I have a single, double-sided cartridge DVD-RAM which I would like to have copied onto DVD+Rs. I created it using a Mac at RIT, but I’m not sure what filesystem is on it. Is there anyone reading this who has access to a DVD-RAM drive and would be willing to do the copy for me? I know I’ve asked a few of you this question over the years, but the disk was in stasis in my parents basement until I moved into the new house.
i think i might have a working dvd-ram drive
what type is it?
You mean like brand? I’ll have to look at the label when I get home, but I believe it’s a double-sided 2.6G (each side) disk.
there were different “Types” of DVD-RAM, one was double sided, one was single, anotehr was dual-single, ther were a couple other…
2.6G/side? okay. i think the drive i have (if it even works) will read it.
i can send you the drive?
I was thinking I’d send you the disk, but if it’s easier for you to send me the drive, that’s cool too. What interface does it need?
standard Parallel IDE / ATAPI
Do you know if there are Windows XP drivers for it? The only machine I have with PATA is my PC.. Although I wonder if it would work on a PATA <-> USB deal…
what filesystem is on them? HFS?
I have no idea what the driver situation is on it, and like i said, i’m not even positive that it works.
No idea on the FS, I guess it’s either HFS or 9660, whatever the mac I was using at the time defaulted to for DVD-RAM disks… I wasn’t very Mac savvy then, and I believe the machine was pre OSX, so I really don’t know.
I guess the only way to find out is to give it a swing. =)
BTW, the disk is a “K Hypermedia 5.2GB Rewritable DVD-RAM type 1 rewritable”
I 99.9% certain you made it in New Media Lab on the original machines. The disc you have is two sided 2.6gb per side, formatted HFS+ because the DVD RAM disks didn’t have an ISO standard like CD’s and DVD’s do, and needed to have a OS imposed file system in place. The machines were OS9.
I have to warn you that regardless of the drive, those DVD RAM disks were trash – EXTREMELY high failure rate. I don’t believe that the drives required special drivers, because I think they presented an ATAPI interface to the OS.
Yeah, it’s totally possible that it’s hosed, but it’s the last copy of that footage (the DV tape we wrote it out too died), so I figured it’s worth a shot…
Well, I’ve got a working DVD ram drive on an OSX machine that I could try to extract the data with, if all else fails.. =P (and ya, I’ll be at Stellafane.. ^^ )