[CentOS] How do I blank or overwrite DVD-RW disks in CentOS 5?

[Barry Brimer]

> I'm trying to use DVD-RW ("minus RW") disks in my LG GSA-4040B
> drive.  I can write a new disk just fine, but can't find any way to
> blank or re-use a disk.  When I run xcdroast and click on the "Blank
> CD/DVD+-RW" button, I get "Error while blanking."  Here is last part
> of the dialog:
>
>    Using generic SCSI-3/mmc DVD-R(W) driver (mmc_mdvd)
>    Driver flags   : SWABAUDIO BURNFREE
>    Supported modes: PACKET SAO
>    Drive buf size : 1245184 = 1216 KB
>    Drive DMA Speed: 11772 kB/s 66x CD 8x DVD
>    cdrecord.prodvd: Success. set streaming: scsi sendcmd: no error
>    CDB:  B6 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1C 00
>    status: 0x2 (CHECK CONDITION)
>    Sense Bytes: F0 00 05 00 00 00 00 10 B6 00 00 0D 21 00 00 00
>    Sense Key: 0x5 Illegal Request, Segmant 0
>    Sense Code: 0x21 Qual 0x00 (logical block address out of range) Fru 0x0
>    Sense flags: Blk 0 (valid)
>    cmd finished after 0.004 s timeout 40s
>    Current Secsize: 2048
>    cdrecord.prodvd: Cannot set speed/dummy.
>    ATIP start of lead in:  -150 (00:00/00)
>
> I've had similar lack of success trying to blank or overwrite using
> cdrecord or growisofs.  The disks I'm using are Sony 2X DVD-RW 4.7GB,
> which _should_ be compatible with the drive AFAICT.  The drive is
> happy to write to a new disk.

One possibility is:

$ cdrecord blank=help
Blanking options:
         all             blank the entire disk
         disc            blank the entire disk
         disk            blank the entire disk
         fast            minimally blank the entire disk (PMA, TOC, pregap)
         minimal         minimally blank the entire disk (PMA, TOC, pregap)
         track           blank a track
         unreserve       unreserve a track
         trtail          blank a track tail
         unclose         unclose last session
         session         blank last session

According to man cdrecord:

-format
         Format a CD-RW/DVD-RW/DVD+RW disc.  Formatting is currently only 
implemented for DVD+RW media.  A maiden DVD+RW media needs to be formatted 
before you may write to it.  However, as cdrecord autodetects the need for 
formatting in this case and auto formats the medium before it starts 
writing, the -format option is only needed if you like to forcibly 
reformat a DVD+RW medium.

Hope this helps.

Barry