Burn ISO to cd/DVD/BD linux command line

rick

There are still those times when {place whatever issue or project here} will require burning optical media, even a CD if you enjoy toying around with older, even ancient hardware.

That said there are many GUI programs which can accomplish this. However that’s not always viable, or desired. Especially when you care more about the command line and keeping your brain from going sedentary, by constantly clicking a button and having something done for you. /snarky

In this instance I’ll burn an ISO image of hdat2 to a cd from the command line using wodim on Debian.

Install wodim:

sudo apt-get install wodim

Burn ISO to a cd:

Find the drive name in which you will use to write the image: You can have a quick look at how to burn an ISO to USB which contains the same basic procedure for locating storage devices locally. Or continue on.

Locate the device which you intend to use to burn by using the command:

lsblk

In this case the output is as follows:

rick@deb:~$ lsblk
NAME                        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE   MOUNTPOINT
sda                           8:0    0 465.8G  0 disk   
└─isw_ccheigfjba_Volume0    254:0    0 931.5G  0 dmraid 
  ├─isw_ccheigfjba_Volume01 254:1    0 893.8G  0 dmraid /
  └─isw_ccheigfjba_Volume05 254:2    0  37.7G  0 dmraid 
sdb                           8:16   0 465.8G  0 disk   
└─isw_ccheigfjba_Volume0    254:0    0 931.5G  0 dmraid 
  ├─isw_ccheigfjba_Volume01 254:1    0 893.8G  0 dmraid /
  └─isw_ccheigfjba_Volume05 254:2    0  37.7G  0 dmraid 
sdc                           8:32   0     2T  0 disk

This shows two disks (sda & sdb) in raid form, as well as the optical device we will use (SDC)

Next, Navigate to the directory of the ISO (not required but simplifies the command) many times in the downloads directory.

Now we are ready to burn the ISO to cd.

Type the following in command line:

wodim -v dev=/dev/sr0 -eject -sao hdat2cd_51.iso

Here is the output after hitting return:

TOC Type: 1 = CD-ROM
scsidev: '/dev/sr0'
devname: '/dev/sr0'
scsibus: -2 target: -2 lun: -2
Linux sg driver version: 3.5.27
Wodim version: 1.1.11
SCSI buffer size: 64512
Device type    : Removable CD-ROM
Version        : 0
Response Format: 3
Capabilities   : 
Vendor_info    : 'ATAPI   '
Identification : 'iHAS324   A     '
Revision       : 'BL1A'
Device seems to be: Generic mmc2 DVD-R/DVD-RW.
Current: 0x000A (CD-RW)
Profile: 0x002B (DVD+R/DL) 
Profile: 0x001B (DVD+R) 
Profile: 0x001A (DVD+RW) 
Profile: 0x0016 (DVD-R/DL layer jump recording) 
Profile: 0x0015 (DVD-R/DL sequential recording) 
Profile: 0x0014 (DVD-RW sequential recording) 
Profile: 0x0013 (DVD-RW restricted overwrite) 
Profile: 0x0012 (DVD-RAM) 
Profile: 0x0011 (DVD-R sequential recording) 
Profile: 0x0010 (DVD-ROM) 
Profile: 0x000A (CD-RW) (current)
Profile: 0x0009 (CD-R) 
Profile: 0x0008 (CD-ROM) 
Profile: 0x0002 (Removable disk) 
Using generic SCSI-3/mmc   CD-R/CD-RW driver (mmc_cdr).
Driver flags   : MMC-3 SWABAUDIO BURNFREE FORCESPEED 
Supported modes: TAO PACKET SAO SAO/R96P SAO/R96R RAW/R16 RAW/R96P RAW/R96R
Drive buf size : 1275648 = 1245 KB
Beginning DMA speed test. Set CDR_NODMATEST environment variable if device
communication breaks or freezes immediately after that.
FIFO size      : 12582912 = 12288 KB
Track 01: data    13 MB        
Total size:       15 MB (01:34.97) = 7123 sectors
Lout start:       16 MB (01:36/73) = 7123 sectors
Current Secsize: 2048
ATIP info from disk:
  Indicated writing power: 3
  Reference speed: 6
  Is not unrestricted
  Is erasable
  Disk sub type: High speed Rewritable (CAV) media (1)
  ATIP start of lead in:  -11745 (97:25/30)
  ATIP start of lead out: 359848 (79:59/73)
  1T speed low:  4 1T speed high: 10
  2T speed low:  4 2T speed high:  0 (reserved val  6)
  power mult factor: 1 5
  recommended erase/write power: 5
  A1 values: 24 1A D8
  A2 values: 26 B2 4A
Disk type:    Phase change
Manuf. index: 40
Manufacturer: INFODISC Technology Co., Ltd.
Blocks total: 359848 Blocks current: 359848 Blocks remaining: 352725
Forcespeed is OFF.
Speed set to 1765 KB/s
Starting to write CD/DVD at speed  10.0 in real SAO mode for single session.
Last chance to quit, starting real write in    0 seconds. Operation starts.
Waiting for reader process to fill input buffer ... input buffer ready.
Performing OPC...
Sending CUE sheet...
Writing pregap for track 1 at -150
Starting new track at sector: 0
Track 01:   13 of   13 MB written (fifo 100%) [buf 100%]  10.6x.
Track 01: Total bytes read/written: 14587904/14587904 (7123 sectors).
Writing  time:   27.528s
Average write speed   3.9x.
Min drive buffer fill was 100%
Fixating...
Fixating time:   17.593s
BURN-Free was never needed.
wodim: fifo had 230 puts and 230 gets.
wodim: fifo was 0 times empty and 30 times full, min fill was 96%.

As you can see, the -v flag (verbose) allows us to get a bit more data as the process is happening. Of course this particular image was only ~15MB, so the time was very short, larger images will of course take much longer.

The burner door will open when the process is complete.

To burn a DVD via command line : We’ll use a script called growisofs:

sudo apt-get install growisofs

Follow the same procedure to locate the proper device using the command:

lsblk

Move to the directory the ISO is located, and type:

growisofs -dvd-compat -Z /dev/sr0=hdat2cd_51.iso

Fin

The formatting here is simple enough to understand (I would hope). ^ means ctrl+, so ^x is ctrl+x. M- means meta (generally left-alt or escape)+, so M-x is left-alt+x It should be noted that this is no where near a full feature-set of either group. This - being a cheat-sheet - is just to point out the most very basic features to get you on the road. Trust the developers and manpage writers more than me. This document is originally from 2009 when tmux was still new - since then both of these programs have had many updates and features added (not all of which have been dutifully noted here).
Action	tmux	screen
start a new session	tmux OR tmux new OR tmux new-session	screen
re-attach a detached session	tmux attach OR tmux attach-session	screen-r
re-attach an attached session (detaching it from elsewhere)	tmux attach -d OR tmux attach-session -d	screen -dr
re-attach an attached session (keeping it attached elsewhere)	tmux attach OR tmux attach-session	screen -x
detach from currently attached session	^b d OR ^b :detach	^a ^d OR ^a :detach
rename-window to newname	^b , <newname> OR ^b :rename-window <newn>	^a A <newname>
list windows	^b w	^a w
list windows in chooseable menu		^a "
go to window #	^b #	^a #
go to last-active window	^b l	^a ^a
go to next window	^b n	^a n
go to previous window	^b p	^a p
see keybindings	^b ?	^a ?
list sessions	^b s OR tmux ls OR tmux list-sessions	screen -ls
toggle visual bell		^a ^g
create another window	^b c	^a c
exit current shell/window	^d	^d
split window/pane horizontally	^b "	^a S
split window/pane vertically	^b %	^a \|
switch to other pane	^b o	^a <tab>
kill the current pane	^b x OR (logout/^D)
collapse the current pane/split (but leave processes running)		^a X
cycle location of panes	^b ^o
swap current pane with previous	^b {
swap current pane with next	^b }
show time	^b t
show numeric values of panes	^b q
toggle zoom-state of current pane (maximize/return current pane)	^b z
break the current pane out of its window (to form new window)	^b !
re-arrange current panels within same window (different layouts)	^b [space]
Kill the current window (and all panes within)	^b killw [target-window]

Burn ISO to cd/DVD/BD linux command line

screen and tmux