Problems booting Arch from a DVD-RW...

Hi all..... I was wondering, does anybody else have problems booting linux distros from rewritable discs??? I tried burning an Arch Linux iso image (@ 2x speed) to a DVD-RW disc w/ the Brasero disc burner app in Ubuntu, but it wouldn't work when I booted it. Then I erased the same DVD and then tried the same thing w/ MagicIso in Windows to no avail.... I remember once having problems booting some linux distro I tried in the past from a CD-RW, so maybe this problem I'm having now is related? I burn distros all the time to DVD-Rs and CD-Rs w/ no problem, so were Linux distros just not meant to be burnt onto rewritable discs???

 

Did you check the disc for errors after burning? And did you check the MD5 hash of the iso?

Also, I know rewritable discs to go bad after a certain number of burns—maybe that's your problem?

 

No, the DVDRW I used was brand new... I know that Brasero automatically wanted to check the disk right after I was done burning it, but the timer just kept on going up from "1 hour till completion" to 5 hours, to 15 hours, to 22 hours, and it was still growing by the time I decided to cancel the check, though the progress bar didn't move at all. I guess that's a clear indication that the disk didn't burn right, but I wouldn't mind trying another DVDRW (the only blank media I have lying around right now) if it'll actually work this time...

 

I've had the problem with an old Plextor drive, but a newer Samsung drive had no problem with the same burn. I guessed it was the first signs of death, so replaced it with another Samsung that isn't half the drive the Plextor was in it's youth. Alas, death is part of life.

Can you open the disc in a file manager? Does it load up as quickly as you'd expect?

 

Yeah, the disc loads up fine in Ubuntu, though I didn't try opening up any files from it or anything.... I've erased the DVDRW now, but I'll try something else on it, I mean it might just be the disc...

 

Ive had problems booting arch from an RW disk. However other distros such as Sabayon worked fine but were corrupted in the install.

Just use a normal +R/-R for burning iso's of important stuff.

 

I don't know anything about Brasero, but in K3b, I've had problems with K3b not properly not properly ejecting/closing the tray so that the disc could be checked for burning errors. What I had to do was disable the tray ejection/closure after the burn. Now it checks for errors just fine.