[Storyboy]

Hey, there:

Can anyone out there tell me how many times I can re-write a CD-RW? Has anyone yet had one fail for overusage?

Thanks.

PS: Please redirect this post if it would be better somewhere else.

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"The only consistant people I know are dead."

iMac DVSE 400/128/13
OS 9.0.4

[Cipher13]

Well, I've had a burner for over a year, and no dead CD-RW's yet... if that helps at all...

Cipher13

[Apple_John]

I remember someone told me less than 1000 times, should be over 800. CDRW behavior like MD.

[Cipher13]

Well, being priced at $3.50, it doesn't matter all that much anyway...
And 1000 is a fair few writes!


Cipher13

[druber]

biggest factor, from what i've read, is the media. you don't want blue on green, or any combination. straight blue, straight green, straight any color gives better data consistency in the long run. that's where some generic brands will bite you. a good first burn may, even when left alone, leave you with a coaster after a year's time. mostly a matter of finding the right brands, i guess.

[Paul S]

I have also heard re-writes can approach 1000 times on CD-RWs. I have never burned more than 10 or 12 times to any given RW and I've had an RW drive for over a year. At that point, I'm sure CD technology will be replaced and I'll most likely be dead.

[Misha]

Silly question 1: Does anyone here actually use CD-RW? Why? CD-R is so much cheaper (and faster).

Silly question 2: How do you even use CD-RW? I've never bothered figuring out how (see Silly question 1) and neither has everyone else who I know (see Silly question 1). How do you get Toast to erase the CD? Also, the entire CD must be re-written, not just a portion, right?

[Storyboy]

Misha:

It seems that people DO indeed use CD-RW...at least this person does, for backing up and for temporary external storage. And I'd rather continually re-write a $2 disc than amass a mound of used-up 13-centers.

The thing with Toast is that if you do the Easy Erase, you can only use that disc again with Toast...with Retrospect you can do a recycle back-up which wipes out and re-writes the whole disc.

As far as time goes,I am not usually sitting in front of the thing waiting for it to backup and, when I'm doing an incremental I don't usually have any more than 50 or 60 MB at a time, which, even at 4x takes less than a minute.

CD-RW seems to make sense to me.

------------------
"The only consistant people I know are dead."

iMac DVSE 400/128/13
OS 9.0.4

[Paul S]

I use CD-RW for archiving/back-up purposes mostly. CD-R for music and back-up software installers.

Let's say I downloaded some movie trailers that I like. I burn them off to free up drive space because I have 3 hours of digital video to bring in. Later, I download more trailers, but the first CD is already full so I can't burn another session. I should have prefaced this with: I'm anal about organizing things so they are easy to use. Anyway, the second time I back up more trailers to another CD and so on.

Instead of having archives of similar files on multiple CDs, I copy the contents back to my hard drive, erase the CD with Toast, re-organize my files and re-burn them. Over time, my archives have been infinitely more organized. When I need to get something from them, it takes no time at all. Before I got an RW and just had CD-R, I was popping in disc after disc to find the right file.

I know RW is more expensive, but I have found the organizational benefits I get from them far outweigh the dollar or two more expensive they are.

To do CD-RWs with Toast, you have to erase the entire disk, not just a portion. When the disc is in the burner, in Toast go to get disc info. The erase option is there. Easy Erase is quick but you can only use Toast to reburn the CD. My guess there is it erases the part of the CD that tells the computer where the files are, making the machine think the disc is blank. The other option is a full erase that wipes the whole CD. That takes as long as a full burn because this erases the entire CD. Using this option, you can use the CD on any burner with any software.

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by Misha:
Silly question 1: Does anyone here actually use CD-RW? Why? CD-R is so much cheaper (and faster).

Silly question 2: How do you even use CD-RW? I've never bothered figuring out how (see Silly question 1) and neither has everyone else who I know (see Silly question 1). How do you get Toast to erase the CD? Also, the entire CD must be re-written, not just a portion, right?

1. All the time - for moving files around, for archiving my mp3's, all sorts of things.
I have about 30 CD-RW's always in use.

2. Go to the "Recorder" menu, or something, and go down to "Disc info".
From there, hit the 'erase disc' option. Don't bother doing full erase - do a fast one.
Much quicker, and works perfectly anyway.

HTH

Cipher13

[kkneisley]

Here is the definitive answer from a CD-R vs CD-RW chart in a Yamaha CD-RW manual:

Erasable? Yes - May be re-recorded up to 999 times

That puts it at 1000 writes if you count the initial round.

FWIW.

[snodman]

I mainly use CDRW now as a floppy replacement when I want to do sneakernet to a computer without a ZIP or ORB drive. I have never had any optical media die so far (except REALLY cheap generic CDRs in my car for audio, and that was physical wear and tear more than true media failure).