dvd-ram-control

check or set features of DVD-RAM discs

TLDR

Show current settings of a DVD-RAM disc

$ dvd-ram-control [/dev/dvd]

Make the disc read-only (persistent write protection)

$ dvd-ram-control -rdonly [/dev/dvd]

Re-enable read/write access

$ dvd-ram-control -rdwr [/dev/dvd]

Enable automatic write relocation (AWRE)

$ dvd-ram-control -awre [/dev/dvd]

Enable automatic read relocation (ARRE)

$ dvd-ram-control -arre [/dev/dvd]

SYNOPSIS

dvd-ram-control [-arre] [-awre] [-rdonly|-rdwr] /dev/dvd

dvd-ram-control is part of the dvd+rw-tools suite and lets you inspect or change low-level features of a DVD-RAM disc. Running it with no option flags prints the current state of the disc's Persistent Write Protection and AWRE/ARRE flags. Adding a flag toggles or sets the corresponding feature in the drive's defect management data.Persistent Write Protection (-rdonly / -rdwr) turns the whole disc into a read-only or read-write medium; AWRE and ARRE control automatic sector reallocation on write or read errors.

PARAMETERS

/dev/dvd

The DVD-RAM drive device to operate on.

-rdonly

Turn on persistent write protection (read-only).

-rdwr

Turn off persistent write protection (read-write).

-awre

Toggle Automatic Write Relocation Enable.

-arre

Toggle Automatic Read Relocation Enable.

CAVEATS

Only works with DVD-RAM media (not DVD±R, DVD±RW, or Blu-ray). Needs access to the raw device (usually as root or as a member of the `cdrom`/`disk` group). Persistent Write Protection can outlive the current session — re-enable read/write explicitly before attempting to burn.

HISTORY

dvd-ram-control ships with dvd+rw-tools by Andy Polyakov, a suite of utilities for working with DVD±RW, DVD±R, and DVD-RAM media on Unix.