i m thinking about upgrade my CD-RW to DVD-RW, and and the most thing that instrest me is the dvd-ram, you know it , just that kind of DVD that works like normal HDD…
i m thinking…if i can install my OS in to DVD-RAM…um… i can hav lots of installed OS at same time, unlike install on HDD, the number of OS is limited,and its very troublesom. if use DVD-RAM, i can change my OS at anytime, just insert another DVD-RAM… and this will be great, hav anyone try it before?
first: with only one optical drive how will you install onto such a thing?
second: with it no faster than dvd, can you imagine how slow your system would be?
third: what about a swap file?
You can’t install an os on a DVD-RAM disc [as far as I know], and you’re confusing it with DVD-RW [or DVD+RW]… You can’t buy a DVD+/-/R/RW/RAM burner. [though a DVD-RAM burner should be able to read +/-/R/RW discs]
DVD-RAM is essentially DVD-RW [perhaps dual layer] in a caddy [sometimes], and not compatible with much of anything.
does RAM stands for ramdom acess memory??
if so,does that supposs to be the same as Hdd?
People say that you dont need any burning software to to use dvd-ram,why cant it function as Hdd?(just a slower hdd)
slower doesnt matter, the most important think is if one day, i can not access my OS due to the virus or serious crash…ect i can recover my data
ps:i dont know how use barts pe
The only way you could “install” an OS onto a DVD-RAM disc is to make the disc into a LiveCD. You can’t use it as a complete HDD replacement.
Wikipedia is very helpful for these sorts of things and usually provides lots of useful links if you’re interested in learning more.
thanks for that link
DVD-Ram is indeed very slow. They’ve only just got up to 5x and that’s slower than 5x DVD because DVD-Ram forces a verify step.
You can set your swap file to be on the hard drive.
You could but there is little point for some of the reasons you said.
I have this one
http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPF-LG_DVD_R_RW_RAM_12x_Int_IDE_OEM
It does DVD-Ram (5x), DVD+R DL, DVD-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD+/-R and all at a very low price. It has been surprisingly reliable too. But DVD-Ram burning sucks for the simple reason that DVDs get errors and sometimes in a single burn of a DVD. To run an OS would require reading and writing constantly and the disc doesn’t really have good enough error correction for that. One corruption and it could mess up the OS on it.
It is the same capacity as DVD but it uses packet writing to give it random access - it’s why you can do timeslip (play and record simultaneously) on DVD-Ram video recorders but not DVD-RW ones. You get this random access functionality for DVD+/-RW with certain software but it isn’t widely used. You can even get CD-RW like that too.
So yeah, DVD-Ram isn’t a good idea for this type of thing and I wouldn’t even use a DVD. I’d pick up a few cheapo 10GB HDs (probably £5-10 each from a local shop who just wants rid of them) and get an external usb2 or firewire enclosure. Then just swap the HD when you need a different OS.