Looking for tips on CDR burning

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

Someone asked...
> I recall a discussion thread a few weeks ago regarding CDR burning.
> I recently got my Panasonic CDR, and have to date successfully
> burned a data CD and an audio CD.
> 
> Although, I must say the process is NOT very elegant!
> 
> ... I'd like to hear what others are using ...

Look for 'mkhybrid', which is a mastering program capable of writing a
file hierarchy with whichever directory types (Unix, Win, Apple) you
want.  I would guess it's on some of the Linux distributions (else you
can find it quickly via a web search).  It makes an image file.  Then
you use another program to write the image to the CD.  I'm not at work
at the moment; I wrote up all this and provided it to coworkers who
are now doing this as part of the custom-software release script--I've
been away for a 10-day vacation and don't recall all the details, but
if others don't answer your questions here, send me another inquiry
during the week and I'll dig out my memo.

I'm not sure what sort of 'elegance' you want; the mkhybrid program has a
command-line interface with a gazillion options enabling you to set the
various parameters defined by each of the filesystem layout standards (CD's
are all ISO9660, but that standard was set back when 8.3 filenames were the
norm--each O/S later defined separate and incompatible ways of defining
long filenames).  Basically, you read the man page, pick the options you
want (usually only 3 or 4 of them are applicable), stick those in a makefile
at the top of your hierarchy, and then you can rebuild a CD from that
hierarchy whenever you want.

We did a source-code mod at our workplace to deal with one of the
bizarre aspects of the standard--the hierarchy can't be more than 8
levels deep.  Our release engineer wanted a different workaround of
this limitation than the one created by the authors of mkhybrid.

My comment about all this: although I'm happy with the mastering
software, the hardware/media sux.  The CD's I've burned seem to be far
less durable than mass-produced ones.  One tiny scratch of the plastic
coating, and I have to toss the CD or live with the damaged file.  Any
suggestions on getting around this problem?  We're using one of the
leading brands, TDK I think.

Anyone have comments about durability of DVD's?

-rich
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