I would like to copy/store info (mpegs, avi etc type movies; word docs, MP3 etc) on to a disk and be able to either add or remove files/folders without erasing everything. E.g., I have a collection of avi movies on my hard drive and as I find different movies I add to the folder or delete as needed. Can I do this with a DVD-Ram disk? Thanks!
Yes. Both DVD-RAM and DVD+RW allow the individual editing and removing of particular files. The difference between the way the two work is that the DVD-RAM uses a non-video format, and any videos recorded to the disc will only play in drives that can handle DVD-RAM media. That means most DVD players except Panasonic models cannot play the video. DVD-RAM discs with speed ratings below 8X can be recorded and rewritten up to 100,000 times because of thermal dielectric layers in the construction. DVD+/-RW media are capable of only 1,000 rewrites because of their simpler and less expensive construction.
I'm not sure about the DVD-RAM (my burner won't write to a RAM disk) but it can be done with DVD-RW (I don't have any DVD+RW to test). I use Nero Burning Rom to start a multisession with a new disk then add files or folders as required and burn. Next time I continue the multisession and select the last date when the previous session completed. Add or remove files to/from folders, add new files and folders as required and burn.
DVD-RW uses a sequential video format. Multisession recording allows new files to be appended to the disc, but that simply adds a new file to the first open sector and blocks the address to the old file. Editing a files five times on a DVD-RW disc means the file appears five different times on the same disc. Sooner or later the disc fills up and has to be erased and rerecorded. It is this disability of the DVD-RW format that made Sony, HP, and Philips abandon the DVD Forum and introduce the DVD+RW format that allowed a file to be erased so that its former area would increase the capacity of the disc, or to be changed without recording onto additional sectors, just the way it works with a floppy disk.
Well that's a real nuisance.I never noticed in the past that the usage was creeping up.Probably because I never edited or deleted the large video files and the text files that I did get rid of were too small to notice or perhaps I wasn't paying attention.
