Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
To put the ISO 9660 format in perspective, the disc layout is roughly analogous to that of
a floppy disk. A floppy disk has a system track that not only identifies itself as a floppy
disk and reveals its density and OS, but tells the computer how it's organized (into direct-
ories, which are made up of files).
Joliet
JolietisanextensionoftheISO9660standardthatMicrosoftdevelopedforusewithWin-
dows 95 and later. Joliet enables CDs to be recorded using filenames up to 64 characters
long, including spaces and other characters from the Unicode international character set.
Joliet also preserves an 8.3 alias for those programs that can't use the longer filenames.
In general, Joliet features the following specifications:
• File or directory names can be up to 64 Unicode characters (128 bytes) in length.
• Directory names can have extensions.
• Directories can be deeper than eight levels.
• Multisession recording is inherently supported.
Tip
Because Joliet supports a shorter path than Windows 9x and newer versions, you might have
difficulties mastering a Joliet-format CD that contains extremely long pathnames. I recom-
mend you shorten folder names in the file structure you create with the CD mastering soft-
ware to avoid problems. Unfortunately, some CD mastering programs don't warn you about
a pathname that is too long until after the burning process starts. If your CD mastering pro-
gram offers an option to validate your disc structure, use this option to determine whether
you need to shorten folder names. Some CD mastering programs will provide a suggested
short name and shorten too-long folder names for you.
