Can't Backup to a CD-RW

When I try to backup to CD-RW I get this message, "The disc in you drive contains data. Please replace it with a blank recordable disc. "

The disc I used was used before but I did a full format and the properties show Free Space 531 MB, Total Size 531 MB. File Sys. UDF I tried several different disc and get the same message. I have enabled CD recording in properties for the drive. I have a Dell Desktop about 2+ years old. I will go and buy some new disc but surprised I'm not able to use what I have. Any ideas if there is anything else I can do?

 

I'm not familiar with the concept of formatting a CD-RW disk. I thought you wrote to them, erased them, wrote to them again. When erased, the disk is like a completely blank cd, not a formatted disk.

But whatever, my personal recommendation is to consider doing backups to CDs, not RWs. I quit using CD-RWs years ago. They just weren't worth the price or the hassle. What I like to do now is when making a data CD, keep them "open" so more files can be added later. It's very convenient and just about any PC can read a multi-session CDs these days.

For me, after about 3-4 erasures, the CD-RWs would not work anymore - except as coasters. At that point, I never trusted the technology again.

Sorry can't be of more help,

Gary

 

Don't know if this would apply in your case but I had a couple of programs, Quicken and a professional tax program, that I tried to backup directly to CD and to CDRW. Neither would let me do that. I could back up directly to floppy and flash drive but not to CD. When I contacted the tax program writers, they told me I had to back up to the hard drive and then copy the "back up" file to CD. Then if I needed to restore, I had to copy the "Back up file" from the CD to the hard and then restore from there. It was a bit cumbersome so I just quit trying and now just use flash drives.

 

The disk is formatted as UDF, this is a special format that makes a CDRW disk act the same way as a floppy disk. You can write files to them, overwrite files, delete files, etc.
On a non-UDF disk, you can "burn" files to them, but to overwrite the disk you need to "erase " the whole disk.

The UDF program in Adaptec is Direct CD, in Nero it is IN CD, in Sonic it is DLA. You could read about them at their website if there is not much information in the help files or manual.

If you want to want to make the disks usable for backing up, open your burning program and look for an "Erase" button.

Matt

 

I formatted because I could not erase or delete. Here is a discussion I started when I had that problem:

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=56920&highlight=rondom

If I buy new CD-R cd's do I have to format them, quick or full? Or just use them from the package?

 

If your Sonic program is similar to mine, go to Start -> All Programs -> Sonic -> RecordNow DX. On the right-hand side you will see an Erase button, click that to erase the disk and remove the DLA formatting. The backup program should then be able to use the disk.

(If you don't see the Erase button, you may not have the "wizard" open. Look for a Wizard selection.)

Matt
BTW, I don't have DLA installed on my computer, only RecordNow DX. Originally, I was having the same headaches you are because UDF reading/writing programs are the only way to access UDF formatted disks. They make CDRW disks very easy and handy to use, the drawback though, is that they need a UDF reader/writer program installed to access them. They "fool" Windows into thinking that the disk can be accessed like a floppy drive. If you "format" UDF disks in Windows, it only removes data information, the UDF format remains. To remove the UDF format you need to use the burning program's erase system. I hope that's a little clearer than mud

 

It seems that what's being discussed here is "packet-writing ". Is this the same concept as a multi-session CD? I'm guessing not. I tend to keep all my CDs "open" as multi-session CDs as I often forget a file and add one later. But this doesn't require any special software so I'm guessing what I'm doing has nothing to do with packet-writing.

This is just my personal opinion but I wouldn't really be comfortable with trying to get my CDs to act like floppies. It just sounds too proprietary and dependent on too many factors that could give some trouble.

Gary