GNU/Linux Desktop Survival Guide by Graham Williams
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DVD Writer

Connect a Sony DRX-500ULX, DVD+/-RW+/-R to Debin GNU/Linux using USB. Plugging it in results in a coule of beeps as usbmgr recognises it. You can also run usbview or lsusb to check that it is properly recognised. The device will be treated as a SCSI CD so you should be able to mount it as:

  # mount -t iso9660 /dev/scd1 /mnt

Create a specific mount point for it, such as /media/dvdrw:

  # mkdir /media/dvdrw

Add an appropriate line to your /etc/fstab:

  /dev/scd1  /media/dvdrw  auto  defaults,user,noauto 0 0

With cdrdao and cdrecord the CD write functionality works just fine:

  # cdrdao disk-info --device 4,0,0 --driver generic-mmc

For a DVD first create an image to burn on to the DVD.

  # mkisofs -R -o cdimage.raw dvd/

Now install dvdrecord to write to a DVD-RW with:

  # dvdrecord -v speed=2 dev=4,0,0 cdimage.raw

Note that dvdrecord does not appear to be actively maintained. Also, this dvdrecord command will fail for a DVD+RW (it only works for DVD-RW presently), so use the dvd+rw-tools instead. This package is actively maintained and also supports DVD-R(W). Format the DVD+RW with:

  # dvd+rw-format /dev/scd1

Now growisofs is meant to work but failed with this particular drive with a message indicating that the drive does not support TAO (Track At Once) mode.

  # growisofs /dev/scd1 -R -J dvd/

So instead use the pre-mastered CD image to burn the DVD+RW:

  # growisofs -Z /dev/scd1=cdimage.raw

So, to recap, to burn a DVD+RW:

  # mkisofs -R -o cdimage.raw dvd/
  # dvd+rw-format /dev/scd1
  # growisofs -Z /dev/scd1=cdimage.raw

Check out the -dvd-compat option as well