From: Carl Hetherington Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2021 20:53:51 +0000 (+0200) Subject: Talk about Disk Writer in the manual. X-Git-Tag: v2.15.171~13 X-Git-Url: https://main.carlh.net/gitweb/?p=dcpomatic.git;a=commitdiff_plain;h=81cd3d04756b56ca54a7519c349cb17b6b16ab64 Talk about Disk Writer in the manual. --- diff --git a/doc/manual/Makefile b/doc/manual/Makefile index d08dffe51..b0217bd7a 100644 --- a/doc/manual/Makefile +++ b/doc/manual/Makefile @@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ SCREENSHOTS := file-new.pdf new-film.pdf video-select-content-file.pdf \ prefs-notifications.pdf timeline1.pdf timed-text-tab.pdf \ making-dcp.pdf filters.pdf video-tab.pdf audio-tab.pdf \ audio-plot.pdf audio-map-eg1.pdf audio-map-eg2.pdf audio-map-eg3.pdf kdm.pdf \ - kdm-creator.pdf export.pdf advanced-content.pdf + kdm-creator.pdf export.pdf advanced-content.pdf disk-writer-notice.pdf XML := dcpomatic.xml diff --git a/doc/manual/dcpomatic.xml b/doc/manual/dcpomatic.xml index 1c3ca9dcb..b278295d0 100644 --- a/doc/manual/dcpomatic.xml +++ b/doc/manual/dcpomatic.xml @@ -3807,6 +3807,139 @@ The full details of OV and VF files are discussed in + + +Writing DCPs to disks + + +Once you have your DCP, you need to get it to the cinema or theater who +will play it. Sometimes this is possible via the internet, using a +service such as Filemail. If that's an option: go for it! Network +transfers avoid a lot of the difficulties that other methods have. + + + +However, your DCP may be too large to make that practical. In that case, +the usual approach is to copy the DCP onto a USB hard drive or stick and +physically take it or send it to the cinema. + + +
+Hard drive formatting + + +In theory, this should be as simple as dragging and dropping the DCP's +files onto a USB-connected drive. Sadly, though, things are not always +that simple. This is because not all hard drives are formatted in the +same way. The most common formats for hard drives are: + + + +APFS — used by macOS 10.13 and later for solid state drives (SSDs). +HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) — used by macOS on 10.12 and earlier, and on all macOS systems for spinning disks. +NTFS — modern format used by Windows. +ExFAT — another modern, but less common (and buggier) format used by Windows. +FAT32 — old format used by Windows. +ext2, ext3, ext4 — often used by Linux. + + + +You can format a drive however you want, but a drive set up on macOS will usually use APFS, just as one set up on Windows will probably use NTFS or ExFAT. + + + +The problem you have as a DCP maker is: the only format that is +guaranteed to work in all cinemas is ext2. This format is not easy to +use directly from Windows or macOS: both operating systems need extra +software to write ext2 drives. + + + +The “DCP-o-matic Disk Writer” provides a possible +solution to this problem. It allows you to format and copy DCPs onto ext2-formatted disks from Windows, macOS or Linux. + + +
+ + +
+Caution + + +DCP-o-matic is made by one developer in his spare time. As a project, +we do not have any quality assurance department, testing team or +anything like that. Though we try our best to ensure quality using +automated testing, and by the great efforts of our users to find and report problems, +bugs do get into the code and things do go wrong. + + + +Though very undesirable, bugs in most parts of DCP-o-matic are usually +not disastrous; they most often result in an error message, or some +problem with a DCP. The Disk Writer tool, however, is a bit different. It obtains +permission from your operating system to write directly to disks connected to the +computer. Though we have done as much as we can to prevent problems, there is a chance +that a bug in the Disk Writer could cause irretrievable data loss (for example, if +the writer wrote to the wrong drive by mistake). + + + +No such problems have been reported, nor found by us during testing, but I would +like to warn you that they are possible. As always, make sure that you have backups +(somewhere that is not directly connected to your computer) of anything that you do not want +to lose. + + +
+ + +
+Writing a DCP to a disk + + +Starting up the Disk Writer will give open a confirmation window to make sure that you understand the risks involved, as shown in . + + +
+ Starting the Disk Writer + + + + + +
+ + +If you are sure you want to continue, type I am sure into the text box and click OK. This will open the window shown in . + + +
+ Starting the Disk Writer + + + + + +
+ +Next, click Open... and choose the DCP that you want to write. + + +Now we need to choose the drive that the DCP will be written to from the drop-down menu. +Whichever drive you choose will be irretrievably wiped! +If the drive you want is not listed, click Refresh to search the system for drives. + + + +Finally, click Copy DCP. After a confirmation window, the drive will be formatted, +and the DCP copied and then read back to check that it was written correctly. + + +
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