bdub

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Looks like you are having two different issues with using optical drives in DOS:

Quote:

Correct, SATA optical drives need a different DOS driver to *mount* the optical drive through a SATA controller interface--and *gcdrom.sys* is the DOS driver for SATA optical drives.

Here's a reference regarding the syntax used in DOS for *gcdrom.sys*:  GCDROM for DOS command line syntax

Optical drives are *mounted* by loading the optical driver in *config.sys*.  The most common optical disc drive driver for PATA optical drives is *oakcdrom.sys*--here's a sample of a typical command line in the *config.sys* boot file:

device=oakcdrom.sys /d:mscd001

The */d:mscd001* is the device name that has to be used by the *mscdex.exe* file in *autoexec.bat*  to assign a DOS drive letter to the optical drive.  So, here's a typical command line for *mscdex.exe* in *autoexec.bat*:

mscdex.exe /d:mscd001 /l:x /m:16 /v

Notice that the *device name* from *config.sys* is used to find the mounted optical drive so the DOS drive letter can be assigned.

So, you would replace the PATA optical drive driver (oakcdrom.sys) with the SATA optical drive driver (gcdrom.sys) in *config.sys*:


DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM000 /C0
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM001 /C1
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM002 /C2

You load the *gcdrom.sys* three different times in order for the DOS program to look for the SATA optical drive on each possible SATA controller (C0, C1, and C2) that may be present--if you know ahead of time which controller the optical drive is connected to, then you can load just the one command line.

And then, in autoexec.bat you have to tell *mscdex.exe* which device to assign the DOS drive letter to:


mscdex.exe /D:CDROM000 /D:CDROM001 /D:CDROM002  /l:x /m:16 /v

When booting, for any SATA controller that does not have a SATA optical drive hooked up to it, you will get an error message saying the device was not found--but, that's okay and you can just ignore that as long as the optical drive is found on the correct controller where it is hooked up to.

(By the way--you don't have to *replace* *oakcdrom.sys* with *gcdrom.sys*--if you want a more *universal* boot disc that can load either PATA or SATA controller based optical drives (or both if the system has both!), you could leave both programs in *config.sys*, and if the particular device and controller type is not present on the system, then you simply get the error message that the device was not found and the boot process proceeds.  *mscdex.exe* in *autoexec.bat* still needs each device name listed in case the device is found so a DOS drive letter will be assigned:

[config.sys]

device=oakcdrom.sys /d:mscd001
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM000 /C0
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM001 /C1
DEVICE=GCDROM.SYS /D:CDROM002 /C2

[autoexec.bat]

mscdex.exe /d:mscd001 /D:CDROM000 /D:CDROM001 /D:CDROM002  /l:x /m:16 /v



Quote:

The ability for Ghost to write an image file to an optical disc started back with Corp Ghost 7.5 and Retail Ghost 2003.  In order for Ghost to write an image to an optical disc, the optical drive has to be seen by Ghost's built-in optical drive driver that provides that ability to write to an optical disc. 

You are not using any DOS drivers or optical drives assigned a DOS drive letter--you can tell that Ghost is seeing a compatible optical drive that it can write to because the drive has the *@* in front of the drive description instead of a DOS drive letter--the *@* symbol means Ghost is using its built-in optical drive driver to access the optical drive rather than the DOS based drive letter assignment.

For some unknown hardware/software compatibility reason--if Ghost is using its built-in driver to access an optical drive--then the Ghost image file has to have been written by Ghost to the optical disc originally--there must be a certain hidden *flag* that indicate that the file was written to the optical disc by Ghost directly.

If, on the other hand, you use a third party optical disc authoring program to put an image file onto the optical disc that was not saved by Ghost to an optical disc originally, then Ghost will refuse to recognize the image file as a Ghost file--the special *flag* is missing. 

In this case, you must use the DOS based optical drive drivers that assign a drive letter to the optical drive.  Instead of accessing the optical drive by using the built-in Ghost driver that has the *@* symbol in front of the optical drive description, you must use the assigned DOS drive letter to access the data portion of the optical disc.  Now Ghost will be able to use the Ghost image file!

Let us know if this helped!

yes, success on the ide dvd image front!  still having an issue with the sata drives, though.  maybe i don't have the correct sata driver?  or maybe i have to put the sata ports in legacy mode?
i am using a tyan 5396 with 6321esb southbridge, which is modelled off the ich9r chip, i believe.  i use the 6 sata ports in raid mode to stripe several sets of drives, and would like NOT to have to change the sata ports to ide mode, if i can.
any help?

EDIT:  indeed, i put the sata controller in a type of legacy mode, and i can see the sata drive.

thanks so much!

yes, i am only talking about the optical drives, all the hdd's work fine in any mode.
for the second Q... on the motherboard i am working on for this project, a tyan 5396, i usually have the sata controller in raid mode, in which case i could not see the sata dvdrom at all (the ghost program would load from the cd, but i couldn't load the driver to run routines that include the sata dvdrom).  when i put the board into "compatible" mode, everything works wonderfully.

5396 bios -> advanced tab -> ATA controller (these worked)
PATA - enabled
SATA - enabled
Native Mode Operation - serial ATA
Sata Controller Mode Option - Compatible

these settings did not...(these are the settings i normally use to run the system)
Sata controller mode option - enhanced
   sata raid enable - enabled
sata raid + sata dvd support - enabled


of course, there are a few other ways to do these settings that i did not try, but if anyone needs this information down the line, i know what works for this controller.

does this answer your questions?

thanks again for the help!

we usually use a pata dvdrw in our systems, but sometimes we throw a blu-ray drive in when asked for, and those only come in sata.  that's why i needed the gcdrom driver to work.

"sata raid + sata dvd support - enabled"  - this switch in the bios does enable me to use a sata optical source even with the sata controller in raid mode.  and yes, all 6 ports are active, but unlike some other controllers this one allows me to easily have single and raided drives at the same time.

if you've seen ich"X"r or esb intel controllers, this is what i'm using.  it's onboard the 5396, as was the 2696.