# Quick question about DVD-RAM **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206 "2003-12-27T02:17:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/1 "2003-12-27T02:17:55Z")
I received a LG Super Multi CD/DVD ReWriter GMA-4020B for Chirstmas. It came with a DVD-RW disc and a DVD-RAM disc. I assume DVD-RAM is just a higher quality version of DVD-RW? Since I have no interest in the DVD-RAM capabilities at this time, can I use this DVD-RAM disc (Maxell Non-Cartridge Disc DRM47) like a normal DVD-RW and burn a movie, or perhaps some bootable software? ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/2 "2003-12-27T02:39:29Z")
DVD-RAM is an old writable DVD spec, replaced by DVD-R and DVD-RW. You should be able to burn whatever you want on it, except that capacity won’t be large enough for a full movie. Beware, also, that it won’t work in DVD players or DVD-ROM drives, only special DVD-RAM compatible drives. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/3 "2003-12-27T02:48:48Z")
[This web site](http://www.dvdrhelp.com) has lots of good information concerning the various DVD specs, specifically on [this page](http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvd). ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/4 "2003-12-27T03:41:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Alereon \* > \*\*it won’t work in DVD players or DVD-ROM drives, only special DVD-RAM compatible drives. \*\* For the most part you’re right, but there are actually some standalone DVD players and DVD-ROM drives that will read DVD-RAM fine. DVD-RAM is also better than the other formats in some ways. See [url=]this page for more spec comparisons among the major formats: > [@](#): > > DVD-RAM discs are traditionally housed within cartridges, so that the media is well-protected. Originally, the cartridges could not be opened, but newer Type II and Type IV cartridges can be opened, an important feature for those who wish to read these discs in DVD-RAM compatible DVD-ROM drives or standalone DVD players. In addition, some DVD-RAM discs are now sold without cartridges. > > In addition to support of the usual DVD UDF formats, DVD-RAM also allows fully integrated OS-level random read/write access similar to hard drives, with both Windows XP (with FAT32) and Mac OS X (with FAT32 or HFS+), as well as on-the-fly write verification. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/5 "2003-12-27T03:42:33Z")
D’oh. That URL tag usually works better with a link in it, doesn’t it? [This](http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=118) is what I meant to link to. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/6 "2003-12-27T04:12:40Z")
Ok, thanks for the info and links. I take it then that I should have no problem installing linux on this disc and using it like a harddrive for that installation as well, provided I boot it from the drive that burned it, correct? Would that require special drivers or is all the DVD-RAM capability built into the firmware? Speed issues aside, this drive can read dvd-rom at 10x and rewrite at 2x. Can I partition swap space on a DVD-RAM? ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/7 "2003-12-27T04:13:03Z")
Looks like optical is going to replace magnetic media pretty soon. Bye bye hard drives! ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/8 "2003-12-27T11:09:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eleusis \* > \*\*Ok, thanks for the info and links. > > I take it then that I should have no problem installing linux on this disc and using it like a harddrive for that installation as well, provided I boot it from the drive that burned it, correct? Would that require special drivers or is all the DVD-RAM capability built into the firmware? Speed issues aside, this drive can read dvd-rom at 10x and rewrite at 2x. > > Can I partition swap space on a DVD-RAM? \*\* I don’t know if you can do these things, though I doubt it, and even if you could, it probably wouldn’t be a very good idea. Optical drives are still quite slow compared to magnetic drives. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > Looks like optical is going to replace magnetic media pretty soon. Bye bye hard drives! Doubtful. Magnetic media is increasing in speed and capacity, while decreasing in price. Optical is a significant performance hit. The new Serial ATA drives promise to be even faster than EIDE drives for not much more money. Solid state memory (Flash, Memory Sticks, etc.) is growing in popularity and capacity. It’s lightening fast and has no moving parts to wear out. I expect to eventually see it used to hold operating system files, while data would be on seperate magnetic drives. Boot-up time would be almost instant with a chip like that. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/9 "2003-12-27T12:59:51Z")
Whah fuh? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/10 "2003-12-27T13:08:25Z")
**neutron star** I think you completely missed the boat regarding my most recent question. (It is admittedly different from the OP) Can I build a linux system on this DVDRAM which looks just like a harddrive? I don’t care about speed. I care about things beyond the scope of this post. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2003, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/11 "2003-12-27T13:17:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Speed issues aside > [@](#): > > Optical drives are still quite slow I use linux mainly for a cross-compiler for my Tivo. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/12 "2003-12-28T12:15:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eleusis \* > \*\*neutron star I think you completely missed the boat regarding my most recent question. (It is admittedly different from the OP) > \*\* Missed the boat? I said “I don’t know, but I doubt it.” Sorry, but that’s the best I can do. I searched, but couldn’t find anyone doing what you’re trying to do. However, contrary to what I posted above, it looks like you [can](http://www.esrf.fr/computing/cs/intro/dvd-ram.htm) format a DVD-RAM disc with ext2. So, who knows? It may very well be possible. I’m not familiar enough with how DVD-RAM drives work to provide a definite answer. You might find someone who can on a Linux forum or newsgroup. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-about-dvd-ram/221206/13 "2003-12-28T21:55:03Z")
Thank you **neutron star** , I apologize for the tone of those last messages - I had been up all night and was a little wasted. I want to do this for a couple of different reasons - speed isn’t an issue. For one I would like to able to make a bit for bit backup of my harddrive and store it over the network. Another for a cross compiler for hacks and apps I write or modify for my tivo. Thanks agin