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Panasonic DVD-RAM/-R combo drive. Update: Burns great thru generic Firewire enclosure.

Eug

Eug

Lifer
OK, I've been told that in Win XP, the Panasonic DVD-RAM/R gets mounted natively and without any drivers it can do FAT32. It can also do UDF with drivers, but I'm not interested in that.

What about the DVD-R portion? Does it get mounted natively? Or does it require drivers? You get two drive letters right?

What's the difference between the LF-D311SC and the LF-321U? My local dealers only seem to have the latter, at fairly high prices.

Is the retail bundled software of any use? Or should I get 3rd party software (for DVD-R)? (I'm already thinking of getting Nero for backup.)

For double sided 9.4 GB discs, I assume the cartridges can simply be flipped over without removing the disc from the cartridge, correct?

Has anyone used this drive in a Firewire enclosure? I have an Oxford 911 box on the way. (I also have a Initio chipset enclosure I'm using with a Teac 24X CD-RW drive.)

By the way, my Panasonic RP91 DVD player reads DVD-RAM video, but I dunno what file system is necessary for it to understand it.
 
I haven't tried DVD-R discs with it yet (they're still a little too expensive for me to play around with them and risk a bad burn). My package came with 1 DVD-R disk but I've been saving it until I have a good project to use it for. I'm assuming you only get 1 drive letter for it -- just like how a CD Burner only has 1 drive letter no matter what type of disk you have in it (CD, CDR, CDRW).

I purchased the Que drive (Panasonic LF-D311). From looking at the website, the only difference between the LF-D311SC and the LF-D321U, is that the LF-D311SC has a 2 meg buffer while the LF-D321U has a 1 meg buffer.

My Que came with NeoDVD and DVDit. I haven't used DVD-R for backup. I've been using DVD-RAM for backup. I don't know how well it works using DVD-R for backup.

I also haven't tried double-sided cartridges yet. I recently bought some at CompUSA so I'll check when I get home. But I do remember that those double-sided cartridges I bought (Memorex) were not removable so I'm assuming you can just flip the cartridge over without removing the disk.

I had problems using an ADS Pyro firewire kit (Oxford 911 chip) with my Panasonic LF-D311. I could not write to it. But reading disks was fine. Couldn't figure out the problem and ADS Tech support wasn't much help.

When I get home I'll look and see if it came with any software that could use DVD-R as backup. NeoDVD and DVDit are meant to produce VCD, SVCD, and DVD type disks to DVD-R (and DVD-RAM).
 


<< I haven't tried DVD-R discs with it yet (they're still a little too expensive for me to play around with them and risk a bad burn). My package came with 1 DVD-R disk but I've been saving it until I have a good project to use it for. I'm assuming you only get 1 drive letter for it -- just like how a CD Burner only has 1 drive letter no matter what type of disk you have in it (CD, CDR, CDRW).

I purchased the Que drive (Panasonic LF-D311). From looking at the website, the only difference between the LF-D311SC and the LF-D321U, is that the LF-D311SC has a 2 meg buffer while the LF-D321U has a 1 meg buffer.

My Que came with NeoDVD and DVDit. I haven't used DVD-R for backup. I've been using DVD-RAM for backup. I don't know how well it works using DVD-R for backup.

I also haven't tried double-sided cartridges yet. I recently bought some at CompUSA so I'll check when I get home. But I do remember that those double-sided cartridges I bought (Memorex) were not removable so I'm assuming you can just flip the cartridge over without removing the disk.

I had problems using an ADS Pyro firewire kit (Oxford 911 chip) with my Panasonic LF-D311. I could not write to it. But reading disks was fine. Couldn't figure out the problem and ADS Tech support wasn't much help.

When I get home I'll look and see if it came with any software that could use DVD-R as backup. NeoDVD and DVDit are meant to produce VCD, SVCD, and DVD type disks to DVD-R (and DVD-RAM). >>


Thanks Storm,

Hmmm... I am starting to think I'm better off buying the LF-D311. No software but bigger buffer and cheaper. The problems with the Oxford 911 enclosure is worrisome, but I'll give it a shot, and I have another enclosure (with a Teac 24X CD-RW right now) which uses an Initio chipset which I could use. At the moment though, Firewire is kinda moot since I'd only be able to do DVD-R on my PC and not on my Mac iBook. iDVD won't work on my iBook because this $20 software supports only internal DVD-R drives, and DVD Studio Pro supports G4s only and is $$$$. It'd be nice to use DVD-RAM on both my PC and iBook though.

P.S. I have since verified you are correct about the cartridges. Type 1 cartridges have non-removable discs and thus double-sided ones are flippers. Type 2 cartridges have removable discs. For the 9.4 GB RAM discs I'd probably just Type 1.
 


<< Hmmm... I am starting to think I'm better off buying the LF-D311. No software but bigger buffer and cheaper. The problems with the Oxford 911 enclosure is worrisome, but I'll give it a shot, and I have another enclosure (with a Teac 24X CD-RW right now) which uses an Initio chipset which I could use. >>



If you get it to work, please tell me about it. I really would like to get my DVD-RAM working from a firewire enclosure so I can share it with all my computers. I'm also curious about your Initio firewire enclosure. I have a couple of Initio SCSI cards and they all work great -- so maybe I should try an Initio enclosure.
 


<< DVD R/RW discs sell for 2 or 3$, what's the big deal with a bad burn? Nuff to buy 2 bigslams.. so big deal..
>>



Yeah, they're getting cheaper. I think they were around $7 when I first bought my drive but they're still a little expensive for me to feel comfortable burning a lot of them.
 


<<

<< Hmmm... I am starting to think I'm better off buying the LF-D311. No software but bigger buffer and cheaper. The problems with the Oxford 911 enclosure is worrisome, but I'll give it a shot, and I have another enclosure (with a Teac 24X CD-RW right now) which uses an Initio chipset which I could use. >>



If you get it to work, please tell me about it. I really would like to get my DVD-RAM working from a firewire enclosure so I can share it with all my computers. I'm also curious about your Initio firewire enclosure. I have a couple of Initio SCSI cards and they all work great -- so maybe I should try an Initio enclosure. >>


The Firewire case I have now just happened to use the Initio chipset, but nowhere is it specified as such. I just got it because it was cheap ($67) and it's irrelevant how fast the chipset is for ROM drives. (It's slower than the Oxford 911 chipset and I'm guessing it maxes out way below 20 MB/s, but that's only important if I stick a hard drive in it.)

The new Oxford 911 case I ordered is a combo Firewire/USB 1.1 case, for $69. I'll try that one first.
 


<<

<< Hmmm... I am starting to think I'm better off buying the LF-D311. No software but bigger buffer and cheaper. The problems with the Oxford 911 enclosure is worrisome, but I'll give it a shot, and I have another enclosure (with a Teac 24X CD-RW right now) which uses an Initio chipset which I could use. >>



If you get it to work, please tell me about it. I really would like to get my DVD-RAM working from a firewire enclosure so I can share it with all my computers. I'm also curious about your Initio firewire enclosure. I have a couple of Initio SCSI cards and they all work great -- so maybe I should try an Initio enclosure. >>


Well, I got the drive installed. The LF-D311 only has a 1 MB buffer, but fortunately it has burn proof. It turns out the 2 MB is a misprint and the drive is identical to the LF-D321, which is simply the retail version with more software and free media. To my surprise my OEM version came with neoDVD Standard software too (in addition to the driver disc), although I've been told it's not that great.

With the Initio chipset Firewire enclosure, Mac OS X (iBook) and Windows XP (desktop) both recognize it fine with no extra drivers. Roxio Toast (for the Mac) recognizes it as a DVD-R drive. Nero recognizes it as DVD-RAM drive in one section but then calls it a DVD-R/RW drive somewhere else. For some reason, Windows goes by the enclosure and not the drive. I have set my CD-RW in that enclosure to drive T (for Teac). When I took out the CD-RW and replaced it with the DVD-RAM/R drive it still gets set as drive T.

It reads CD-ROMs fine, but so far I can't test DVD burning because I have neither DVD-RAM nor DVD-R media.
 


<< If you get it to work, please tell me about it. I really would like to get my DVD-RAM working from a firewire enclosure so I can share it with all my computers. I'm also curious about your Initio firewire enclosure. I have a couple of Initio SCSI cards and they all work great -- so maybe I should try an Initio enclosure. >>


I haven't tried DVD-RAM yet because my drive didn't come with any and my discs are still on order. I have successfully burned two DVD-Rs though, one with my Mac and one with my PC. The Mac one was a direct backup of a non-encrypted DVD video, using Toast, and it works fine in all of my machines. The second was a backup of an encrypted DVD using Smartripper and Nero. The PC burnt one works in the PC (in both my DVD-RAM/R and my DVD-ROM drives). However, while it plays on my Apex, it does not play on my Panasonic standalone DVD player. My Mac reads the data on the disc fine, but won't play it with the DVD player.

I think the reason for the problems with the second disc is because I don't know how to set Smartripper and Nero properly. It was my very first attempt at this and I'm 100% sure I've created a non-standard disc. But the data is there with no errors as far as I can tell.

Interestingly, it seems that Smartripper doesn't seem to like ripping DVD with the DVD-RAM/R drive. I guess because of the Firewire enclosure, ASPI is not available to it. But it plays commercial DVDs fine and reads non-encrypted DVDs fine too. Also, driveinfo (freeware app which gives firmware info on installed ROM drives) doesn't even see the drive.

By the way, I found a region free flash utility for the drive, but I'm too chicken to use it at this point since there's no revert to normal flash utility for it.

Oh yeah, I also found some cheap name brand DVD-RAM media here. I dunno anything about the reliability of this place, but we'll see.
 


<< Well, I got the drive installed. The LF-D311 only has a 1 MB buffer, but fortunately it has burn proof. It turns out the 2 MB is a misprint and the drive is identical to the LF-D321, which is simply the retail version with more software and free media. To my surprise my OEM version came with neoDVD Standard software too (in addition to the driver disc), although I've been told it's not that great.
 >>



Yeah, I just discovered it was a misprint. Mine has only a 1 meg buffer too. Didn't know it had burn-proof. NeoDVD seemed okay -- I'm looking for something better. One neat thing about NeoDVD was that I was able to use it to copy a non-encrypted Hong Kong DVD to DVD-RAM and it played back perfectly with PowerDVD.



<<
With the Initio chipset Firewire enclosure, Mac OS X (iBook) and Windows XP (desktop) both recognize it fine with no extra drivers. Roxio Toast (for the Mac) recognizes it as a DVD-R drive. Nero recognizes it as DVD-RAM drive in one section but then calls it a DVD-R/RW drive somewhere else. For some reason, Windows goes by the enclosure and not the drive. I have set my CD-RW in that enclosure to drive T (for Teac). When I took out the CD-RW and replaced it with the DVD-RAM/R drive it still gets set as drive T.

It reads CD-ROMs fine, but so far I can't test DVD burning because I have neither DVD-RAM nor DVD-R media.
>>



Maybe I should gett an Initio chipset based Firewire enclosure to try it out. I didn't have Nero to try but with the Pyro ADS firewire enclosure (Oxford 911), NeoDVD kept saying it couldn't write to my DVD-RAM cartridge -- I think it thought it was write protected or something.

BTW, I apologize for not writing back about other authoring software encluded with my Que drive (retail package of the Panasonic DVD-RAM/R drive). Everytime I get home I've been playing Dungeon Siege and I forget about checking the stuff I got with my Que drive.
 


<< I haven't tried DVD-RAM yet because my drive didn't come with any and my discs are still on order. I have successfully burned two DVD-Rs though, one with my Mac and one with my PC. The Mac one was a direct backup of a non-encrypted DVD video, using Toast, and it works fine in all of my machines. The second was a backup of an encrypted DVD using Smartripper and Nero. The PC burnt one works in the PC (in both my DVD-RAM/R and my DVD-ROM drives). However, while it plays on my Apex, it does not play on my Panasonic standalone DVD player. My Mac reads the data on the disc fine, but won't play it with the DVD player.

I think the reason for the problems with the second disc is because I don't know how to set Smartripper and Nero properly. It was my very first attempt at this and I'm 100% sure I've created a non-standard disc. But the data is there with no errors as far as I can tell.

Interestingly, it seems that Smartripper doesn't seem to like ripping DVD with the DVD-RAM/R drive. I guess because of the Firewire enclosure, ASPI is not available to it. But it plays commercial DVDs fine and reads non-encrypted DVDs fine too. Also, driveinfo (freeware app which gives firmware info on installed ROM drives) doesn't even see the drive.

By the way, I found a region free flash utility for the drive, but I'm too chicken to use it at this point since there's no revert to normal flash utility for it.
 >>



Cool, how long does it take to rip and burn an encrypted DVD with Smartripper? I've looked into playing around with stuff like that but I always find the instructions confusing. Does it take a long time to rip a DVD? From reading info on the net, it seems like it takes a long time to backup a encrypted DVD and re-encode it (if the original DVD was bigger than 4.7 gigs) down to fit on a 4.7 DVD-R -- so long that it makes it not worthwhile to back it up.

Before I was really keen on getting region-free DVD players but I realize that I have no need of such a thing -- the only DVDs I have are region 1 and all the Hong Kong DVDs I get are all-region.

With my firewire based enclosure, the only problem I seemed to have was writing to a DVD-RAM cartridge. I seemed to play back everything okay. Even Panasonic's Drive Info utility was able to read the firmware version on it -- I never tried driveinfo on it though...
 


<< Maybe I should gett an Initio chipset based Firewire enclosure to try it out. I didn't have Nero to try but with the Pyro ADS firewire enclosure (Oxford 911), NeoDVD kept saying it couldn't write to my DVD-RAM cartridge -- I think it thought it was write protected or something.

BTW, I apologize for not writing back about other authoring software encluded with my Que drive (retail package of the Panasonic DVD-RAM/R drive). Everytime I get home I've been playing Dungeon Siege and I forget about checking the stuff I got with my Que drive. >>


Hmmm... Might be the software, but then again I haven't tried DVD-RAM yet. The only stores locally that had it in stock had them at ridiculously high prices. OTOH, it seems that Mac OS X just loves this drive. After I plug in the drive I get a "copy to DVD-RAM" option in the menu in Toast, and as I said earlier I burned a DVD-R fine. (I installed no drivers on the Mac.)

Heh, don't worry about the software. As you already know I already bought the drive. 😀
 
I've been looking at the Sony DVD write drives. They look good but are they better than panisonic?

Also, does it have to say DVD-R to burn DVD-R? It says it can burn DVD-RWs.....
 


<< Cool, how long does it take to rip and burn an encrypted DVD with Smartripper? I've looked into playing around with stuff like that but I always find the instructions confusing. Does it take a long time to rip a DVD? From reading info on the net, it seems like it takes a long time to backup a encrypted DVD and re-encode it (if the original DVD was bigger than 4.7 gigs) down to fit on a 4.7 DVD-R -- so long that it makes it not worthwhile to back it up. >>


Ripping the DVD to disc is only about 20 minutes, at about 2.5X with my Pioneer DVD-ROM drive. Burning was about 55 minutes. This was for a 4.3 GB (~4600000 Kbytes or 4.6 "GB" using drive terminology). I've burned only one single layer disc so I can't tell you how long a re-encode would take, but my brief experience with DVDx suggests to me that re-encoding a full DVD would take just about forever on my Celeron. I'm only willing to do this for the very few uncommon or very expensive discs I have. For the rest, I can just buy a new DVD if my first one goes bad.
 


<< I've been looking at the Sony DVD write drives. They look good but are they better than panisonic?

Also, does it have to say DVD-R to burn DVD-R? It says it can burn DVD-RWs.....
>>



A DVD-R/W drive should be able to write to both DVD-R/W and DVD-R disks.

The DVD+R/W drive cannot write to DVD-R -- it can only write to DVD+R/W disks (and 2nd generation models will be able to write to future DVD+R disks).

A lot of people like DVD-R/W drives better than the DVD-RAM/R drives. I think DVD-RAM format is better for archiving stuff (data). DVD-R/W is probably better for video stuff. Of course, they both do DVD-R which is the best for compatibility for playback on DVD settop players.

If your DVD player is compatible with DVD-R/W disks and you are mainly interested in video stuff, DVD-R/W is probably the better format.
 
I don't think Sony makes DVD-RW drives. They do make DVD+RW drives though, but these do NOT burn DVD+R or DVD-R. There is a DVD+R capable DVD+RW drive coming out soon from them though.

So far DVD+R media is quite expensive, because the drives capable of recording to them (eg. new HP 200i and newest Ricoh) just came out this month. DVD-R discs are much cheaper and probably the best drive for those (if you don't need DVD-RAM) is the Pioneer A04 DVD-RW/DVD-R drive.

Right now, set top standalone DVD player compability with DVD-RW and DVD+RW is terrible. Compatibility with DVD-R is excellent. We don't know too much about DVD+R yet, but initial reports seem to suggest that DVD+R compatibility is also excellent. Set top DVD player compatibility with DVD-RAM is almost non-existent.

Strangely enough, my Panasonic set top player (RP91) supports all of the above formats.
 


<< Ripping the DVD to disc is only about 20 minutes, at about 2.5X with my Pioneer DVD-ROM drive. Burning was about 55 minutes. This was for a 4.3 GB (~4600000 Kbytes or 4.6 "GB" using drive terminology). I've burned only one single layer disc so I can't tell you how long a re-encode would take, but my brief experience with DVDx suggests to me that re-encoding a full DVD would take just about forever on my Celeron. I'm only willing to do this for the very few uncommon or very expensive discs I have. For the rest, I can just buy a new DVD if my first one goes bad.
>>



Oh wait-a-minute. I already ripped a DVD disk when I made a copy of that Hong Kong unencrypted DVD. Yeah, it didn't take long to do it. I guess the time consuming part is if you have to re-encode it.
 


<<

<< I've been looking at the Sony DVD write drives. They look good but are they better than panisonic?

Also, does it have to say DVD-R to burn DVD-R? It says it can burn DVD-RWs.....
>>



A DVD-R/W drive should be able to write to both DVD-R/W and DVD-R disks.

The DVD+R/W drive cannot write to DVD-R -- it can only write to DVD+R/W disks (and 2nd generation models will be able to write to future DVD+R disks).

A lot of people like DVD-R/W drives better than the DVD-RAM/R drives. I think DVD-RAM format is better for archiving stuff (data). DVD-R/W is probably better for video stuff. Of course, they both do DVD-R which is the best for compatibility for playback on DVD settop players.

If your DVD player is compatible with DVD-R/W disks and you are mainly interested in video stuff, DVD-R/W is probably the better format. >>



Thanks a bunch. Thats what I thought. Sony is putting a new one out that does both DVD-RWs and DVD-Rs in May.
 
OK so, not everything is rosy through the Firewire enclosure.

Some basic info:

Macs come with UDF 1.5 and HFS/HFS+ support, as well as DOS support. (I'm not sure if "DOS" means FAT16 or FAT32, but I do know that they support FAT32 hard drives.)
Windows XP supports UDF 1.5 and 2.0, but for read only. Write is FAT32 only.
The Panasonic XP driver supports read/writes for UDF 1.5, UDF 2.0, and FAT32. However, this is apparently only when connected directly to the IDE bus.

On my system, the Panasonic LF-D311 does not seem to support DVD-RAM UDF 2.0 and FAT32 through a Firewire enclosure, under Windows XP.

DVD-R burning and DVD-RAM UDF 1.5 seem to work fine, although once a disc is formatted to UDF 1.5 it can't be reformatted with the Panasonic software, to any other format (or even the same UDF 1.5 format). However, with a blank DVD-RAM I can format it to UDF 2.0 or FAT32, but not write to it.
rolleye.gif
The odd part is that Windows normally supports writes to FAT32 natively as I said. I called Panasonic, and they said they don't support non-Panasonic enclosures (obviously), and that I'd have to call the maker of my enclosure.

My enclosure is an Initio chipset enclosure. I will be getting an Oxford 911 chipset enclosure but I don't think that will work either. Stormrider has an Oxford 911 chipset enclosure and he has problems as well with DVD-RAM writing.

I have used a Mac with OS X.1.4 with the Panasonic drive with relative success, again with DVD-R and DVD-RAM UDF 1.5. I have no burning software for DVD-RAM UDF 2.0 and Panasonic does not provide a Mac driver.

If both DVD-R and UDF 1.5 thru Firewire both work on the Mac and on the PC, why do I care?

1) I can't reformat the disc with the Panasonic software once it's been formatted to UDF 1.5. I have to use a 3rd party app to erase the disc, but these are a bit flaky. Nero's erase works (even though the software doesn't support DVD-RAM at all supposedly), but then hangs at the end. (Even though it hangs it does erase the disc so I can then reformat it using the Panasonic software.)
2) The Mac's built in drive utility software seems to have issues on reformatting these discs too, but Toast works fine when I burn a DVD-RAM data disc even if the disc is already formatted. 😕
3) My set tup DVD player supports only DVD-RAM UDF 2.0. It be nice to create test DVDs using DVD-RAM (although I don't own a miniDV camera so I don't have any video content to do this with anyway 😛).

Also, a couple more issues, that Stormrider might find interesting:

1) Nero does not support DVD-RAM
2) neoDVD does not support DVD-RAM
3) Dunno about UDF 2.0, but at least for UDF 1.5, the disc size slightly smaller than a full DVD. Thus you can't fit a completely filled 4.7 GB DVD-Video disc on a UDF 1.5 disc. If you want to rip commercial DVDs to DVD-RAM, that means that not only will dual layer discs be a problem, but so will some single-layer discs. That said, it's not a big deal for me, since I don't do this much. (It'd be nice to convert my rare alternate region discs to all region. It'd also be nice to back up the rare hard-to-get discs. However, it's kinda moot because I can just do that right on DVD-R anyway. Also I have a second all-region player. )

By the way, does anyone know of any software to burn UDF 2.0 DVD-RAM discs? I know Prassi burns DVD-RAM, and I think UDF 2.0 too, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm thinking a program like this can get around the problems. If not, then I guess I'm resigned to reinstalling the drive back into the PC. With the thing directly installed in the PC and Panasonic driver, I can just create drag and drop UDF 2.0 discs. Is that correct Stormrider?
 


<< The Panasonic XP driver supports read/writes for UDF 1.5, UDF 2.0, and FAT32. However, this is apparently only when connected directly to the IDE bus.

On my system, the Panasonic LF-D311 does not seem to support DVD-RAM UDF 2.0 and FAT32 through a Firewire enclosure, under Windows XP.

DVD-R burning and DVD-RAM UDF 1.5 seem to work fine, although once a disc is formatted to UDF 1.5 it can't be reformatted with the Panasonic software, to any other format (or even the same UDF 1.5 format). However, with a blank DVD-RAM I can format it to UDF 2.0 or FAT32, but not write to it.
rolleye.gif
The odd part is that Windows normally supports writes to FAT32 natively as I said. I called Panasonic, and they said they don't support non-Panasonic enclosures (obviously), and that I'd have to call the maker of my enclosure.
 >>



Eug,

Thanks for the interesting post. Perhaps that's why I couldn't write to the DVD-RAM through my firewire enclosure -- I was using FAT32 format. I hope they work out the problems with using firewire enclosures with their DVD-RAM drive. What's odd is that Que sells a firewire external version of their Panasonic DVD-RAM drive -- so I don't understand why we are experiencing some problems with it.



<< 2) neoDVD does not support DVD-RAM >>



Hmmm, that's weird -- I could have sworn I used neoDVD to make a copy of an unencrypted Hong Kong DVD to DVD-RAM. Maybe I used something else...



<< By the way, does anyone know of any software to burn UDF 2.0 DVD-RAM discs? I know Prassi burns DVD-RAM, and I think UDF 2.0 too, but I'm not 100% sure. I'm thinking a program like this can get around the problems. If not, then I guess I'm resigned to reinstalling the drive back into the PC. With the thing directly installed in the PC and Panasonic driver, I can just create drag and drop UDF 2.0 discs. Is that correct Stormrider?
>>



Right now, I have my Panasonic DVD-RAM connected to a SIIG Ultra100 PCI adapter and I just formatted a DVD-RAM to UDF 2.0 format (with the Panasonic driver) and I drag some files from the hard drive and copied it to the DVD-RAM. Works perfect.
 


<< 3) Dunno about UDF 2.0, but at least for UDF 1.5, the disc size slightly smaller than a full DVD. Thus you can't fit a completely filled 4.7 GB DVD-Video disc on a UDF 1.5 disc. If you want to rip commercial DVDs to DVD-RAM, that means that not only will dual layer discs be a problem, but so will some single-layer discs. That said, it's not a big deal for me, since I don't do this much. (It'd be nice to convert my rare alternate region discs to all region. It'd also be nice to back up the rare hard-to-get discs. However, it's kinda moot because I can just do that right on DVD-R anyway. Also I have a second all-region player. )
>>



With UDF 2.0, I get a formatted capacity of about 4.18 gigs (I think -- I'm forgetting the exact number now -- maybe it was also 4.17 gigs) and with FAT32, I get about 4.17 gigs. I was able to copy that Hong Kong DVD because it was smaller than 4.17 gigs. I tried another Hong Kong DVD and it was too big to fit.
 


<< Right now, I have my Panasonic dvd-RAM connected to a SIIG Ultra100 PCI adapter and I just formatted a dvd-RAM to UDF 2.0 format (with the Panasonic driver) and I drag some files from the hard drive and copied it to the dvd-RAM. Works perfect. >>

Dammit I think I'm going to reformat my Windows XP system. (Had some other minor issues as well.) I installed the drive directly in my PC, and I got the EXACT same problems as I did when I was using the Firewire enclosure. Something is definitely wonky here and it may not directly be the Panasonic driver per se.

Now to decide if I want a new mobo etc. too... Maybe dual monitor. 😀
 
OK. I reformatted Windows XP. Now UDF 1.5, UDF 2.0, and FAT32 all work perfectly through Firewire. Read AND write. Dunno what my previous problem was.

I also learned that FAT32 doesn't work in DVD-RAM on the Mac.

By the way, I dunno how to make my set top DVD-Video DVD-RAM player play a DVD-RAM disc. I know it works with UDF 2.0 DVD-RAM from a camcorder but it doesn't seem to work with a ripped movie.
 
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