view optical media and optical drive information in CLI

m4rtin · 05-02-2012, 04:34 AM

I have an optical media in an optical drive in a remote headless server. Is it possible to view:

1) optical media capabilities(is it a CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, supported speeds, supported max storage size)
2) optical drive capabilities(does it support writing to DVD's, speeds, is DVD-RAM or BD supported etc)

I checked drive capabilities using the wodim(1) inquiry option:

Code:

# wodim -inq dev='/dev/scd0' 
Device type    : Removable CD-ROM
Version        : 5
Response Format: 2
Capabilities   : 
Vendor_info    : 'HL-DT-ST'
Identification : 'RW/DVD GCC-4241N'
Revision       : '1.04'
Device seems to be: Generic mmc2 DVD-ROM.
#

..but information is rather short and insufficient(for example capabilities are not listed). If I do "wodim -vv dev='/dev/scd0' -dummy *.iso" I see the same information and nothing about the optical media is printed to sdtout.

In other words I search for something similar to Nero InfoTool, but on a Linux platform and CLI environment

Any suggestions?

catkin · 05-02-2012, 05:20 AM

Code:

root@CW8:~# /usr/bin/dvd+rw-mediainfo /dev/dvd
INQUIRY:                [SONY    ][DVD RW AD-7280S ][1.60]
GET [CURRENT] CONFIGURATION:
 Mounted Media:         13h, DVD-RW Restricted Overwrite
 Media ID:              RITEKW01    
 Current Write Speed:   2.0x1385=2770KB/s
 Write Speed #0:        2.0x1385=2770KB/s
GET [CURRENT] PERFORMANCE:
 Write Performance:     2.0x1385=2770KB/s@[0 -> 2252063]
 Speed Descriptor#0:    00/2252064 R@5.0x1385=6925KB/s W@2.0x1385=2770KB/s
READ DVD STRUCTURE[#10h]:
 Media Book Type:       00h, DVD-ROM book [revision 0]
 Legacy lead-out at:    2298496*2KB=4707319808
READ DVD STRUCTURE[#0h]:
 Media Book Type:       32h, DVD-RW book [revision 2]
 Last border-out at:    2045*2KB=4188160
READ DISC INFORMATION:
 Disc status:           complete
 Number of Sessions:    1
 State of Last Session: complete
 Number of Tracks:      1
READ FORMAT CAPACITIES:
 formatted:		2252064*2048=4612227072
 00h(800):		2297888*2048=4706074624
 10h(10):		2297888*2048=4706074624
 11h(10):		45824*2048=93847552
 13h(10):		45824*2048=93847552
 15h(10):		2297888*2048=4706074624
READ TRACK INFORMATION[#1]:
 Track State:           complete incremental
 Track Start Address:   0*2KB
 Free Blocks:           0*2KB
 Fixed Packet Size:     16*2KB
 Track Size:            2252064*2KB
FABRICATED TOC:
 Track#1  :             14@0
 Track#AA :             14@2252064
 Multi-session Info:    #1@0
READ CAPACITY:          2252064*2048=4612227072

m4rtin · 05-02-2012, 06:50 AM

catkin, thank you for pointing out the dvd+rw-mediainfo utility! It works nice with DVD's:

Code:

# dvd+rw-mediainfo /dev/sr0 
INQUIRY:                [HL-DT-ST][RW/DVD GCC-4241N][1.04]
GET [CURRENT] CONFIGURATION:
 Mounted Media:         10h, DVD-ROM
READ DVD STRUCTURE[#0h]:
 Media Book Type:       00h, DVD-ROM book [revision 0]
 Legacy lead-out at:    2295104*2KB=4700372992
READ DISC INFORMATION:
 Disc status:           complete
 Number of Sessions:    1
 State of Last Session: complete
 Number of Tracks:      1
READ TRACK INFORMATION[#1]:
 Track State:           complete
 Track Start Address:   0*2KB
 Free Blocks:           0*2KB
 Track Size:            1801552*2KB
FABRICATED TOC:
 Track#1  :             14@0
 Track#AA :             14@1801552
 Multi-session Info:    #1@0
READ CAPACITY:          1801552*2048=3689578496
#

Although looks like it does not show the maximum supported speed. For CD's the cdinfo tool seems to do the job:

Code:

# cdinfo /dev/sr0
CD Info 1.1 | (c) 1996-98 Gerd Knorr & Heiko Ei�feldt
__________________________________
track list (1 - 1)
 nr: msf      lba      ctrl adr  type
  1: 00:02:00 (000000) 0x4 0x1 data 
170: 79:33:43 (357868) 0x4 0x1 data  (leadout)
__________________________________
what ioctl's report
get mcn     : 0000000000000
disc status : data mode 1
multisession: 0
audio status: no status
__________________________________
try to find out what sort of CD this is
CD-ROM with iso9660 fs
iso9660: 698 MB size, label `Ubuntu 9.04 i386                '
bootable CD   
#

Unfortunately looks like cdinfo does not show supported speeds and media detection(CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM) is faulty

Any suggestions for utilities which can display optical drive capabilities?

michaelk · 05-02-2012, 07:41 AM

Try
wodim -prcap

m4rtin · 05-02-2012, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

Try
wodim -prcap

This works great

So there is some sort of non-volatile memory in the optical device where this information is stored and it is requested with standardized multimedia commands by "wodim -prcap"?

michaelk · 05-02-2012, 08:44 AM

Yes, pretty much all drives (optical and storage) store manufacture, part number, firmware version, operating parameters etc in memory.

Back in the old old days one had to manually enter the hard drive parameters like number of cylinders, heads, sectors etc in the BIOS settings. Now the default setting is autodetect where the BIOS can poll the device and read everything.

kozaki · 02-09-2015, 08:22 AM

Nice

I had forgotten dvd+rw-mediainfo when diggin into a Pioneer pancakes burner to know what his problem comes from (it was the dust).
So we can have lots of information in seconds on the drive but also on the optical mediums:

Code:

cd-drive

displays most if not all informations on the drive capabilities. Also `more /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/info` gives a nice summary of that.

Code:

cd-info (--no-media-info)

to know on the medium's content, especially audio CDs. But it's a bit short for DVD.

Code:

wodim -prcap

to print all the speed capabilities of the optical disc

Code:

wodim -atip dev=/dev/sr0

displays the medium's driver flags and supported modes (ex TAO, PACKET, SAO, RAW...)

Code:

dvd+rw-mediainfo

to get the medium type; speed the burn was made; session status; tracks' number, size and length; if is bootable. Note: supports Blu-ray medias (untested by me).

Code:

udisks --dump

gives lots of informations about:
- Medium: type (ex optical_dvd_plus_rw) ; blank? ; filesystem (ex : iso9660 Joliet) ; date and time was burnt ; block size (ex : 2048) ; session status ; label ; Tracks' number and type (ex audio)
- Drive: medias type compatibility, Vendor, model and revision (aka firmware), interface

Code:

/lib(64)/udev/cdrom_id -d /dev/sr0

also gives some information:
Optical medium's type (ex media_cd_rom); Session's status.

lfd · 03-03-2016, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kozaki

So we can have lots of information in seconds on the drive but also on the optical mediums:

I could not for the life of me find how to check the max write speed of blank CD media.