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DVD Notes
We currently support 3 DVD-RAM and 2 DVD-ROM internal drive types. See Internal DVD Device Types Supported for details.
DVD-RAM
1. HH Cartridged Media (Half High, Drive height is approximately 41mm)
2. HH Bare Media
3. Slimline Bare Media (Drive height = 12.7mm)
DVD-ROM
1. HH Bare Media
2. Slimline Bare Media
All of these drives support reading CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM (DVD5, DVD9, DVD10, and DVD18), 2.6GB/5.2GB, and 4.7GB/9.4GB DVD-RAM media. Double sided media require the media to be flipped in the drive to access the second side.
All DVD-RAM drives support writing 4.7GB/9.4GB DVD-RAM media. Only 1 drive supports writing to the 2.6GB/5.2GB DVD-RAM media (must be in a cartridge). See DVD-RAM Media Support for details.
These drives are also available as external units (Bridge box or Multi-bay storage device enclosure). See External DVD Device Types Supported for details.
Bridge Boxes: IBM 7210 Model 025 DVD-RAM drive IBM 7210 Model 030 DVD-RAM drive Multi-bay storage device enclosure: IBM 7212 Model 102 IBM 7212 Model 103 House up to two drives and can be any combination of the feature codes below.
- Feature Code 1103 for DVD-RAM drive.
- Feature Code 1106 for DVD-ROM drive.
Performance
When writing DVD-RAM media, i5 OS has ranked data integrity as the highest priority. To ensure this, we disable the drive's "Write Cache" function and write with a verify pass. This implementaion results in a fairly large performance cost. When evaluating drive write speeds such as 2X, 3X, 5X(future), or 8X(future), you will see incremental improvement but will not attain these rated performance numbers.
System Saves
Most systems have a small window of time for their system back-ups. In most instances, tape is a preferred solution over DVD-RAM due to the slower write performance discussed above. When writing to DVD-RAM and using system compression, you will average a 3:1 compression ratio. With this, a single 4.7GB DVD-RAM media can save about 13GB of data in an unattended save mode. This may be suitable for backing up smaller iSeries models.
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