Need Help to Help me understand CD-RW media

Hello all !

I've been posting to computer and tech forums for years, and one thing that I have learned is the value of the knowledge that you can find in places like this. Most of what I know about computers I have learned in forums like this one.

I collect certain kinds of files, and need to get them off the Hard Drive, so I have bought a CD-RW and some re-writable media. While I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of how this works, there have been some strange situations recently that I just can't understand or figure out. I need help.

Been using both Nero and Alcohol to burn data files to Sony CD-RW media. I made a Windows 2000 Installation disk with some hotfixes and SP4 slipstreamed, but it didn't work, so I wanted to try making a disk that only had SP4 slipstreamed. Not only will the disk not "take" the new data, it won't take ANY other data. It appears to be ruined, and I don't know why, how it happened or if it can be "fixed".

I've done Nero's "Full Erase" several times, and the disk still won't "come back".

Is it Gone Forever ?

I have a lot of trouble understanding CD burning in general, and the re-writable media is really trowing me for a loop, as it seems pretty non-intuitive. Can anyone help me get a handle on this ?

Thanks in advance,

Billy

 

(Bump)

I've discovered some very strange things about a CD-RW I am using. I can see some files in windows, but cannot see them in Nero. But I can see OTHER files in Nero that I cannot see in Windows ?

Very confused, and am hoping someone can help.

Thanks in advance.

 

Here's my suggestion to you. Burn your CD-RWs just like you would burn a CDR. Don't use InCD where you drag and drop files to it like a portable hard drive. Just open Nero and burn it normally. It will save you lots of problems later.

 

An Update:

Found this old thread and thought I'd bring some sort of resolution, in case someone else reads it.

It turns out that Win2000 is pretty "touchy" about CD-ROM (& -RW) burning. I did a LOT of research, and found out that Win2000 needs a special "layer" in order to do "drag & drop" CD burning. It was a real pain.

Also, my CD-RW was defective. Running WinXP and buying a BenQ1640 have solved ALL my problems.

Also, in case someone wants to know, I read somewhere that you can burn, erase and then burn again to a rewritable CD (and also I assume a DVD-RW) somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand times. The biggest enemies of the data are sunlight (Ultraviolet) and scracthes to the media itself.