CD R/W/RW - Stupid Question

[Brian R.]

Here's a question that will be ranked with the most ridiculous of all time:

When a CD drive is able to re-write a CD, does that mean it is able to erase and write over data already imprinted, or does that only mean it can add on additional data once some data have been previously burned into the CD? Never owned one so I am clueless.

Sorry

[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 02 January 2000).]

[Plmr]

It actually melts the track and re burns data into it.It takes special disks and they're Pricy !A cdr disk is about 75cents US, cdrw are about 10 bucks.yhey usually dont burn as fast ,but its pretty amazing they burn at all. Matt

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Abit BF6, P3 450 AT 620, G400 32meg Dh ,Promise fasttrack striping 2 Quantum ka 18gig's + 2 10gig IBM's ,Sb-live platinum ,Cambridge Fps2000 speakers ,Onstream 30gig tape ,Sony cdrw ,toshiba dvd, Lotsa fans,cables ,noise....

[Brian R.]

That leads to another stupid question. Can a garden variety CD-ROM writer add files to a disk which is partially full from a previous write?

[agallag]

Yup, almost all cd-r drives can do that. It's called multisession. You write on some stuff, but don't "close" the disc. It can only be read by cd-rom drives that support multisession (anything made in the last 2-3 years should read them fine). You can continue to add "sessions" until the disc is full.

With CD-RW, you can only re-write by first erasing the whole disc. It's not like a hard drive or a floppy where you can delete individual files. It will do multisession as well. Only really new cd-rom drives can read them though.

CD-RW discs are a little more expensive, but they've come down quite a bit during the past year. I bought a 5-pack for $15 canadian (less than $10US, or less than $2US each). These are pretty cheap ones, only capable of 2x recording. You can get 4x capable discs for about twice the price.

[This message has been edited by agallag (edited 02 January 2000).]

[Gurm]

There are programs which will let you use your CDRW as a read/write filesystem. Adaptec's DirectCD will do this.

HOWEVER... beware of these programs. They are notoriously unstable.

Heh.

However, with regular CDR's being available at $0.75 per eaches, there's really no reason to use CDRW's any more.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[ahartman]

I have a Sony CD-RW and they include a program Abcd which lets you use the CD like any other disk - copy, delete, etc. Great for storing those upgrade files if you're not one to back up regularly.

I occasionally get a VxD bluescreen which I suspect is due to Abcd, but the benefits far outweigh the risks.

Also, the Sony comes with a backup program that will let your backups span discs - I backed up 3GB in about 30 minutes last nite. Don't know if this is standard, but it sure was handy for me.

[Gurm]

I hate to sound like a jerk, but I have NEVER EVER found a program that was so useful that I was willing to put up with blue screens because of it.

Just my opinion, of course.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[thecurse]

i have 3 and only 3 cd-rw that i reuse. they are great for testing -- especialy for making bootable cds. the cheapest way i have seen to get the cd-rws is to goto best buy and get a 7 + 3 pack of verbatiums. it is a pack of 3 cd-rws and 7 cd-rs and if yoyu use those 3 cd-rws correctly they will be the only cd-rws you need to buy. by correctly i mean using the for tests only.

just my 2 cents and if you take my 2 cents i guess that would leave me with no sense

[Brian R.]

Thanks for all the great replies.

So then... what are the uses y'all have found for CD writable drives? Creating music CDs and backing up downloaded files are what I envision. What are some other uses?

[Plmr]

I have HEARD that people go to Comp Usa buy a product copy it and return it for exchange..that sounds immoral.. but I HEAR it happens,,, I make extra copies of my important programs and music then put away the originals away safe.
Matt

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Abit BF6, P3 450 AT 620, G400 32meg Dh ,Promise fasttrack striping 2 Quantum ka 18gig's + 2 10gig IBM's ,Sb-live platinum ,Cambridge Fps2000 speakers ,Onstream 30gig tape ,Sony cdrw ,toshiba dvd, Lotsa fans,cables ,noise....

[Greebe]

CompUSA regularly have 50/spindle, 8x CDR blanks (SKU#260895) onsale and have 25 packs of 4x CDRW for $30 (reg price for the latter). I haven't had a problem burning up to 800 megs on the CDR's using Nero.

[LAMFDTK]

I just got my burner and am new to this...

What is Nero and how about a link?

I am looking for a program to copy my HD, Plextor has one but you have to E-mail them to get the information to buy it and they never respond to Email's...

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PIII-450@504, 128 HDSRAM, Asus P3BF, G400/32, SBLive!,Brand stinkin' new Sony G400 19", (no Dual head) Nokia 447Xi 17",AOPEN DVD-1040 10x slot,PLEXTOR 8x4x32 ATAPI CD-RW,PromiseULtra66, and some fish,

[Maggi]

I use my CD-RWs as a storage for all the latest drivers, updates and patches ...

[Greebe]

Nero.

For information on CD technology & how to's look here and here.

Enjoy

[LAMFDTK]

Thanks!