Blank CD/DVDs?

[FuzzDuckie]

I'm looking for a site that easily and in plain english explains the difference between CD-R and CD-RW, not to mention the + and - of these.Looking at getting some for a relative's new computer as they just got it about 2 months ago. I understand the basics of it but I'd like to confirm what I know and told the person already. They pretty much want to use for backups and at least one for burning the pics from the England trip 2 years ago.Is there that much of a difference between R and RW? What is the purpose of RW? Can a person copy to or delete info from a RW without the use of the specific software (that's another thing I have to figure out...I don't know if the computer came with anything or if WInodws XP Home has it as I use Nero)Also have been looking at other places that talk about "the best" brand- Pretty much have that covered already.thanks!

[Grasshopper]

The plusses and minuses only apply to DVD's...not CD's.

[RandomBox]

You have come to the right website! Congrats.Here is my 2cents and you could take that to the bank.Item #1: Don't confuse the CD recordable media with DVD recordable media.Item #2: Ignore Item #1 and DONOT mess around with ReWritable (RW) media (neither in CD or DVD camps).Item #3: Don't confuse the plain-old DVD with HD-DVD and/or BluRay DVD.Item #4: In DVD recordable media market, forget using -R ('minusR' is really an older legacy standard, per se) type.You are now left with the simple dilemma of either purchasing CD-R and/or DVD+R... or some of each type.Item #5: Music files and data files of less than ~670MByte will handily fit in CD-R. With some data-reduction Movie files can also be burned on CD-Rs but with much lower resolution.Item #6: Then there is the case for Dual LayerDVD recordable Media. The physical media (let's call it DVD+R/DL) has not come down in price to justify purchasing them. 4.7GByte that DVD+R allows (at price point) is plenty good, unless you plan to burn full length/feature movie and have the proper DL burner and proper software.IF you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask.Since the "RW" media, is attempting to change the "table Of Contents" of the media already written to an "RW" media, things can (and do) go wrong, thus your older data that is on the RW media already can become extint. The price difference, complexity, etc., really does not justify using RW media.

[Peachy]

I think RW media (CD and DVD) have their uses. For someone like me who downloads and burns iso files of Linux distros it stops your desk from being overrun with write-once disks. I'd rather blank RW media and reuse than wasting an R. It's simple economics and environmentally better.I recommend getting Nero Burning ROM or Roxio EasyMedia Creator if it wasn't already bundled with the computer. It provides more flexibility than XP's limited burning capabilities. There are two ways to write data to the media: 1) traditional build-a-session using aforementionned software or 2) packet writing. Packet writing allows the media (especially RW) to be used like removable storage -- think huge floppy disk. The drawback with this has been compatibility between different drives and different packet writing software. I don't use it as much anymore, because it's not 100% reliable. But that may have changed with newer drives.The session building process lets you drag and drop folders and files into your burning software. When you are ready you click the burn button and away it goes. If the disc is not completely full, you have the option of making it a multi-session disc so you can add more data at a later time.

[RandomBox]

Peachy, Peachy, Peachy!We are holding the Recordable Media 101 Class and you are punching in with RM 204 class material! I have seen neophytes in front of Nero Wizard with a full blank expression! It is NOT funny seeing that expression on a first time user. There have been many new burning software offerings that are of a 'newer' breed of simplicity using the WinOS built-in burn engine with some additional codec bundles.DVDFab, DVDSanta. VSO Copy2DVD are some examples, and some good but simple GUI interface FREEware are also available!

[FuzzButt]

I'm in complete agreement with RandomBox here. All 6 points are right on point.Oddly enough even the built in cd burner in XP baffles most noephytes.I use name brand CD-R media for picture cd's that need to work in more than just my PC. Music still gets burned to CD-R here as well. I espically like the plain white top version that makes it easier to write on.I use Memorex DVD+R's for data/backups/video. The 16x media works real nice in my lite-on DVD+-RW/DL writer.The DL disks are way to expensive still but do come in handy for burning 8400MB of data at a time if you need. The speeds are still a bit low for the DL disks as well.I have never been a fan of the RW in any flavor. Too much work and too many way to have issues using the disk on another PC to out weigh the 40 cents for a regular "R" type disk. After you burn a few coasters and have format/close issues with the RW's you don't go back. As for the software that is a personal thing. I use Nero 6.something. I have tried others and keep coming back to nero. I think I have over a thousand cd's produced over the years and 99% have been with nero. I think I did 15 DVD's this week alone clearing off drive space.I think the only way for "RW" to really work is with a built-in automatic support in the OS for them. They truly need to work like floppies or memory cards to succeed. Now a day's with 4GB thumb drives and other flash memory support why bother with the "RW".

[goretsky]

Hello,CD-R and CD-RW are types of CD-ROM media (a/k/a discs) which can be written to using an optical disc drive which supports writing to these forms of media. "Writing" in this case means using the laser in the optical disc drive's read/write head to heat up or "burn" the dye embedded in the disc to the point where it changes color. When the disc is "read" afterwards, the light reflected back from the laser is different from the "burnt" areas than it is in the "shiny" areas. These light and dark spots on the disc are treated as binary data, which the optical disc drive translates into 0s and 1s so the computer can understand them.CD-R discs can be written to until the disc is filled up with data (about 680MB), once, i.e., the areas of the disc cannot be erased and used over again. It is possible to start and stop writing to a CD-R disc multiple times until it is filled up. This is called multisession recording and must be supported by the optical disc drive, the media and the recording software. At any point, including after just one "session" of recording data, a CD-R disc can be finalized, at which point no further data can be written to the disk.CD-RW discs can be written to like CD-R discs, but the bits "burnt" by the laser can be erased by heating them again with the laser at a lower temperature to make them "shiny" again. The material on the disc which goes through these changes does not last indefinitely, though, and wears out much in the same way rechargeable batteries do.There are no CD+R or CD+RW discs, as TBird noted. There are, however, DVD-R/DVD-RW and DVD+R/DVD+RW discs because recordable DVD disc drive vendors could not initially agree on a single standard when the technology was being developed (most recordable DVD disc drives support both technologies these days and are marked "DVD±RW." You still do need to use different types of media in them, though.As Peachy noted, there is a technology called packet writing which allows writeable optical discs to be accessed like floppy diskettes. While the technology to do this is standardized, the implementation often is not, so you may end up in a situation where a disc was written to using one packet-writing program and it cannot be read in a different computer because the packet-writing program on it is from a different vendor.I am afraid I am not economically viable nor am I ecologically sound as I myself do not make use of either CD-RW or DVD±RW discs, nor do I use packet writing software. Also, I will finalize a disc when I create it so nothing further can be written to it. In my defense, I rely primarily on USB solid-state FLASH RAM disk drives to shuttle information between computers when I can, as opposed to using optical media. Also, for backing up my computer's data, one of the technologies I use is a DVD-RAM disc drive and discs, which is a rewritable media that works in a different fashion than CD-RW or DVD±RW media.As far as brands of optical discs go, there are several companies who actually manufacture discs and a far larger number of companies who resell them. It is best to check with your optical disc drive manufacturer and ask them which brands of media they test with and recommend. If you get inconclusive information back then you might also want to take a look at this report by NIST (test methodology here) discussing how media degrades over time. There is also a guide to controlling media here which might be of interest.RegardsAryeh Goretsky

[b2cm]

Selection of the right media, I think, should follow this:1. The media supported by the burner.2. The media compatible with the reader.3. The media appropriate for the purpose.When I'm giving away the CD/DVD or will use it in standalone players, I use recordables. Otherwise, I use rewritables.

[RandomBox]

goretsky' version was the long version of the curricula but he forgot to tell you that there are actually few different capacities for CD-R media. *CD-R and CD-RW discs come in standard 12 cm (120 mm) and 8 cm (80 mm) sizes.*Currently, 74 minute/650 MB, 80 minute/700 MB (12 cm) and 21 minute/185 MB (8 cm) discs are the market standards.*Then there is a special pressing called the "Audio CD-R" which was mandated to be made at very exhorbitant prices with the idea that the "starving musicians" would get the proceeds! These "Audio CD-R" are specifically manufactured to be compatible with Audio Recording Decks reminiscent of the '70s-style Cassette Decks.*Then, there is the issue of Rated Speed that are an ad hoc indication of how fast the media can be recorded at. Rated Speed is usually give as 16x or 8x. Although Rated Speed values are pretty much dissappearing from the market, as it has become a non-issue, as long as you don't start bruning coaster. Then, I would suggest to either manually slow down the recording speed of your burner or purchase higher speed rated CD-rs! In the case of DVD+R media manufacturers are still attempting to ramp up to 16x {and beyond} recording speeds for DVD+Rs (single layer).You really don't want to know the skinny on DVD media and the technology behind recording onto them. It is not witchcraft but DONOT let anyone tell you that they really understand DVD burning technology.If I must, let me add one for item for you:Item #7: Buy CD-Rs and DVD+Rs with a Speed Rating that is the maximum specified record speed for your burner hardware!

[burninbush]

I'm looking for a site that easily and in plain english explains the difference between CD-R and CD-RW, not to mention the + and - of these.+++++++++++Easily done; the cdr is write-once, while the cdrw is 'rewriteable' -- meaning you can write on it, then erase it and write something else on it. Simple as that. +/- Does not apply to either cdr or cdrw. Those differentiate various sorts of dvd blanks, where there is a lot more choice. For general purposes, if you intend to get into dvd burning, I'd recommend you get dvd-r and dvd-rw to begin -- those types being more universally accepted by the various sorts of dvd drives than the + variety. Your computer drive won't care at all which type you choose. If you want to burn movie disks to play on your component dvd player, then check the manual to see what types of media it accepts -- dvd-r is the most common. For cd audio players, all will take cdr, not all will take the cdrw but that is becoming more common. Dvd+/-rw [signifying, either type] can almost be used like a hard disk -- you can rewrite them without first erasing. But, only with a burner program. Enough for now; you'll need a burner app like Nero or one of the freeware burner progs which are nearly as good; the burner prog that comes with XP has very limited usefulness. If you buy a drive that burns dvds, it will also burn cdr and cdrw. They are very cheap these days; for a desktop machine, expect to pay maybe $35 for a Sony or NEC or LiteOn drive that will do it all. I see very little reason today to buy a cd-only burner -- it will cost about the same.

[RandomBox]

I will try NOT to rehash what has been previously posted.There is also a few more issues, from the hardware perspective, that need to be explored when media burners and recording are being discussed:I intentionally prefer having a pure "Player" (for all CD/DVD formats, as is affectionately know as "CD/DVD-ROM") hardware installed in my PC. But this "Player" is in addition to a second hardware that is the "Burner/Recorder" device.My "Player" unit is an internal (IDE) device; where as the "Burner/Recorder" is an external USB2.0 connection. *Internal "Players" (as a second piece of hardware) allow for duplication and verification of the burn session. Just because the CD/DVD recording session you completed seems to play properly on the unit you just used, it does NOT guarantee that it will play on all other devices. Thus, a "Player" allows for such confirmation. Players are also more natively {?} recognized by BIOS, if/when you need to boot from CD/DVD!*External "Burners/Recorders" cost about twice as much as internal units but allow for portability, sharing, replacement, updating and re-gifting, w/o much trouble.