Abstract: A software-driven method for the initialization of re-writable optical media is provided. Embodiments include a software-driven method for the formatting of re-writable optical media to include defining a file system and writing a UDF reader to the optical media to enable implementation on a plurality of optical media devices in a plurality of operating system environments. The re-writable optical media is initialized using either user data or initialization patterns in a background operation to allow user interaction with the optical media during initialization. Methods are provided for multi-track capabilities of the optical media. Prior to initialization of the entire media space of an optical media, a session can be closed to enable compatibility of a partially initialized media in a ROM device. Further methods are provided to re-open a closed session to complete initialization of the media space.

Abstract: A software-driven method for the initialization and defect management of re-writable optical media is provided. Embodiments include a software-driven method for the formatting of re-writable optical media to include defining a file system and writing a UDF reader to the optical media to enable implementation on a plurality of optical media devices in a plurality of operating system environments. The re-writable optical media is initialized using either user data or initialization patterns in a background operation to allow user interaction with the optical media during initialization. Data integrity is managed over the life of the re-writable optical media through use of a write count table with entries corresponding to each packet written to the re-writable optical media and tallied to prompt packet verification upon a pre-determined number of user writes to the packet.

Abstract: A method for storing data in a memory, including compressing fixed-sized pages of data, and storing the compressed pages into available smaller memory spaces on a medium if the compressed page will fit into such space, or storing the compressed pages onto available larger memory spaces on the medium, if the compressed page will not fit into the smaller space.