Hi, ok, I followed your instructions. First I wrote the larger image with dd if=/dev/zero bs=2048 count=400000 | /usr/bin/growisofs -Z /dev/sr0=/dev/fd/0 -use-the-force-luke=notray -use-the-force-luke=tty -use-the-force-luke=4gms -use-the-force-luke=tracksize:400000 -use-the-force-luke=dummy -use-the-force-luke=dao:400000 -dvd-compat -speed=8 -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m and, hu, everything went fine :-), no kernel messages. Then I wrote the smaller image without the dummy-option: cat medien/filme/DVD-ABBILDER/show-musikprojekt.iso | /usr/bin/growisofs -Z /dev/sr0=/dev/fd/0 -use-the-force-luke=notray -use-the-force-luke=tty -use-the-force-luke=4gms -use-the-force-luke=tracksize:96525 -use-the-force-luke=dao:96525 -dvd-compat -speed=8 -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32mExecuting 'builtin_dd if=/dev/fd/0 of=/dev/sr0 obs=32k seek=0' last lines of growisofs again: 197656576/197683200 (100.0%) @0.0x, remaining 0:00 RBU 0.1% UBU 100.0% 197656576/197683200 (100.0%) @0.0x, remaining 0:00 RBU 0.1% UBU 100.0% 197656576/197683200 (100.0%) @0.0x, remaining 0:00 RBU 0.1% UBU 100.0% 197656576/197683200 (100.0%) @0.0x, remaining 0:00 RBU 0.1% UBU 100.0% 197656576/197683200 (100.0%) @0.0x, remaining 0:00 RBU 0.1% UBU 100.0% :-[ WRITE@LBA=17900h failed with SK=0h/ASC=00h/ACQ=03h]: Input/output error :-( write failed: Input/output error /dev/sr0: flushing cache As you can see, I didn't have to wait until the drive has stopped working because growisofs finished itself... When growisofs told me of that error the kernel bailed out: Aug 15 12:53:54 t500 kernel: [23704.924138] ata2.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen Aug 15 12:53:54 t500 kernel: [23704.924149] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] CDB: Aug 15 12:53:54 t500 kernel: [23704.924152] Write(10): 2a 00 00 01 79 00 00 00 0d 00 Aug 15 12:53:54 t500 kernel: [23704.924165] ata2.00: cmd a0/01:00:00:00:80/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 10 dma 32768 out Aug 15 12:53:54 t500 kernel: [23704.924165] res 40/00:03:00:00:80/00:00:00:00:00/a0 Emask 0x4 (timeout) Aug 15 12:53:54 t500 kernel: [23704.924169] ata2.00: status: { DRDY } Aug 15 12:53:54 t500 kernel: [23704.924174] ata2: hard resetting link Aug 15 12:53:55 t500 kernel: [23705.244130] ata2: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300) Aug 15 12:53:55 t500 kernel: [23705.249443] ata2.00: ACPI cmd e3/00:1f:00:00:00:a0 (IDLE) succeeded Aug 15 12:53:55 t500 kernel: [23705.250313] ata2.00: ACPI cmd e3/00:02:00:00:00:a0 (IDLE) succeeded Aug 15 12:53:55 t500 kernel: [23705.260834] ata2.00: ACPI cmd e3/00:1f:00:00:00:a0 (IDLE) succeeded Aug 15 12:53:55 t500 kernel: [23705.261646] ata2.00: ACPI cmd e3/00:02:00:00:00:a0 (IDLE) succeeded Aug 15 12:53:55 t500 kernel: [23705.265583] ata2.00: configured for UDMA/133 Aug 15 12:53:55 t500 kernel: [23705.284079] ata2: EH complete At last I compared the disc with the image, they seem to be identical: dd if=/dev/sr0 bs=2048 count=96525 |diff - medien/filme/DVD-ABBILDER/show-musikprojekt.iso 96525+0 Datensätze ein 96525+0 Datensätze aus 197683200 Bytes (198 MB) kopiert, 40,6439 s, 4,9 MB/s btw., with bigger images the error occurs again, but this is what you expected, isn't it? E.g. here: cat videos2013.iso | /usr/bin/growisofs -Z /dev/sr0=/dev/fd/0 -use-the-force-luke=notray -use-the-force-luke=tty -use-the-force-luke=4gms -use-the-force-luke=tracksize:2075862 -use-the-force-luke=dummy -use-the-force-luke=dao:2075862 -dvd-compat -speed=8 -use-the-force-luke=bufsize:32m ... 4251353088/4251365376 (100.0%) @0.0x, remaining 0:00 RBU 0.1% UBU 100.0% 4251353088/4251365376 (100.0%) @0.0x, remaining 0:00 RBU 0.1% UBU 100.0% :-[ WRITE@LBA=1facd0h failed with SK=0h/ASC=00h/ACQ=03h]: Input/output error :-( write failed: Input/output error /dev/sr0: flushing cache and the kernel log: Aug 15 14:17:53 t500 kernel: [28743.900136] ata2.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen Aug 15 14:17:53 t500 kernel: [28743.900145] sr 1:0:0:0: [sr0] CDB: Aug 15 14:17:53 t500 kernel: [28743.900148] Write(10): 2a 00 00 1f ac d0 00 00 06 00 Aug 15 14:17:53 t500 kernel: [28743.900161] ata2.00: cmd a0/01:00:00:00:80/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 8 dma 32768 out Aug 15 14:17:53 t500 kernel: [28743.900161] res 40/00:03:00:00:80/00:00:00:00:00/a0 Emask 0x4 (timeout) Aug 15 14:17:53 t500 kernel: [28743.900164] ata2.00: status: { DRDY } Aug 15 14:17:53 t500 kernel: [28743.900169] ata2: hard resetting link ... thanks, jan.