Format CDRW disks?

[Ari Torhamo]

ti, 2005-01-04 kello 08:10 -0500, dave kirjoitti:
> Doubletwist wrote:
> > Ari Torhamo wrote:
> > 
> >>
> >> It's great that people help and send instructions to do this in the CLI,
> >> but I don't know which I would hate to do more - tell a Windows user who
> >> I'm in a process of "converting" to Ubuntu to go back to Windows to
> >> blank he's/her's CD-RWs or mail him
> >>
> >> $ sudo umount /dev/cdrom
> >> $ cdrecord dev=/dev/cdrom blank=all
> >>
> >> and say "I now you just want to write to your CD-RWs, but if you just
> >> would open a thing called terminal - you'll find it in the...
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> Ari
> >>
> >>
> > 
> > 
> > I agree here. This is one of the things that keeps me from using Ubuntu 
> > myself. Yes I know I can install K3b, but since the point of Ubuntu is 
> > to have a cohesive interface, for which the developers have chosen 
> > Gnome, I will hold off on  using Ubuntu for my main desktop until it all 
> > works properly.
> > I really wish I could program something more complicated than "hello 
> > world", because I'd LOVE to be able to fix things like this.
> > 
> > In the meantime, I will just say that Ubuntu is making great headway, 
> > but things like this are what is keeping it from being a great 
> > Windows->Linux conversion tool.
> > 
> > DT
> > 
> > PS. Don't get me wrong, I like Ubuntu and where it's headed. But it's 
> > not there yet. :)
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> But what did the OP want to do with the CDRW once he'd blanked it? I 
> assume he planned to write some files to it from the same machine. Or 
> did he want a blank cdrw as the result (meaning he didn't want to write 
> files to it afterward)??
> 
> Nautilus blanks the cdrw automatically. Admittedly, it doesn't have a 
> "Blank CDRW" button, but I've never had to *only* blank a cd, I've 
> always blanked and written in the same operation.
> 
> Or am I missing something?
> 
> Dave

One obvious reason is security: I may have disks that contain sensitive
data that I don't need anymore, but which I still cannot risk someone
else to see accidentally. It would be waste to destroy the disk, so I
blank the disk. It's also a simple extra precausion against
inadvertently writing on a disk that has important data on it. If I
always blank disks that can be used for writing again, I notice when
computer starts to read a disk that has content in it and perhaps avoid
serious damage.

Ari