Answers to Frequently Asked
Questions
1. Does CDwriter work with
any HP computer?
| There are two
issues: hardware compatibility and operating
system. The SCSI CD-RW needs to be installed on to the
primary SCSI bus. Hardware is easy to install in
all series 700
Workstations or servers, most Series 800 and the
B Series, C Series, & J Series. The B1000, B2000,
& B2600 require a SCSI adapter. The K Series
works with a drive vertically mounted internally. TAMS CDwriter software is for HP-UX 10.x &
11.x only. It does
not work with Series 300 computers, HP-UX 9.10, or MPE. |
2. What is pre-mastering and how is this
performed by the TAMS 9000 / CDwriter?
| Before recordable
CDs were readily available, all CDs were produced by a
"pre-process" involving a master.
Pre-mastering involved assembling the material to
be placed on the CD as an image or master file on
a hard disc prior to actually recording the CD.
Software packages still exist that will do this.
This process has the disadvantage that it
potentially requires 650 MBs of free disc space
for each CD and it takes two steps to complete.
It has some advantages when creating masters for
multi-media CDs. Although capable of recording from
an image file, the TAMS CDwriter software does not require
pre-mastering. |
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3. What is a dummy write?
| Dummy Write is an
option that allows the CD-R to do everything
except actually record the CD. Use this option to
practice, gain confidence in the
software/hardware and adjust the speed. |
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4. Can I make a CD across an NFS mount?
| Yes, but there is
no guarantee it will always work. There are no
restrictions in the software which limit where
the source data is located. However, CD-R
requires a continuous stream of data as it is
writing, and a busy network could interfere with
performance. Also remember,
the greater the recording speed the greater the
sustained data transfer rate the drive requires. It is easy to test using a Dummy
Write. Slow down the write speed and increase the
buffer size. In marginal situations, this only
gives an indication of what might happen. Moving
the data to a local file system may be the only
way to guarantee flawless CD creation. |
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5. Can I create music CDs?
| The TAMS CDwriter software for HP-UX is not designed to
provide the tools or the support to create audio
CDs. Audio CD-R software, such as Roxio or Nero is available
for a Windows PC. |
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6. Can a CD created with TAMS
CDwriter be read on any
CD drive?
| CD-R discs can be
read on any normal CD ROM drive (including PC
drives). CD-R/W discs can only be read in CD-R/W
drives or in CD ROM drives labeled as
"MultiRead." |
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7. What is the life expectancy of a CD?
| Given proper
care, CDs are considered permanent storage. |
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8. What is single-session ?
| Single session
means that all the information to be recorded on
the CD is recorded at one time. (e.g. a single
session) |
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9. What is multi-session?
| While CD-R is a
WORM technology (Write Once, Read Many),
information could be recorded on the CD-R at
different times. When a section of the CD-R is
written, it is permanent and can not be changed.
Typically, a recording will only use a fraction
of the 650 MB capacity. At a later time, (another
session) new information could be written in the
unused space. Remember that whenever new
information is written, the directory for the CD
must also be replaced and the overhead is
typically 25 MBs. TAMS CDwriter software does not support
multi-session. |
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10. Does TAMS have any plans to support
multi-session?
| The drive
mechanism is capable of multi-session, but the
software supports only single session. When the
TAMS CDwriter software was first released, we
had planned to release a multi-session capable
version. However, since most of our CD-R users
are archiving data, we have reconsidered. During
each recording session, the directory file must
be rewritten. If an error occurs during the
recording of a subsequent session, there is a
possibility the directory file could be corrupted
and render any previously archived data
inaccessible. Blank CD-Rs are inexpensive so there is no real
cost savings in using a CD multiple times. In general it
is not worth
the risk of having archived data destroyed. |
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11. What drive mechanisms
work with the TAMS
CDwriter software?
| We consider the Plextor and
Yamaha drive mechanisms to be good choices. They provide
excellent
performance, high reliability and a reasonable
price. While most drive mechanisms are similar,
we have not tested every one and some may be
incompatible. See our drive
compatibility page for
more info. |
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12. Can I use the TAMS 9000 / CDwriter with Sun or IBM computers?
| TAMS has
specialized in HP-UX, and though the software
could very easily be ported to Sun or IBM
workstations, we do not presently have the
equipment or personnel to support more than
HP-UX. E |
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13. What does ISO-9660,
Rock-Ridge, etc mean?
| These terms refer
to the organization of the file system on the
CD-ROM. ISO-9660 is the standard CD-ROM file
system. It is designed to be interchangeable
amongst various operating systems. ISO-9660 has
the following restrictions: no directory trees of
depth > 8; file name length < 30
characters; characters for the extension to be
compatible with MS-DOS; no extensions for
directory names; uppercase characters only; no
"odd" characters allowed. High Sierra File system is another name
for ISO-9660 because the ISO-9660 proposal
originated in the High Sierra Hotel in Nevada.
Rock-Ridge Interchange Protocol is an extension
to ISO-9660 that uses System Use Sharing Protocol
(SUSP) to further describe the files. This allows
longer filenames, uid/gids, posix permissions and
block and character devices. Essentially using
the rock-ridge extensions will give you a
file-system that behaves exactly like a Unix file
system.
|
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If you have a general
question that is not addressed in this section
please go to the Feedback section and ask us. If you have a specific question please
contact TAMS at 970-669-6553 for an immediate
reply.
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