DVD-RAM Media Types and Media Formats

Troubleshooting

Problem

This document notes the media types and formats for the DVD device.

Resolving The Problem

Here are some facts about the IBM i, CD, and DVD media:

The IBM i5/OS writes only to DVD-RAM media. This means that the INZOPT, DUPOPT, SAVxxx commands are supported only when using DVD-RAM media.
IBM i5/OS supports reading media written on the following: CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM. This means that the RSTxxx, LODRUN, DSPOPT, and WRKOPTVOL commands will read the media.
Not all devices support DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, and CD-ROM media.
DVD media can be single- or double-sided; however, only one side is under the read/write head at a time. A user must manually flip the media to access the opposite side.

Most, but not all, existing optical commands work with DVD media because DVD media is written that use a different media format (this is the file system format used to write the media) called UDF. The media format, UDF is supported on DVD and the existing WORM and ERASE (MO) media. One of the capabilities of this media format is the ability to set security rights at the file or directory level. For HPOFS, the security rights can be set only at the volume level. Three commands do not work with the new media format. They are: WRKOPTDIR, WRKOPTF, and CPYOPT. In place of these, the WRKLNK command and the CPY command can be used.

The following is a list of all Optical media types.

*CD-ROM Compact disk read only memory media. *CD-ROM media has the following characteristics:

The media can be read, but not written.
Files cannot be deleted from the media.
The media cannot be reinitialized.

*DVD-RAM Digital versatile disk random access memory. *DVD-RAM has the following characteristics:

The media can be read or written multiple times.
Space occupied by deleted files is reused for new files or extending an existing file.
When initialized the media is not cleared of any previously recorded data unless explicitly requested.

*DVD-ROM Digital versatile disk read only memory. *DVD-ROM media has the following characteristics:

The media be read, but not written.
Files cannot be deleted from the media.
The media cannot be reinitialized.

*ERASE Specifies an erasable media type. *ERASE has the following characteristics:

The media can be read or written multiple times.
Space occupied by deleted files is not reused. The media must be reinitialize to reuse space occupied by deleted files.

When initialized, the media is always pre-erased, resulting in the loss of all previously written data.

     The end user does not need to explicitly request that the media be cleared.

*WORM        Specifies a write once read many media type. *WORM has the following characteristics:

The media can be written once, but can be read multiple times.
Space occupied by a deleted file is not reused.
If an existing file is written a second or subsequent time, the previous file version still exists on the media

inaccessible and the space occupied by that data is not reused.

The following is a list of all Optical media formats.

*HPOFS       The volume is formatted using the IBM-defined High Performance Optical
            File System(HPOFS) media format. A characteristic of HPOFS is space occupied
            by a deleted file is not reused. The only way deleted file space can be
            recovered is to reinitialize the media thereby losing all previously written
            data on the media.

*ISO9660 The volume has been formatted by using the ISO-9660 standard for CD-ROM media.

*UDF    The volume has been formatted by using the Universal Disk Format (UDF) which is a
         subset of the ISO-13346 standard. A characteristic of UDF is space occupied
           by a deleted file will be reused when needed for either the creation of a new

file or the extension of an existing file.

*UDFP       The volume has been formatted as part of a Universal Disk Format(UDF) volume set.
          UDF is a subset of the ISO-13346 standard. OS/400 does not support input and
          output to a volume, which is part of a UDF volume set.

For more information on using optical devices and media, refer to this optical website:

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_ibm_i_73/rzam4/rzam4optical.htm

Supported Media Formats for the IBM i are found on this page:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_ibm_i_73/rzam4/rzam4optmedfrmat.htm

Specifically, this site states the following information:
"Writable optical media (such as WORM, erasable, DVD-RAM) is initialized on IBM i using the Initialize Optical (INZOPT) command. WORM media must use the High Performance Optical File System (HPOFS) format. DVD-RAM media must use Universal Disk Format (UDF)". This means that only WORK and DVD-RAM media can be initialized (INZOPT) and written to by the IBM i.

In summary:

	IBM OS/400 or IBM i5/OS fully supports reading all versions of UDF.
	OS/400 or i5/OS supports reading ISO 9660 through the Primary Volume Descriptor (PVD). The media must comply with all architecture rules for the PVD; for example, the file and directory names must be uppercase alpha (A through Z), numeric (0 through 9), or the underscore (_). In addition, OS/400 or i5/OS does not support media created with ISO 9660 "extensions" through the secondary volume descriptor (SVD). Joliet and Rock Ridge are examples of extensions that OS/400 or i5/OS does not support.
	If the file names are in mixed case, most likely the volume is not compatible with the DVD-Ram drive.

[{"Type":"MASTER","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB57","label":"Power"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU058","label":"IBM Infrastructure w\/TPS"},"Product":{"code":"SWG60","label":"IBM i"},"Platform":[{"code":"PF012","label":"IBM i"}],"Version":"7.1.0"}]

Historical Number

23043019

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Document Information

Modified date:
18 December 2019

UID

nas8N1017403

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