Formatting DVD-RAM with UDF filesystem on Vista

Hi, I have an app that will run on Vista and needs to format a DVD-RAM using
the UDF filesystem.
The application is in Delphi. I'm looking for functions from Win32 (or
other) API, which can be used by the application directly without user
interaction.
Thanks for any help.

Maxim
Wed Aug 29 07:08:25 CDT 2007

Execute FORMAT as a child process. Or - study the UDF data structures, and
write them yourself, forming a valid and empty UDF volume.

Or just use FAT32 :-)

--
Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
StorageCraft Corporation
maxim@storagecraft.com
http://www.storagecraft.com

"Alexanderfe" <Alexanderfe@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E9273889-D0BB-4B81-8945-1315A49B3CD0@microsoft.com...
> Hi, I have an app that will run on Vista and needs to format a DVD-RAM using
> the UDF filesystem.
> The application is in Delphi. I'm looking for functions from Win32 (or
> other) API, which can be used by the application directly without user
> interaction.
> Thanks for any help.

Alexanderfe
Wed Aug 29 07:28:02 CDT 2007

Thanks for your reply, I'll try the format process.

"Maxim S. Shatskih" wrote:

> Execute FORMAT as a child process. Or - study the UDF data structures, and
> write them yourself, forming a valid and empty UDF volume.
>
> Or just use FAT32 :-)
>
> --
> Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
> StorageCraft Corporation
> maxim@storagecraft.com
> http://www.storagecraft.com
>
> "Alexanderfe" <Alexanderfe@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:E9273889-D0BB-4B81-8945-1315A49B3CD0@microsoft.com...
> > Hi, I have an app that will run on Vista and needs to format a DVD-RAM using
> > the UDF filesystem.
> > The application is in Delphi. I'm looking for functions from Win32 (or
> > other) API, which can be used by the application directly without user
> > interaction.
> > Thanks for any help.
>
>

Alexanderfe
Wed Aug 29 09:20:04 CDT 2007

Hi, I've tried to create the child process, but it's interactive i.e. asking
questions.
Is there a possibility to make a silent format?

"Maxim S. Shatskih" wrote:

> Execute FORMAT as a child process. Or - study the UDF data structures, and
> write them yourself, forming a valid and empty UDF volume.
>
> Or just use FAT32 :-)
>
> --
> Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
> StorageCraft Corporation
> maxim@storagecraft.com
> http://www.storagecraft.com
>
> "Alexanderfe" <Alexanderfe@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:E9273889-D0BB-4B81-8945-1315A49B3CD0@microsoft.com...
> > Hi, I have an app that will run on Vista and needs to format a DVD-RAM using
> > the UDF filesystem.
> > The application is in Delphi. I'm looking for functions from Win32 (or
> > other) API, which can be used by the application directly without user
> > interaction.
> > Thanks for any help.
>
>

Maxim
Wed Aug 29 09:33:29 CDT 2007

Provide also stdin for it.

--
Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
StorageCraft Corporation
maxim@storagecraft.com
http://www.storagecraft.com

"Alexanderfe" <Alexanderfe@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7F0D9E2B-C17D-4582-B4A8-F9FC4DF4029F@microsoft.com...
> Hi, I've tried to create the child process, but it's interactive i.e. asking
> questions.
> Is there a possibility to make a silent format?
>
> "Maxim S. Shatskih" wrote:
>
> > Execute FORMAT as a child process. Or - study the UDF data structures,
and
> > write them yourself, forming a valid and empty UDF volume.
> >
> > Or just use FAT32 :-)
> >
> > --
> > Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
> > StorageCraft Corporation
> > maxim@storagecraft.com
> > http://www.storagecraft.com
> >
> > "Alexanderfe" <Alexanderfe@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:E9273889-D0BB-4B81-8945-1315A49B3CD0@microsoft.com...
> > > Hi, I have an app that will run on Vista and needs to format a DVD-RAM
using
> > > the UDF filesystem.
> > > The application is in Delphi. I'm looking for functions from Win32 (or
> > > other) API, which can be used by the application directly without user
> > > interaction.
> > > Thanks for any help.
> >
> >

Gerry
Sat Oct 06 06:13:32 PDT 2007

Hi,

DVD-RAM disks are usually pre-formatted, and best left as such. Older
consumer disks were UDF 2.0, newer high-spec DVD-RAM disks are usually
2.01 or higher. Vista uses 2.01 as default in the UI.

I think you can use WMI to format NTFS and FAT, but _not_ UDF. I can't
see anywhere in the DDK or PSDK that allows formatting of Volumes of
_any_ modern FileSystem (which seems a bit useless?).

It's also annoying that some command line tools in Vista are not
designed to work with switches for silent operation, instead the Format
command requires user interaction, thereby keeping Windows in the "toy"
category of operating systems, as opposed to Linux where it's all done
in three seconds with a few simple remoteable commands.

One option is to use DISKPART (which can be scripted). You have to

1. Test that you have media in drive
2. Select Volume that matches DVD drive
3. Issue the FileSystems command to get a list of valid FileSystems
4. Issue the Format command with the correct FS from #3

(skip #3 once you know what you're doing)

Alexanderfe wrote:
> Hi, I have an app that will run on Vista and needs to format a DVD-RAM using
> the UDF filesystem.
> The application is in Delphi. I'm looking for functions from Win32 (or
> other) API, which can be used by the application directly without user
> interaction.
> Thanks for any help.


--
Gerry Hickman (London UK)