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Should I Worry About Mt. Rainier Support?

Posted by Cliff on from the esoteric-hardware-issues dept.

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?"

7 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. Alternative? by TubeSteak · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

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  2. Probably not by Phexro · · Score: 2, Informative

    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 I bought last year has a firmware update which adds Mt. Rainier support.

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

    1. Re:Probably not by compwizrd · · Score: 2, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:Probably not by mr3038 · · Score: 2, Informative
      The link you provided 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.

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  3. Future Proofing vs. Cost by Alereon · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

  4. Firmware upgrades... by shaitand · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

  5. Another Alternative by TubeSteak · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

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    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!