Is two optical drives possible?

[drmoneejd]

i want to be able to insert a dvd into one drive, and completely copy it onto another. now i have the software, (brasero disc burner) and one DVD-R and one DVD drive. but i noticed that if i put a disc into one, the other wouldn't open. i then discovered on the home directory that the OS only saw one optical drive, instead of both. so how do i fix this?

[DrHu]

Well they are not connected at the same place in the directory, except by the generic name under media
cdrom0 is linked to cdrom, why only one device might show up in the /media list, however you do have media inserted into each drive, to check Yes or No

In /etc/fstab you could manually fix it
--create a mount point for the other dvd drive; whatever the device name will be ?

Code: Select all

sudo mkdir mymount
sudo mount /dev/sdc /mymount/dvd_1
sudo mount /dev/sdd /mymount/dvd_2 

You can either use label= or the blkid command to identify the uuid device numbers for the /etc/fstab mount points..

• blkid - command-line utility to locate/print block device attributes
  SYNOPSIS
  blkid [ -ghlLv ] [ [ -c cachefile ] -w writecachefile ] [ -o format ] [
  -s tag ] [ -t NAME=value ] [ device ... ]
  DESCRIPTION
  The blkid program is the command-line interface to working with lib‐
  blkid(3) library. It can determine the type of content (e.g. filesys‐
  tem, swap) a block device holds, and also attributes (tokens,
  NAME=value pairs) from the content metadata (e.g. LABEL or UUID
  fields).

[drmoneejd]

okay, thank you for your input, however maybe i should have mentioned that i am new at all this, and i dont quite understand the code process. can you try to explain a little bit more?

[DrHu]

https://help.ubuntu.com/9.04/installati ... -tree.html

I don't have two dvd drives to mount, but basically I am saying you need to manually setup the device selections to a mount point ( a place in the directory tree from /(root; the beginning of that tree, like c:\ in windows) downwards, like /usr, /mnt, /dev etc), that you can control by yourself

• If you type ls /, you will see the tree list
  ls /
  bin dev initrd.img lost+found opt sbin sys var
  boot etc initrd.img.old media proc selinux tmp vmlinuz
  cdrom home lib mnt root srv usr vmlinuz.old

--and if you check the ls command options, like ls -l /tmp/mydvd1 you will get some data; if you have the media inserted and you had created that mountpoint
http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/adsense ... &sa=Search
http://www.computerhope.com/unix/uls.htm

• One of the related commands examples..tree
  I cd'd (Changed Directory, same as windows..) to / before running that command
  tree -L 1
  .
  |-- bin
  |-- boot
  |-- cdrom -> media/cdrom
  |-- dev

To make it available to you always, you would have to change the fstab (file system tabulator (lists) for the mount points; the mounted or available disks, like hard drives, usb devices or optical (cdrom type devices (that includes dvd, cd)), which is why /media/cdrom is the default location for those devices (CD or DVD)
http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/

You won't risk anything if you manually mkdir the mount point to see if you can see both devices..
--although you have to be root (admin user) in order to do that, hence the sudo prefix
sudo mkdir /tmp/mydvd1
sudo mkdir /tmp/mydvd2
--you can skip the sudo for mkdir as you have permission(access) to rw(ReadWrite) that /tmp folder; but you need the sudo prefix to mount the device at that location
sudo mount /dev/sdc /tmp/mydvd1
sudo mount /dev/sdd /tmp/mydvd2
But, the surest/safest place to play/experiment is probably your own /home directory, you have mostly complete control there (well apart from mounting a device)
--I usually use /tmp. because it will disappear on a reboot, and I do have permission to rw into that directory, by default..

Try a set of command like that to see if both devices show up for you..
You can insert media (disk) into each dvd in turn, then in a terminal check the dmesg command dmesg , to see each device's name according to the system

[drmoneejd]

Thank you for continuing to try to explain. so basically i have to find the device number by typing blkid, and then make a directory that monitors that device, by mounting the device number into the directory i have created, which would be titled mymount? is that what im supposed to be doing? it is still somewhat over my head, but im really trying to grasp this, because im sure it will be very beneficial in the long run.

[DrHu]

I don't know if it can actually show more than one device under cdrom, I only have one installed, so I couldn't tell you for sure..

However, manually controlling the mountpoints for the appropriate device name should allow you to mount more than one cd/dvd device..
--there are a few commands that can help determine the device name, mount is one..

• mount
  /dev/sr0 on /media/cdrom0 type udf (ro,nosuid,nodev,utf8,user=mintuserID)

Mine's exists because of /etc/fstab
So, if you can determine the device name for the two dvd drives, and if there are on the same ribbon cable, then it will be the next letter or number , like /dev/sr0, next is /dev/sr1, or /dev/sdc, next is /dev/sdd
You could then just duplicate the entry for the one that is in /etc/fstab (media/cdrom mount ), and change the last character (# or letter)
______________________________________________________________________________

Let me try and be clearer
determine the device name for each optical drive that is installed in your computer

The easiest way to do that, insert a disk (media) into each drive and check
In a terminal
type the command dmesg
--look for the device name appearing when you inserted removed the media into each dvd drive..

blkid was just to find the uuid identifier
--you don't have to use that, you can also use the device name , such as /dev/sdc

And yes, you would have to mount it somewhere to see if you can have both drives mounted, hence the two different directory names
/tmp/mydvd/dvd1
/tmp/mydvd/dvd2
--pick you own names, and your own directories (folders); as long as you can create a directory with mkdir, then you have access to that location, and can mount the device
sudo mount /dev/sdc /tmp/mydvd/dvd1
..that's the idea

And about as much as I can explain it..

[drmoneejd]

okay, thank you very much for explaining. i haven't quite got it yet, but i think ill get it. you have been of very much assistance. thank you

[drmoneejd]

i feel slightly embarrassed to say this, but i found my mistake. and i know i told you i was new to linux, but not to hardware, and i made a beginners mistake. when you mentioned them being on the same ribbon (EIDE) cable, it reminded me of the jumper settings. i forgot to switch it to slave. but thank you very much for your help and time

[DrHu]

It's them there durn manufacturers, trying to make it easy on themselves and us..
--I liken it to the sliding/automatic seat-belts in some cars, which I find mostly annoying and not helpful at all; I don't have to be told/shown how to belt-up the seatbelt..

No problem, I always used to use master/slave until CS (Cable Select ) suddenly started appearing on drives, which is basically a kludge for lazy manufacturers or users, so we don't have to fiddle with pin jumpers
--the pin jumpers ms/sl (master/slave) were always the most sure way of connecting.,.

I really hated that twisted ribbon cable for floppy drives

[drmoneejd]

yeah, i always go mixed up on which floppy was A and which was B on the twisted ribbon cable. but im slowly switching to sata.