Preparing a DVD+RW Disc for writing

[shadowplay]

Hi there, first timer here, linux noob, etc, etc...

I'm trying to mount an external DVD +RW Drive so I can burn a directory from my Linux Server to disk.

I think I've figured out how to mount the drive, but it only works when there's a disk with data in the drive. When I enter

mount /dev/scd1 /mnt

I'm able to read from the drive, no problem. When I try to do the same thing, however, with a blank disk I get the following message:

"mount: you must specify a filesystem type"

So I'm assuming I need to prepare the disk somehow. I've verified that the dvd+rw-tools package is installed on the RH server but I'm not sure what the next step is. Can anyone help?

Thanks

[yancek]

"mount: you must specify a filesystem type"

You mount filesystems not drives. Since there is nothing on the DVD there is no filesystem. Usually you will see an icon or your disk burning software will open a window when you insert a blank DVD. Check your /media directory.

[shadowplay]

I see you're in Tuscon. My parents live in Green Valley.

I have nothing in my /media directory, but like I said I've verified that the dvd+rw-tools package is installed.

I found an article that talks about creating an iso image and using the growisofs command. Not sure exactly about all the terminology but I'll give it a try. If anyone has any other ideas, I'd appreciate it.

By the way, I'm using Redhat Enterprise Linux Server 5.4 (Tikanga)

and doing a uname -a I get:

2.6.18 for (i guess either) the kernal or gnome.

[yancek]

Green Valley, nice little town. Hope they like it?
Sounds like the article you reference is what you need. It's been years since I've used anything besides k3b for burning cd/dvd.
I'd expect you would need to create a mount point, create the iso filesystem and then mount it and copy. If you have problems post back. I've never used Red Hat myself but someone should be able to help.

The uname -a output is the kernel.

[atreyu]

If you just want to burn files from a directory to your CD/DVD, just fire up nautilus-cd-burner or possibly brasero.

You could also try this in a terminal, to fire up the default CD burner in Nautilus, the Gnome file manager:

nautilus --no-desktop -n burn:///