Linux Pocket Guide

Name

cdrecord [options] tracks — cdrecord

Synopsis

/usr/bin stdin stdout - file -- opt --help --version

The cdrecord command burns a CD-R disc on a SCSI CD writer, or an IDE CD writer using Linux ide-scsi emulation. To burn the contents of a directory onto a CD-ROM readable on Linux, Windows, and Macintosh systems:^[14]

1. Locate your CD writer’s device by running:

   $ cdrecord --scanbus
   ...
   0,0,0     0) *
   0,1,0     1) *
   0,2,0     2) *
   0,3,0     3) 'YAMAHA  ' 'CRW6416S  ' '1.0d' Removable CD-ROM
   ...

   The device in this case is 0,3,0.

2. Find out your CD writer’s speed for writing CD-R or CD-RW discs (whichever you’re using). Suppose it is a 6x writer of CD-Rs, so the speed is 6.

3. Put the files you want to burn into a directory, say, dir. Arrange them exactly as you’d like them on the CD. The directory dir itself will not be copied to CD, just its contents.

4. Burn the CD:

   $ DEVICE="0,3,0"
   $ SPEED=6
   $ mkisofs -R -l dir > mydisk.iso
   $ cdrecord -v dev=${DEVICE} speed=${SPEED} mydisk.iso

   or if your system is fast enough, you can do this with a single pipeline:

   $ mkisofs -R -l dir \
     | cdrecord -v dev=${DEVICE} speed=${SPEED} -

cdrecord can burn music CDs as well, but you might want to use a friendlier, graphical program like xcdroast instead (see Audio and Video), which is built on top of cdrecord.

^[14] Specifically, an ISO9660 CD with Rock Ridge extensions. mkisofs can create other formats for cdrecord to burn: see man mkisofs.