[kde-linux] K3b and no space left error

[Dale]

Duncan wrote:
> Dale posted on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:31:12 -0500 as excerpted:
>
>    
>>> I don't use re-burnable media enough to have had the problem here,
>>> but...
>>>
>>> 1) Try a manual erase step first, then see if it takes it.
>>>
>>>        
>> That fails as well.
>>      
> If that fails, and...
>
>    
>>> 3) The RWs have a limited number of write cycles possible.  How many
>>> times has this same disk been rewritten?
>>>
>>>
>>>        
>> Tried with new media, it failed too.
>>      
> That too fails, then...
>
> [reordering this and the below quoted paragraphs]
>
>    
>> I'm thinking hardware.  It just doesn't appear to be working with
>> anything.  I'm going to order a new drive and see what happens.
>>      
> Yeah, that could well be hardware.
>
> New drives are reasonably cheap, last I checked (maybe they're even lower
> now?), $40 low end everyday price @ Fry's Electronics, $20-30 if you find
> a sale.
>
> But, what I've found with the low-end drives at least, is that they do
> tend to go out of calibration after a few years and start burning coasters/
> frisbees.  But usually the speeds are up and the prices down by then
> anyway, and at that price, it's not /too/ big a deal to just buy a new
> one, as long as you're not paying an arm and a leg to have someone else
> install it.
>
> I've occasionally wondered if the double-or-triple-the-price ones would
> last longer.  They're certainly not rated any different, speed-wise, etc,
> and the burning protocols are pretty standard, so it can't be that.  But
> if a double-the-price lasts three times as long and a triple-the-price
> lasts 5-6 times as long, it could be argued to be worth it.  OTOH, as I
> said, in the intervening 2-3 years, speeds tend to have gotten better, or
> prices, or they've upgraded technology/capacity (from CD-burner to DVD-
> burner, for instance, and in a couple years as prices come down, to Blu-
> Ray, and with thumb-drive prices coming down, that'll probably take over
> at some point), so buying the cheap ones and then upgrading every few
> years is probably as cost effective in any case.
>
>    
>> Looks like it will be black tho.  By puter is going to look funny
>> with a black drive in it.  The case is beige.   Oh well.
>>      
> FWIW, a lot of them now come with two snap-on covers, a black one and a
> beige one.  It's not a big deal to change it out, especially when you're
> installing the thing already anyway.
>
> But I don't generally bother anyway, as I've already got a black 4-drive-
> in-3-bay hard drive enclosure (for the 4-spindle md/kernel RAID) in mine
> (cheap aluminum case beige full tower) as it is, and have holes drilled
> for additional fans for more air flow, etc.  I'm a guy and a geek.  I
> don't care what it /looks/ like, as long as it works well! =:^)
>
>    
>>> 4) You /could/ try using the command line tools directly.  Yes, it's
>>> hairy trying to figure out all the options you want/need, but it is
>>> possible.
>>>
>>>        
>> He he he.  I'm sure that wouldn't work.  It would take me a long while
>> to figure out if I was using the wrong options or if it was not working
>> for some other reason.
>>      
> LOL.  I hadn't thought of that, but yeah, I guess if you've not done it
> before and are more comfortable with the GUI, you could indeed end up
> typoing something, or otherwise getting the command wrong, and end up
> sitting there for hours playing with it, before you figure out whether
> it's the hardware or your command line that's the problem!  I've done that
> on a few things before, but I do generally figure it out in the end, and
> do take a bit of pride in being able to work thru to my own solutions even
> if I'm banging my head on the keyboard for a couple hours working it thru!
>
> But, what I had in mind tho I guess I didn't really say it, was starting
> from the command lines K3B's log said it used.  Then you're not starting
> from scratch, at least.  That's what I'd do, checking the manpage to see
> what all the switches K3B was using meant and verifying whether they made
> sense to me or not -- basically double-checking that what k3b was doing on
> the back-end was at least sane.
>
> In your case, since you've already tried the k3b stand-alone erase command
> and that didn't work, that's all I'd worry about.  That command should be
> reasonably simple, and if you can get it to do that correctly on the
> command line, then you know for sure that it's something strange going on
> with k3b (and you could compare the command that finally worked for you
> with the command it tried to use).
>
> But... given that neither the erase nor a write to a new media seemed to
> work, AND given my own experience with the cheap burners going out of
> alignment or whatever and needing replaced every few years, at the cost of
> a new one these days, I agree, rather than wasting whole slews of time on
> this and probably ending up replacing it anyway, might as well just go for
> the replacement now and be done with it.
>
> Or... as I mentioned above, just go for a thumb drive.  An 8 gig will
> surely take your 4-ish gig archive, and they're getting so cheap now
> they're putting them in multi-packs.  If you're doing a lot of burning, or
> if you're wanting a DVD-player compatible format for part of the burning
> you do, the lower cost of the optical media's something to think about,
> but if you primarily use it for updating that 4-gig archive, a thumb
> drive, or a couple of them to rotate, is probably going to be roughly
> comparable to what you'll spend on a new DVD-burner anyway.
>
> Or if you want to be fancy, buy a USB-3 adapter card (Linux was pretty
> much first out of the gate with support for them, as Intel was working on
> it before the spec was even released), and a USB-3 external hard drive,
> and go to it! =:^)
>
> Or settle for a 1 TB external USB-2 drive -- I bought one a few months ago
> for $80, store special at Fry's, pretty close to the pricewatch.com price
> as well.  Think of all the 4-ish gig archives you could do on THAT before
> you started overwriting! =:^)  And as long as you don't go dropping them
> or something, they're probably more reliable than DVDs as well, as they're
> sealed, so no dust to worry about.
>
>    

Well after all this, I did some testing on this old thing.  Heck, it 
won't even read a disk.  I put it in and it gives me the file list and 
says things are there BUT if I try to copy them, I get nothing.  It 
starts the copy process but errors out.  I can't recall what the error 
said but anyway.

Since I am only about 3 hours from neweeg's warehouse, I ordered a new 
DVD burner.  We'll see if that fixes it.

It will be black but I hope you are right that it comes with a beige 
one.  It would just look funny with the black face plate.  I have two 
fan holes in the side of my case too.  Two 120mm fans blowing at half 
speed or so.  I set it just below where it becomes audible.  Even at 
100% CPU time I run at about 90F or so.  At idle I run at about 80F.  I 
run folding in the winter time.  Got to have a little heat.  Oh, my CPU 
fan is temp controlled.  Its one of those ThermalTake Smart II fans.  
Works well tho.

Dale

:-)  :-)