Question about CD-RW capabilities

[rqc02]

I have a CD-RW DVD combo drive and I am a little confused. Don't CD-RW's have the capability to modify documents on the CD and then save them as the same name on the CD. I thought so , but I can't do so. Someone please clarify this for me.

Thankx in advance,
rqc02

[NooNoo]

There are two basic ways to burn a cd and there are two basic formats giving you 4 combinations.

CDR are burned once and once only which ever burning process you use - You can add to them, but you can't erase them and start again.

CDRW you can burn over and over (50 timesI believe is the limit).

Now onto the burning. You can burn "normally" which uses Nero or Easy CD or NTI or other burning program and there is "Packet Writing" - Direct CD that comes with Easy CD and INCD that comes with Nero are two examples.

Now packet writing turns your cdrw into a dirty great floppy disk that you can copy from and to the cdrw. If you are not using packet writing then you will have to use the burning software to update the files afterwards.

Packet writing can be evil as it creates a virtual device - more than once I have seen a system become unstable when packet writing programs have been installed. If it works for you great, if not, you will have to do it the long way round.

[ClickHere2Surf.com]

You need to use a program like Easy DVD creator 6 which lets you use the CDRW exactly as if it was hard drive (or a very fast and large floppy).

BTW NooNoo, CDRWs are rated to 1000 rewrites, not 50, of course you would probably need perfect conditions to get 1000, but I get WAYYY more than 50 on my camera which was an 80mm CDRW drive (I dont use CDs on my PC, what can you fit on 700mb? not much at all).

[TripleRLtd]

(I dont use CDs on my PC, what can you fit on 700mb? not much at all).Let's see:
A whole bunch of patches, fixes, updates, drivers, and even whole programs for my service calls.
A database of KB answers and other "help" files for the same.
Plus, sixteen or so songs for my listening pleasure on the way to said service calls.http://forums.windrivers.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

[ClickHere2Surf.com]

Yea I could put updates on CDs, but why not just leave them on your hard drive? Unless it's for sharing then CDs are great, but for storage the capacity/size ratio just isnt worh it, I magine storing a few thousand MP3s on CD, you'd have tons and have to search through them each time you want a song from another CD. Or for video you can barely fit 1 hour of acceptable quality video.

I have an ATI all in wonder so I'm used to record 1-2GB files, that is one of the reasons 700MB seems like nothing to me, also the fact that I have a 30GB tape drive which is great for storing 20-30 two hour movies per tape (which I can watch off the tape directly), as well as for backing up of course.

[TripleRLtd]

Yea I could put updates on CDs, but why not just leave them on your hard drive? Unless it's for sharing then CDs are great,.Well this is apples and oranges:
I, of course do keep them all on my storage drive (a whole partition dedicated to Downloads).
But for service calls, I have a whole lot of CD's.
And that is the difference: portablility.
Now with pen drives and the like, it is becoming a liitle bit harder to justify, but believe it or not,everyone does not have an up to date PC with USB 2.0.http://forums.windrivers.com/images/smilies/thumbs.gif