Odd behaviour when copying files from cdrom to hard drive...
 

Hello!
Using konqueror, I have no problems moving a very large file from a 'professionally' created cdrom (for example RtCW's 630 MB setup.exefile) to the hard-drive. Yet when I attempt to copy files from home-created cds (roxio was used to create them, back when my computer was w2k) one of two errors occurs:

1. Larger files will transfer between 5 and 10 MB of data almost instantly, then 'stall' for a certain period, then konqueror gives up and offers me the choice of skipping the file, autoskipping, or cancelling the move. If I attempt to copy the file using a terminal, the transfer stalls (I can tell by the cdrom noise) and eventually I get the error "cp: reading 'whatever' : Input/output error."

2. Smaller files will copy over, for a while, until inevitably I will encounter a swathe of files which, I am informed by konqueror, do not exist (even thought they are being displayed in konqueror, which was how I highlighted them for copying. How could they not be there? (All in question are normally named, for instance 'ert450.jpg'.
)

Furthermore, I would like to stress that these cds functioned properly in windows.

regards,
doug

What do you see when you tail your "messages" syslog file at the same time? Any errors about timeouts? Could be DMA related AFAIK.

Hello!
What command do I give to do this? At work I often use the command "tail -f nohup.out" to view web app messages, but even after reading "man nohup" I am still not sure what it does... will it 'tail' all log messages?

Also, what is 'DMA'? I know what 'DRM' is, but they are probably not related ;-)

regards,
doug !

Try:

tail /var/log/messages

I am getting the same problem as you are and haven't found a solution yet. I get messages like:

scsi: aborting command due to timeout
kernel: SCSI host 0 abort (pid 4081) timed out- resetting.

I have two CD drives - both on the secondary IDE channel, one as master one as slave. They are both set up for SCSI emulation (because one is a CDRW). I have upgraded my kernel to 2.4.19-24, turned off supermount and a variety of other things to no avail.
Permissions on /mnt/cdrom are OK.

DMA is "Direct Memory Access" I think - a way for peripherals (like CDs) to write directly to RAM rather than having to send data to the processor first. It is used to enhance performance.

Not sure how to switch it off for the CD drive under Linux though. Anyone got any ideas?

A.

Would that be Roxio Easy CD that you used in win2k? You do know that the CD in Easy CD stands for Coaster Designer?

I have seen the same thing with CD's written in windoze, when reading on CD's from both linux and AIX . These work fine on microS**t machines (I guess that just shows the superiority of that operating system, not). Interestingly though, these would read fine on linux with a new DVD writer. My current working hypothesis, untested, is that perhaps Juliet extensions or other standard changes, sure to be written by windoze machines change the formatting slightly as to make reading slow, or worse. Newer cdroms may compensate for this within the hardware, while older cdroms may not be able to as well. Mind you, just a guess.

One thing that you can try is fixating the disk in linux, it can trash the disk though and should only be used as a last resort.

Hello!
What does this mean, 'fixating a disk"?

It means finishing a multi session disk so it can be read normally.

Aha!
In that case, the disks were already 'fixated' when they were created in w2k... I guess early on I assumed that I was having problems with roxio because I was attempting to use unfixated, rather than fixated, cds on other computers. If unfixated disks can be used, why would anyone bother fixating them?

doug