Building an ISO file with block size >2kb

[Albuquerque]

Alright, if I would just spend the 30 days to unload the brain and learn some RedHat or SUSE or FreeBSD or something, I already know I can do what I'm looking for.

However, I don't have the brain unload time available to me at the moment. I need to build an ISO file on a Wintel platform that is using block sizes bigger than the "default" 2kb size. MKISOFS sticks to the default size, so I can't do it there. NERO allows you to specify the block size when you're burning the CD ,but that does me no good -- I'm never going to "burn" this ISO.

I know this can be done in the *nix world, how the hell do I do it in a Windows environment?

 

[Frank]

Burn it with Nero to an image drive? That's like burning, but creates an image instead. I never tried to change the block size, though.

 

[Albuquerque]

Hmm, hadn't thought of the image drive, thanks for the idea. I'll post back my results in case someone ever wants to do the same thing in the distant future.

Edit
Well now wait, writing to the image drive isn't going to work, because it's only intended to mount an existing ISO file for reading via a drive letter. But if I were to burn the CD with 8kb blocks and then re-read it in ISO format, maybe that would work? Windows typically will not read a CD burned in such a format, but perhaps a packet-reading software could do it...

Hmm...

 

[gb25]

I think DiGuru was talking about the image recorder device. I don't remember exactly where the option is at, under recorder menu or something. Choose image recorder then burn it just like you're burning a cd. It'll ask you where to save it, then it'll just make an iso or nrg instead.

 

[Albuquerque]

Yeah, you're right, but I ran into another problem.

Newer versions of NERO hide all that "Foreign Filesystem" garbage if it detects that you're burning a standard ISO file. I actually need an older version of Nero in order to get all those overrides back...

There's gotta be an easier way to do this

 

[Frank]

What is it that you need it for? There might be a totally different solution to your problem.

Otherwise, Knoppix and Googling for the command you want executed might be easier.

 

[Albuquerque]

There is a relatively straightforward way to make a WindowsPE / BartPE boot image load straight into a ramdisk rather than paging itself crazy on your CDROM. This involves using some Server 2003 bootstrap files, a special ramdisk driver, and then dropping an ISO file right onto your CD.

That ISO file still loads pretty slowly, it takes around a full minute to load up a 100mb file. However, several people have experienced much faster load times by changing the default block size from 2KB to something like 8KB or even larger. We're talking ~30 seconds for a 150mb file.

That's where I'm wanting to go.

And you're generally right -- if I just booted a damned Linux OS of some sort, sucked in my current ISO file to a raw disk and then re-outputted them to another .RAW file with a different block size, I'd be basically done. Google has TONS of instructions on how to do this (and do it very quickly) on multiple types of Linux systems.

I just need to sit my ass down, clear out my schedule, and hardcore start learning Linux OSes. And then keep a box around just for such uses

 

[Frank]

Knoppix just boots on any PC and can do it all right away, there is no need even to install Linux on one of your boxes. Just keep the CD handy for when you need it.

 

[Albuquerque]

I've got a relatively current Knoppix CD, guess I'll save myself the pain and do it the "easy" way 8)

 

[Frank]

You only need one non-NTFS drive, partition or media. That's why I always make a FAT32 partition. Everything can write to that.

 

[Albuquerque]

Damnit, this is why I hate Linux.

I'm computer literate. A lot. But I've only ever touched Wintel boxes and APPLE ]['s. It took me 35 minutes to figure out how to mount a second CD rom drive that somehow wasn't automounted. Then it took me three tries and an hour to FDISK my local hard drive, but then I never could figure out how the hell to make it Fat32. So just for giggles, I made it EXT3 for now just so I can learn a bit, right?

Then I figure out how to mount /dev/sda1 to /mnt; but if I mount it to ANYTHING else I get "Mount point /mnt/(whatever) does not exist"... Fine. I see a bunch of verbiage about how I need to change it in a file in the ETC/ folder, but I can't change directories to get there.

Who cares, I've got it mounted to MNT, let's just do that. But I can't CHROOT to /MNT or /dev/sda1 because it isn't a file or directory. I can do a MKDIR against my current ramdisk-based root, but I can't MKDIR against my harddrive it seems unless it's my current root.

I'm reading the MAN pages, I'm searching google, I'm typing in commands with the --help option, I'm finding the biggest load of abosolutely nothing that helps me.

Seriously, WTMF? I'm going to spend a MONTH to learn this in order to write a damned ISO file that can exceed 2kb block size? The work I'm going to put into this doesn't equate to an equal amount of gain at the end.

Where does a Linux n00b go to actually learn what he's doing? Isn't there a FAQ somewhere that explains to me why I can't just format the damned disk Fat32 and start writing to it?

Edit
Ok, so I figured out how to FDISK a partition and change the partition descriptor to FAT32... Now if I can just figure out how to format it, I'll be about 10% of the way there... Ugh.

Edit again
Ok, so I figured out the mkfs fat32, although I didn't find it in the man pages -- thank you google. So, now I can fdisk and format the disk, and I can rudimentarily mount it. But I'm having absolutely no luck tring to figure out how to ACCESS it so that I can start dumping files on it...

 

[Albuquerque]

Christ. It took me another 40 minutes to realize that the [root] in my root@0[root] prompt meant I was in some sort of folder named "root" in this unnamed folder structure. By doing a cd .. about four times (or now I've realized, a cd / ) I can suddenly start seeing things.

I'm finally able to get to my device /mnt so hopefully I can start doing some dd work... Maybe...

Edit
Well I'll be damned, I am seemingly writing an ISO file... Guess we'll find out in a few minutes if I can access that FAT32 partition outside of my Knoppix load, and then we'll see if the ISO file is actually readable. Bleh. Linux is still pissing me off though!

 

[Frank]

Everyting beneath /dev is hard devices. You should only use those as the type, to specify what you want to mount. Everything beneath /mnt is managed, so you don't want to mess with that either, unless you know what you're doing.

So, just make a random directory wherever else you want, and mount it there. A good location to start is /var. Make a subdirectory there, like /var/data, and subdirectories in that for whatever you want to mount, like /var/data/cd2.

Like everything else, it's really simple if you know how it works.

 

[Albuquerque]

I grasp the /dev, /proc, /bin and /root concepts. But I'm not sure what you mean "create a directory and mount it there". All this stuff is in ramdisk, so I guess it's not permanent anyway in case I really fubar the Knoppix OS.

I don't have a clue what you mean about managed, but I think I get the idea about doing a MKDIR in the /var area. Oh well. Let's see if this newly created ISO file I just made works...

 

[Frank]

Christ. It took me another 40 minutes to realize that the [root] in my root@0[root] prompt meant I was in some sort of folder named "root" in this unnamed folder structure. By doing a cd .. about four times (or now I've realized, a cd / ) I can suddenly start seeing things.

I'm finally able to get to my device /mnt so hopefully I can start doing some dd work... Maybe...

Edit
Well I'll be damned, I am seemingly writing an ISO file... Guess we'll find out in a few minutes if I can access that FAT32 partition outside of my Knoppix load, and then we'll see if the ISO file is actually readable. Bleh. Linux is still pissing me off though!

There are a few nice commands about that: pwd is print working directory, cd ~ is: go to your home directory, whoami does what you would think it does, and ls -al gives you an extended listing. And locate [FILE] tells you where that file is.

 

[Frank]

I grasp the /dev, /proc, /bin and /root concepts. But I'm not sure what you mean "create a directory and mount it there". All this stuff is in ramdisk, so I guess it's not permanent anyway in case I really fubar the Knoppix OS

AH! I get what you mean. Yes, that had me the first time as well. Sorry about that. I'm more used to Linux servers, and it's years ago. My mistake.

But you won't break anything, just mount your "compatible" partition however you want, at the location you want and work from there.

I think it might be better and easier for you, to take a box and make it into a Debian server. Trust me on the Linux flavor. You won't regret it, when you have made friends with apt-get and jed.

 

[Albuquerque]

Haha

I'm getting slowly better... I figured out what you meant about making a directory and mounting it; this is where Microsoft stole the "Mount volume in NTFS folder" idea I see I changed over to the \var folder, did a MKDIR HD0 and MKDIR CDROM2 and mounted my shiny new FAT32 partition and CDROM accordingly.

Pulled off the DD command with the requisite obs=16k, created the ISO, quit Knoppix and booted Windows to transfer the file. (Heh, not quite to the networking comfort level in Linux yet )

I think I could get used to this after a while, but the learning curve is pretty tough it seems to get started. I expect to have similar frustration getting the network linked, and then eventually when I start playing with Kernels I assume I'm going to torch a few test OS'es. But, I suppose like anything, sticking with it is what will eventually make it work.

That, and VMWare will probably make my life easier with the snapshot option. I torch it too bad, I revert back to a previous snapshot