Can set but not remove dvd-ram write protect

Newbie Forum
#1

Hi there, I just shot myself in my foot and am now bleeding profusely all over your living room carpet. Just kidding but I sort of did shoot myself in the foot and I do need your help here:

Linux, i386, Kernel 2.6.8 (debian)
dvd+rw-tools v6.0
using ide-scsi module (makes ide devices appear as scsi devices)
NEC 4550A burner, original fw v1.06
Panasonic DVD-RAM 3X Speed

I went and write protected the media with following command:

dvd-ram-control -rdonly /dev/dvd

Trouble is… I can’t remove the write protection anymore with

dvd-ram-control -rdwr /dev/dvd
The utility tells me the media is already unprotected.

and trying to write to the media drowns my syslog in:

end_request: I/O error, dev sr0, sector 1644
Buffer I/O error on device sr0, logical block 411
lost page write due to I/O error on sr0
SCSI error : <0 0 0 0> return code = 0x8000002
Current sr0: sense key Data Protect
Additional sense: Persistent write protect

Of course the right thing to do would be to get a new dvd-ram and move on. But since I want to use the dvd-ram for backups I find the write protection feature somewhat useful. I’d appreciate it if someone could help me out here.

Regards
John Geltenfloor

#2

I didn’t even ask the question in this forum but still here’s the info: With kernel 2.6.8 the drive I have has a write rate on dvd-rams of a whooping 150KB/sec which boils down to more or less 8 hours for 4.3 GB…

As far as the slow writing speed is concerned I’ve come across an issue with kernel 2.6.8 and later kernels. I tried 2.6.15 (debian) and now at least I get 750KB/s (45MB/min / 4.3 GB/ in about 100 min). Actually both drive and media should be good for a burn time of a maximum of 40 minutes (at 3x speed) so I’m still working on that.

I"m still stumped with getting the write protection flag unset on the media. I was hoping someone would be able to help me out on that one.