Re: [OT] CD Burning
don cole wrote:
>
> I have a stack of blank CDs.
> Before I obtain a CD-R/W i would like to know,
> Can you erase a CD and re-use it and if not, can you burn 50% of a CD and go
> back and add to it later?
>
> Anybody with experiance w/ CDs ?
>
> Don Cole
Hi there Don,
As others were saying, the two basic types of recordable CD's
are RW and R.
The 'R' type is writeable, but when you erase a
file (delete) you dont get that disk space back--it's gone forever.
And, once the R disk is filled up that's it...no more space on that
disk.
The 'RW' type is erasable depending on what software you use.
With some software you can erase individual files and recover the
space that they took up on the disk. With other software (like that
which comes built into XP) you cant recover space even on RW disks
without erasing the whole disk and starting over.
The speeds of the recorders vary from model to model also. If you
get one that is around 50x or better you'll be able to record something
like 650 Megabytes in less than 5 minutes. If you get one that is only
about 4x you'll be sorry you didnt get a faster one.
You'll also have to check the speed of the disks themselves. If they
are marked "2x" or something like that you wont be able to record
any faster than that so it could take a half hour or more to record a full
disk. If they arent marked at all and they are somewhat older they
may be only 1 to 4x so they wont record very fast.
Also, not all CD disks work as well as you would like them to. They
could end up with errors after the record session is complete so you'd
have to start over with a fresh disk. In some packs of CD's ive found
about 3 out of 15 to be bad (especially when recording near the edge
of the disk when the disk is almost full), while with other packs i've
found none to be bad. If the disks are old there is a chance they
wont work as well as you would like so you may end up buying new disks
anyway. Most of the newer made disks work much better.
Before you buy, there is also popular the recordable DVD disks now.
They hold up to 4 gigabytes (8 gigs double sided) so you can basically
store about 6 or 7 CD's on one disk. Of course the downside is that
if something happens to that disk you lose 6 cd's instead of one.
As someone else was saying, there is also the 'jump drive' which has
become popular too now because it's so easy to use. You really need
to have USB 2.0 or better to appreciate this kind of drive however
or you'll notice a very slow write speed. They have come down in
price drastically over the past year or two too, so they are very
worth getting now.
The advantage is the jump drive acts very much like a small hard
drive so there is no fuss over what format you use...just plug into
USB and it shows up in Win Explorer as another hard drive! Very nice.
Drawbacks are: Once it fills up, you have to buy a new one unless
you erase files (just like a hard drive), and before you unplug you
have to click a button on the taskbar to make sure it's "safe" to unplug
it. Also, if your USB plug is on the back of the computer you'll want
to get an extension for it so you dont have to keep reaching behind
the darn computer box.
Oh yeah, these little things are so very portable too as they are
very small (typically about 1 inch or less wide by about 3 inches long
and about 1/4 inch thick) so you can carry in your pocket with ease.
In my experience, i've found that there are basically two types of
long term storage: that which you intend to keep for a very long time
and that which you intend to eventually back up to a CD or DVD disk for
very long term storage. The jump drive comes in handy for the short
run and for stuff that is very important to back up often (and isnt
exceptionally large), while the cd disks are better for long term storage.
RW type disks arent very reliable however, at least not with the ones
i had gotten in the past. Out of several (maybe 10 to 15 disks) only
one or two of them lasted more than about 2 years. I dont trust them
anymore so i dont use them anymore. Also, the RW software varies
considerably for recording RW's so you have to read up on what you
are using before you use it in order to know if it is really what
you want, as well as if you can read a disk recorded on one system
(Windows or other) on another system...an RW disk recorded with one
software may not read at all with another software.
Out of all the software i've used, i like Nero recording software
the best because it gives you plenty of feedback while it's recording
and also has a 'verify after recording' feature which checks the disk
after it's recorded. Sometimes an error will occur and you wont know
it until some time later when you go to read a file on the disk, so
if the disk is 'verified' after recording at least you know ALL the files
got to the disk intact--very very important in cd recording.
Take care,
Al
And, good luck with your Euphoria programming!
My bumper sticker: "I brake for LED's"
|
Not Categorized, Please Help
|
|
