GAITHERSBURG, MD, February 1, 1999 - Tracer Technologies announces new support for the OSTA UDF data format in its version 222 release of the MagnaVault family of Unix system software for storage systems. New features include support for "bridging" (in place re-formatting) Tracer's vendor-unique file system, BFS, and a new utility, BatchUDF, which allows the creation of arbitrary UDF file system images from a variety of sources. These features are available on all supported platforms for immediate delivery.

Bridging is the process of writing new metadata (directory structure) onto existing media to make the media compatible with the new UDF format. Although it has been popular to provide bridged media in conjunction with ISO 9660 (the standard CDROM data format), Tracer is the first vendor to provide bridging from its own format to the standard UDF format. The main advantages of bridging are the ability to continue to use high-performance file systems like Tracer's BFS while creating a path to standardization, and the ability to convert legacy media to a standard format.

Tracer's BatchUDF utility is a powerful tool for bridging arbitrary media, and for creating UDF file system images. Working from a simple specification, BatchUDF creates the metadata that describe data on a file system. The metadata can then be written to the media, utilizing available free space. This provides a simple mechanism for converting many kinds of legacy media (including those not of Tracer's origin) to the OSTA UDF standard. In addition, the BatchUDF utility's simple specification includes the ability to program media creation based on a collection of files through its API, making it an ideal mechanism for building UDF support into OEM applications.