DVD-RAM and T43

[danielshea]

I will be getting a T43 next week. I would like to use a DVD-RAM with the Multi-Burner Plus that comes with it. Now, I'm not the most knowledgeable guy when it comes to computers, so I did a little research to find out what kinds of DVDs I could use with this machine. That's when I found out that there are two types of DVD-RAMs, one with a cartridge and one without. My first question is which type does this machine use? My second question is whether it is true that this DVD-RAM is just like a floppy and I will not have to burn my data to it and will be able to erase things as I see fit. If that is the case, I am very excited about all of this.

Thanks for reading this.

Dan Shea

[Inky]

I use DVD-RAM in my desktop system and in the MultiBurner in my T42. The panasonic LF-D521 in my desktop can use either cartidge DVD-RAM or plain (exposed) DVD-RAM disks.

IBM's multi-burner, however, uses only the plain disks. You have to buy the so-called "Type II" DVD-RAM cartridge which contains a removable single sided disk. There's a plastic pin you have to punch out of the cartridge to take it apart and get the disk out, and then you can use it as a plain disk. An excellent source for disks is: tapes.com

Yes, DVD-RAM is like using a giant floppy. You need to format it before use, but after that you can drag and drop files to it with ease. You can create folders and name or rename them right on the disk.

While it gives you a lot of space (4.26 Gb formatted) like a floppy it IS slow, and if you try to copy several Gigs to it in one fell swoop it can take a very long time. But at least you can do it, and it's very reliable--so much so that DVD-RAM is often used for archiving critical medical data.

To make good use of DVD-RAM in the MultiBurner you'll need to install the right drivers. The file system to use is called UDF which comes in two flavors (1.5 and 2.0) Formatting with UDF is very quick. By comparison, formatting a DVD-RAM disk with FAT32 is painfully slow. I posted more details about the UDF drivers in this thread which you might find helpful:

Support for Matshita DVD-RAM UJ-822S

Best,
-Inky