Should I Worry About Mt. Rainier Support?

MBCook asks: "I've been thinking of buying a writable DVD drive, specifically the Sony DRX500LX, an external CD-RW and DVD+/-RW drive. I need a drive to be able to store files on and make DVDs. It needs to be external so that I can share it between my desktop and my laptop, and it needs Firewire. The external version of the Sony drive seems perfect. It's fast, has very good reviews, and supports BOTH the +RW and -RW formats.The thing that I'm not sure about is that it lacks Mt. Rainier support (known as CD-MRW). Should I worry about this?"

"Now if you're not familiar with it the idea is to make it so you can use CD-RWs as floppies (same as DirectCD) only it's supports things like defect correction (instead of making the OS do that work) and eliminate formatting times. But the drive doesn't support writing to the format. Is this something that could be added in a firmware upgrade? Also, it looks like Mt. Rainier is also supposed to be for DVD+RW discs. Is this true?

Mt. Rainier drives have been on the market for a while now. It's not too common because it requires 3rd party software if the OS doesn't support it natively (I don't think it will be in Windows until Longhorn, and it looks like there are patches for the Linux kernel).

Can it be added with a firmware upgrade? Have a better drive suggestion? Can it be added with just software? Will it be a moot issue because of recordable DVD drives?"

Re:Mt Rainier

[balamw]

Looks pretty big from Seattle. ;-)

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8 &oe=UTF-8&q=mount+rainier [google.com]

Balam

Re:Mt Rainier

[RealityMogul]

Only on the 3 days of the year it's actually visible.

Re:Mt Rainier

[Bazman]

I dont know if RedHat Linux supports Mt Rainier, but here [redhat.com] you will find Mount Rainier supporting (some of) RedHat!

Ask yourself this

[CableModemSniper]

Do you want to be able to use CD/DVDs as floppies? if the answer is yes, keep looking. Otherwise, pickup the drive.

Alternative?

[TubeSteak]

UDF could be used as an alternative for drag and drop packet writing. I don't see a reason not to get a non-Mt. Rainier drive, it won't be too much trouble to put your '3rd party software' on both computers. If you're not in a hurry then wait, but it could be a few years. As for data integrity, the backup nuts will tell you that you should be storing your data in three different places anyways... there's no compelling reason not to go ahead with the Sony.

Another Alternative

[TubeSteak]

Nobody has mention DVD-RAM so far... RAM discs have a 100,000 read/write life compared to 1,000 for +/-RW's. The cartrige (which you don't have to use) makes for a somewhat more robust disc, especially since you plan to take the drive back and forth. -R/RAM is another avenue you can take and RAM discs are better suited for use as a floppy disc than any of the others.

Probably not

[Phexro]

Mt. Rainier still doesn't have a lot of support, so you're not going to miss out on much. Firmware upgrades can add support for it in the future. For example, the Plextor 40/12/40A [plextor.com] I bought last year has a firmware update which adds Mt. Rainier support [plextor.com].

If there's demand, Sony will probably do something similar for their drive in the future.

Re:Probably not

[mr3038]

Firmware upgrades can add support for it in the future.

Well, perhaps they can, but it's up to the manufacturer. For example, I have a Pioneer DVD drive that wants to read all DVDs with 16x speed. Needless to say, it's a loud drive to watch movies with. I complained to Pioneer and asked if they could release a firmware patch to slow down the drive. They replied something along the lines "it would be impossible because the hardware couldn't support it". I consider that reply as bullshit as the drive already

Re:Probably not

[Uncle Jimmy]

http://www.pioneeraus.com.au/multimedia/software/s oftware_files.htm#Utility_Programs

Re:Probably not

[mr3038]

The link you provided [pioneeraus.com.au] contains firmware for "DVD-116, DVD-106S and DVD-A06S drives." Unfortunately for me, I've DVD-115 which is locked to 16x. Perhaps I should go digging to web in case somebody has hacked firmware to work with 115 too...

Page even says: "Note. works with Pioneer 6 series models only." Why is that? Why isn't any other model supported? I wish manufacturers would release source code to firmware too so I could fix the issue by myself when the manufacturer is just too lazy.

Re:Probably not

[The Clockwork Troll]

Page even says: "Note. works with Pioneer 6 series models only." Why is that? Why isn't any other model supported? I wish manufacturers would release source code to firmware too so I could fix the issue by myself when the manufacturer is just too lazy.

The issue with releasing firmware code for CD/DVD drives is that the consumer could presumably hack the motor controller to spin faster than light and temporal anomaly insurance rates are already pretty damn high here in 3067.

Re:Probably not

[compwizrd]

My Verbatim 32x10x40, which is the Liteon LTR-32123S.

There's a hacked firmware out there which turns it into the LTR-40125S, which adds Mt. Ranier support and runs at 40x burn, 12x rewrite, 48x read, instead of the 32x10x40.

Haven't tried it though.

Future Proofing vs. Cost

[Alereon]

Bottom line: If you don't plan to use Mt. Rainier yourself, then you probably don't have to worry about reading other people's CD-MRW discs until you're in the market for new burner anyway. Mt. Rainier IS a very usefull and time-saving tech, but only you can decide if you think its worth paying for now.

Firmware upgrades...

[shaitand]

I used to work for sony, and while pretty much anything with a laser in it made by sony is reasonable quality, the price is almost always too high and the support is god aweful. Do not count on Sony adding too much in terms of functionality via firmware upgrades. Generally sony releases a newer drive with the feature or doesn't release it instead. Remember when they released the new set of clie handhelds with the improved display... well the actual hardware in the display was identical to the previous model, the only difference was a firmware upgrade.... they based the entire new model on a firmware upgrade.

Clarification of Mt Rainier support requirements

[Massivenasty]

To answer some of your questions, yes Mount Rainier can be implemented in the firmware of many drives that dont natively support Mt Rainier. There are some prerequisites, but almost any modern drive that supports packet writing and buffer undderrun protection (ie the ability to accurately store and return to media locations) meets them. Of course it needs to write to a media whose format supports Mt Rainier. In theory any modern CDRW drive (with decent short-gap "buffer undderrun protection") could be up

It depends

[Andy Dodd]

Do you need Mt. Ranier (or packet writing in general?)

Keep in mind that in some circles, packet writing of CDs is considered an excellent way to lose your data, and nothing more.

Re:It depends

[goofrider]

Keep in mind that in some circles, packet writing of CDs is considered an excellent way to lose your data, and nothing more.

It's a known fact that traditional packet writing is very unreliable because a few minor defects can render an entire disc unreadable.AFAIK, this is one of the things that Mount Rainier intended to address with its built-in defect management. Hence, Mount Rainier would be a must-have if anyone wants to use packet writing in general.

Mount Rainier, packet writing and DVD-RAM

[goofrider]

I agreed with all the previous posters that if a drive doesn't support Mount Rainier already, don't count on a firmware upgrade being available in the future.

Philips latest 4x DVD+RW drive DVDRW416K [philips.com] is the first DVD+RW drive supports Mount Rainier. Note that it was just announced at CeBit last month and it's not shipping yet.

Do consider that if Mount Rainier is important to you, alternatively you might want to consider DVD-RAM. The new Panasonic LF-D521 can read and write DVD-RAM, DVD-R/RW and CD-R/RW