DVD-ROM settings for DVD+R writing

[discuser]

I'm trying to archive a number of folders and files onto a single layer DVD+RW disc which has already been properly formatted by Imgburn using the full erase function with the PROPERLY FORMATTED option enabled. There are several concerns / problems arising from building the image with the disc layout editor: I've already read up on the Imgburn guides before posting this.

1. I am still unclear about which file system needs to be used for a DVD-ROM format write - should only UDF 1.02 be selected, or should ISO9960 + UDF 1.02 be selected? I assume MODE-1/2048 data type is selection to be used. Since this isn't intended to be a DVD-Video format, I'm unsure if UDF should even be included as part of the file system selection.

2. If I use more than one file system, is it necessary for more than one volume label to be entered into all the file systems' volume label fields in order for the same volume label to appear under all file systems used in the write?

3. I have a folder on the source disk (HDD) that has more than 8 levels of folder nesting. I'm not sure how I did it the first time, but after using the disc layout editor, I go back to the INFORMATION tab and then click the CALCULATOR button to determine disc space consumption and only on the very first time I did this, the log reported that the long file paths file names were somehow altered (presumably because file path length was too long). Altered to what I'm not sure for starters, but now on a second session of Imgburn I tried to repeat the same process and the disc layout editor simply completely IGNORES the long pathed folders and they are now OMITTED from the layout completely. So I'm not sure which options I did or didn't tick the second time around that caused the file layout editor to ignore folders that had long paths. These tick boxes that I'm not sure about includes:

FOLDER FILE NAME LENGTH - I selected LEVEL-2, 31 characters, and also ticked the boxes for ALLOW MORE THAN 8 DIRECTORY LEVELS and also ALLOW MORE THAN 255 CHARACTERS IN PATH. But no matter what I do, the disc layout editor continues to ignore long path folders from the layout I create even though I do drag the folders into the layout.

It would seem to me that I may need to ZIP the long path folders into a ZIP file for optical disc write if the folder nesting is too deep. But I'd like to know which tick boxes I mentioned above should be enabled or not. I knew there was some deep nesting in some folders and had expected this sort of problem to arise during layout creation.

 

[LIGHTNING UK!]

1. Forget ISO9660 and Joliet, they're old and aren't as good as UDF.

UDF has been supported by Windows for years now, so there's no real reason not to use. v1.02 would be the most 'compatible', but if you're running Windows 7+ (which I'm sure you are), they have no problems with reading v2.50+.

 

2. Yes. You can fill one out and copy it to the others though.

3. 8 levels is only an issue with the normal ISO9660 file system. If you relax the restrictions, it won't be flagged up as an issue. There is no setting to ignore long paths when adding them to the source box, so I don't know what weird stuff you're doing there. Maybe something related to 'preserve full pathnames' ?

The log window generally tells you about files that need to be renamed due to file system limitations (if they're an issue in the 'best' file system you're using anyway - UDF is classed as the best, then Joliet, then ISO9660). Keep an eye on it. It should log them when you 'calculate' and the renamed version is put after a '->' in the log entry.

 

If in doubt about the settings, just revert to the default ones and simply modify the file system selection so it just says UDF. You shouldn't need to touch anything else really.

 

[discuser]

Thanks for the follow up. After a few more failures just now trying to successfully create the disc layout for the DVD+RW write, it turns out the problem is due to the RECURSE SUBDIRECTORIES tick box being disabled. I'm glad it was something simple. Yet strangely, only the long path folders generated the SKIPPED FOLDERS log message but other folders with much shallower folder nesting did not (and also appeared to be added to the disc layout successfully despite recurse option disabled). I also noticed that the RECURSE SUBDIRECTORIES tick box for some reason sometimes does not persist across Imgburn sessions. This means I have to check the status of that box each time I start up Imgburn.

As far as UDF 2.50 support for BD reading, I'm aware that actually UDF 2.50 was supported beginning with Windows Vista. Win-XP can support BD reading via UDF 2.50 if a 3rd party UDF driver supporting UDF 2.X is installed, such as the Nero UDF driver for In-CD packet writing, and that works fine reading BDs written in UDF 2.50 also.

Also, just to be sure, if I choose only UDF as the file system, then under the ADVANCED - RESTRICTIONS tab, is it correct to assume that the any file system not used, in this case ISO9660 and JOLIET, that their tabs' settings are completely irrelevant regardless of what they may be set to, since I've selected only UDF as the file system? I was wondering if the on-line Imgburn guides / settings reference have ever been made into a downloadable PDF?

Edited January 16, 2019 by discuser

[LIGHTNING UK!]

If the folders are coming up as 'skipped' in the log, the program is doing so for a different reason. It's not related to the depth of the folder structure.

Those settings are persistent - assuming you work with one copy of the app open. Settings are loaded when the program opens and saved when it's closed. So if you change it in one instance and then open another instance, it won't mirror the existing instance, it'll load the settings from the registry (or ini) again.

The settings can be changed by loading a project.

Yes, it's correct to assume the settings for a given file system are irrelevant if that file system isn't being used.

 

 

[discuser]

Yes, I always had the impression tick boxes like RECURSE DIRECTORIES could be assumed to be persistent across Imgburn sessions, which is why I didn't think of that being an issue and hadn't looked there for a potential problem. I didn't load any saved projects either and have lately mostly used Imgburn with the settings it last saved. I always do only open one instance of Imgburn, never more than one. I would think that would be asking for trouble what with drive locking, etc so I definitely haven't had multiple instances of the program running as I didn't want to risk any drive access conflicts. The FOLDER SKIPPED log messages remain a mystery, but at least now I was able to write out the DVD image to the DVD+RW disc and get on with what I needed that for.

I just tested Imgburn again. No disc inserted in the ODD this time. But unticking the RECUSE DIRECTORIES box and then trying to create the exact same layout in the disc layout editor, reliably reproduces the same problem with the SKIPPED FOLDERS messages. So for whatever reason Imgburn logic decides to do that, I'm not sure. I surmised originally that it was warning me that I'm losing folders in the layout even though I dragged it to the layout in the editor (when RECURSE box is unticked).

Edited January 16, 2019 by discuser

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Do you not want the sub directories of the ones you're adding to the source box?

That's the purpose of the 'recurse subdirectories' option.

Under normal circumstances, it isn't something you'd turn off.

I'd have picked up on it earlier, but I thought it might be a typo on your account. The setting I mentioned before was the 'preserve full pathnames' one. If you turn off 'recurse subdirectories', it'll skip any folders it finds in the folder you've added to the source box. The clue is in the exact text it logs when skipping. Yours would be showing 'Skipping Subfolder', correct?

[discuser]

Yes, I do normally want all subfolders within a folder I drag to the layout I'm creating, to be added, so in this case I do want RECURSE SUBDIRECTORIES ticked. It was just that it somehow became unticked and it didn't hit me immediately that this could be the reason why the FOLDERS SKIPPED log message occured. As for why that tick box isn't persistent across Imgburn sessions, I think may have something to do with me selecting different ODDs, e.g. between my DVD writer and my BD writer, and perhaps Imgburn stored different values for that tick box. So when I flipped between different ODDs, that box status changed. But I still notice it not sticking all the time and I'll be verifying the state of that tick box closely from now on. Strangely, I don't think I had that box ticked the whole time I was doing BD writes, yet all the files I dragged into the disc layout editor were accepted and no log messages appeared during layout creation.

I also check all folder and files count closely comparing the layout folders / file count versus the HDD's source folder / files count. After writing to disc, I re-check the written disc's folders / files count to confirm it is exactly the same as the HDD source folder / files count. Only after that do I delete the HDD source folders to free up disc space after archival to optical disc.