the disk, which includes what it's made of (if Phthalocyanine means anything to you) and who made it (ordinarily not the same as the brand name).

Even if you're not using KDE I highly recommend k3b. Installing it will pull in some dependencies, but I've never had a bad burn from it.

You can also get this information using a terminal:

wodim --atip

Last edited by sonoran (2010-03-16 23:21:07)

a_neutrino

Member

From: Montreal, Canada

Registered: 2010-03-14

Posts: 50

Website

Re: [solved] How to probe blank optical media

Thank you sonoran

ATIP. Absolute Time In Pregroove. This is the key term that unlocked my searches! I googled and found http://www.cdrfaq.org/ and http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html where I will keep reading for more information than I could have hoped for. Also, thanks for the utilities suggestions.