burning to a CD-RW

I recently tried to use Nero 6 to burn files to a CD-RW and ended up with 2 coasters. I don't know how to work with this format...have had success burning to DVD-/+ r, CD-R but would like to be able to burn to a CD-RW --in order to work with VCD and SVCD's. I ahave a CD burner and a DVDburner ---the latter being a ext TDK Indigo multi-format drive....my OS is XP pro....I recently bought CD-RW 4x TDK to experiment...Do I need to format these first....any and all help appreciated

 

is there a need to use cd-rw when cd-r's or so cheap
i dont use rw's more cost and slower speeds

 

In order to burn files to a RW -- you have to use first the formating program to prepare the media .

Nero does not come with InCd -- but it is available at their site for you to be able to format those cd-RW first.

 

My suggestion is to throw away InCD (it's lousy).
If you don't prepare UDF CDs, formatting is not needed at all.
A CD-RW has no difference from a CD-R (execpt for a PSX, that doesn't read them, and the fact that you can erase them).
Just to try, use CDRwin and try. Maybe it's a Nero InCD problem (i'm just guessing..)
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must be just me im impatient but i keep speeds to 32x
with no problems or coasters

 

adolfojm !!!

#1 CD-RW do have to be formatted first. or you will end up with "coasters"

#2 There is a world of difference between CD-R and CD-RW

CD-R :- The disc has a spiral track which is preformed during manufacture, onto which data is written during the recording process. This ensures that the recorder follows the same spiral pattern as a conventional CD, and has the same width of 0.6 microns and pitch of 1.6 microns as a conventional disc. Discs are written from the inside of the disc outward. The spiral track makes 22,188 revolutions around the CD, with roughly 600 track revolutions per millimetre.
Hence it is pre-formatted at the factory.

However, CD-R's real disadvantage is that the writing process is permanent. The media can't be erased and written to again. Only by leaving a session "open" - that is, not recording on the entire CD and running the risk of it not playing on all players - can data be incrementally added to a disc. This, of course, is not the most ideal of backup solutions and wastes resources.

CD-RW :- The disc phase-change medium consists of a polycarbonate substrate, moulded with a spiral groove for servo guidance, absolute time information and other data, on to which a stack (usually five layers) is deposited. The recording layer is sandwiched between dielectric layers that draw excess heat from the phase-change layer during the writing process. In place of the CD-R disc's dye-based recording layer, CD-RW commonly uses a crystalline compound made up of a mix of silver, indium, antimony and tellurium. This rather exotic mix has a very special property: when it's heated to one temperature and cooled it becomes crystalline, but if it's heated to a higher temperature, when it cools down again it becomes amorphous. The crystalline areas allow the metalised layer to reflect the laser better while the non-crystalline portion absorbs the laser beam, so it is not reflected.

In order to achieve these effects in the recording layer, the CD-Rewritable recorder use three different laser powers:

the highest laser power, which is called "Write Power", creates a non-crystalline (absorptive) state on the recording layer
the middle power, also known as "Erase Power", melts the recording layer and converts it to a reflective crystalline state
the lowest power, which is "Read Power", does not alter the state of the recording layer, so it can be used for reading the data.

Formatting is done two ways :-

By using the UDF method with applications such as InCd by Nero or DirectCD by Roxio -- you format and/or erase the content of the Cd-RW at will.

Or By acquiring a Mount Rainier Compliant Cd-Writer that will format as you go when you write to the CD-RW i.e
Background formatting: Mount Rainier eliminates both the delay and the need to use third party software associated with conventional CD-RW media formatting by performing this as a background task that's transparent to the user and that over within a minute.


Although UDF allows users to drag and drop files to discs, CD-RW isn't quite as easy to use as a hard disk.The major drawback is that the fixed-length packets (of 32KB as per the UDF standard), take up a great deal of overhead space on the disc. The available capacity of a CD-RW disc formatted for writing in fixed-length packets is reduced to about 550MB.

In addition not all CD-R or CD-RW drives support packet writing and it is only MultiRead CD-ROM drives - and only OSTA-endorsed MultiRead drives at that - that can read packet-written discs. To do so requires use of Adaptec's free UDF Reader software - which enables many MultiRead CD-ROM drives to read discs written in UDF 1.5 format. It is important to note that this software is required in addition to InCd or DirectCd.

Hope this will shed some lights to A/all

 

They do if you want to use the CD-RW for what it was meant for , that is use the Drag&Drop method for extra storage -- CD-RW came out in 97' when manufacturers saw the superfloppies hit the market; the LS-120 could hold 120Mb and was very popular cause people had small HD and needed extra storage and/or portable data storage. .Philips and Sony jointly came out with the first CD-RW to counteract the new challenger;they did this by forming a group with Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, and Ricoh -- The technology behind CD-RW is optical phase-change, which in its own right is nothing radical but permits creating a meltdown at will to erase what is on the disc. Lasers in drives that can write to CD-RW have a double head and operate at much higher temperatures. Hence the incompatibility of CD-RW with older CD-Writers that are not labelled MultiRead.

At the start of 1998 it appeared likely that CD-R/CD-RW drives would be superseded by DVD technology almost before they had got off the ground. In the event, during that year DVD Forum members turned on each other triggering a DVD standards war and delaying product shipment. Consequently, the writable and rewritable CD formats were given a new lease of life.

I must say they still have their place nowadays but the sales have dropped like a rock since the venue of the 4.7G DVD storage media.

-- Fun Facts for A/all.. i hope !

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If you want to use a CD-RW as a plain CD-R -- agreed that it is throwing good money out of the window , the cost being approximately 45% more for CD-RW ( brought on by a smaller volume of sales and higher manufacturing costs).

However , in certain fields namely the one i am in .. ~~Reseach/Development~~ -- the CD-RW is a necessary tool as it insures one saving his work as he progresses instantly -- in Multimedia presentation , the CD-RW is also appreciated as portable data that can be modified then re-utilised at will.

The organization i am in , uses approx. 800 CD-RW a year and few abnormalities are encountered. A study made internally brought on that we would have to procure more then 2100 CD-R each year to keep up with our engineering needs if we were to stop using CD-RW.

Take care !

 

Ok.. my misunderstanding -- have a good day.