Quick Question About Rewritable Cd's/dvd's

[Gizmonster]

If I store some data on a rewritable CD or DVD .... and later on, I decide I want to add more data (whilst keepng the original data), can I simply add the new data to the CD/DVD, or do I have to wipe it clean and add all of the data from scratch ??

TIA :)

[bookbinder]

You can add the new data, and no worries. If there's room on the disc for the new data, it will be added to the original data, so that it follows on (if you see what I mean). If there isn't enough room, you'll get a notification on your screen.

[Buenchico]

Any CD or DVD can be used to save data and then add more at a later date. (It doesn't have to be 'rewriteable'). You simply need to ensure that the 'multi-session' option is enabled when you burn the data.

However there a couple of things to note:
1. Multi-session CDs/DVDs can always be read with the drive that created them but they might need to be 'finalised' before they can be read in some other drives.
2. Audio CDs use a format that writes a SINGLE file (even if it contains several separate music tracks) which fills the entire disk. Therefore you can't add tracks later to audio CDs.

You only need to buy (more expensive) rewriteable CDs/DVDs if you want to wipe ALL of the data from the disks and then re-use them. They were useful to people who bought DVD recorders to be able to watch their favourite programs at a later date and then re-use the disk for further recordings but (with the advent of PVRs) there's not really much point to them these days. Just buy the (cheaper) 'ordinary' CD and DVDs, which are also less prone to recording problems anyway.

[Alex_Higham]

I thought that adding more info onto a rewritable CD/DVD would automatically overwrite the original material. Hence the reason for it being a rewritable disc.

[bookbinder]

I suspect that 'rewritable' means that you can alter the data that's already on the disc.

[ShadowPuppet]

From my experience once data is burned to a CD it can not be deleted nor can the disc accept new data. Though recently I discovered that my Acer gives me the option to have the CD act as a flash drive meaning that it can be saved to and deleted from.
This however didn't prove in my case to be a stable option as not long after I once did it one of my file folders on the CD somehow turned into this weird single file. Fortunately I had a copy of all the folders I'd put on the CD on my desktop so I lost nothing.

Strangely though the same thing seems to have happened to the folder I carried all my fonts in on my flash drive.

[bhg481]

With a re-writable disk you can delete files and re-use the space.
Buenchico is correct in saying that you cannot add a track to an audio CD BUT, if you have written MP3s to a CD, then you can add tracks as each track is a single file. I'm sure Buen is aware of this, I'm just trying to clarify the difference between an audio CD and a CD used to store music.

[murraymints]

I concur with Chris.....I burn zillions of discs both audio and video....the single use are so cheap to buy its not really worth the expense of using rewritable ones

[murraymints]

And bhg is also correct !

[bhg481]

Just something else to bear in mind, Giz. If you're using your CD/DVDs as a backup medium there is no guarantee that an un-finalised disk can be read on a machine other than the one you created it on (as Buen pointed out). So, if it's data security you're looking for, you need to either finalise each disk OR use RW disks and completely overwrite them each time (RW disks can be overwritten even if they have been finalised).

[Gizmonster]

Thanks for all the replies :)

Just for the record, I'm considering using them as backing up my photos, videos, songs, etc .... approx 16 Gig in total.

[Buenchico]

>>>I'm considering using them as backing up my photos, videos, songs, etc

In which case just use ordinary disks (rather than rewriteable ones) and ensure that the 'multi-session' option is enabled if you want to add files later. They're much more reliable for 'archive' purposes.

Better still though, simply accept that you'll leave some space free on each disk and just burn them once with a load of files on each one. (Whenever you burn extra files to any disk there's always a small risk of corrupting the whole disk). If you shop around they're not exactly expensive!
http://www.tesco.com/direct/dvd-r-47gb-5-pack/286-7004.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=286-7004
or even cheaper:
http://www.poundland.co.uk/leisure-and-entertainment/electrical/blank-media/signalex-dvdrs-4-pack

[murraymints]

Or get an external hard drive for this purpose....greater capacity , less likely to get damaged like a disc....I store all my photos and music this way....

[Gizmonster]

I am considering an external hard drive as well.
I've got a USB stick (I think its capacity is 32 Gig) - I've used it twice to save data and on and both times, the files got corrupted, so I'm not impressed with it.
I'm currently using non-rewritable DVD's to back my files up and was just wondering what would be the difference/benefit of using rewritable ones. It looks like the answer is, "not very much".
I think the external hard drive seems the best option - time to go looking for a good quality one .... any ideas plzz ????

[Hypognosis]

Hi Gizmonster

1 Terabayte for under 50 quid suit ya?

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=seagate+backup+plus