CD-RW

[ZIYAD A. M. AL-BATLY]

On Tue, 2005-07-05 at 09:16 +0530, Ravi Kumar wrote:
> Hello Ziyad, 
Hi Ravi...

>     Do you mean to say that UDF file system can make a Plain CD work
> like a floppy by enabling multiple read and multiple writes ? Like you
> do in a CD-RW ? I mean what are the advantages of UDF filesystem ? I
> have used CD burning tools but am new to this technology.
No.  It allows a "CD-RW" to work like a floppy disk.  The media must
have the "CD-RW" logo on it.  Regular CD-R allows you to write to them
only once which makes it impossible to re-write to them again¹.  CD-RW
allows you to write to any part of that media about 10,000 times before
it ruined.

Note that CD-RW are slower (sometimes, much slower) than regular CD-R
and a lot of consumer devices can't read them (like a lot of CD devices
found in cars).

> 
> Ravi
Ziyad.

Notes:
     1. You can *fake* the effect of rewriting to a CD-R by creating
        what's known as a multi-session CD (sadly, Nautilus can't create
        such CDs yet).  If you want to re-write again to that
        multi-session CD, all you need is create a new session and write
        the new material on it.  Note that by doing a multi-session CD
        you're not deleting the old session!  See the manual page for
        "mkisofs" about this subject and how to create a multi-session
        CD.