Info. Please on R and RW CD Disks

I recently upgraded to a DELL WIN-XP unit w/ Roxio 5 diskwriter. It was my understanding I needed the "R" disks to copy music and photos and the "RW" to copy data. I've mananged to copy music OK using the "R" type - but when I use the RW for copying an zipped "exe" screensaver file - I cannot read it on another computer (laptop w/ WIN98 and CD ROM). I am able to read it on the new unit from which I did the copying - but not the laptop - to which I'd like to paste it to.

I tried the "R" disk to copy the screensaver file, and WAS able to do the copy and paste to the laptop. I can't, however, seem to do anything with the RW disks on the laptop.

Can anyone recommend a site where I can get general information about types of disks, copying them, etc, etc.??

Any comments about my specific problem?

Thanks,

 

R, RW CDs

R - Read, RW - Read/Write. Both are suitable for both audio and data. You probably didn't check the box for 'finalise disk' which is why your CD-RW is not recognised in a CD-ROM. The CD-Writer will recognise it because it is 'importing' an unfinished session. Reload the CD-RW into your CD-Writer, and ask your software to finalise the disk. Should be visible on your destination CD_ROM then. You can always erase your CD-RW when you need to re-use it.
If You're just using the RW for data transfer, try packet CD, (Roxio DirectCD, Nero INCD) in combination with either company's UDF Reader driver on the destination CD-ROM. If the CD-ROM is not too old, then you can use a CD-RW as a 600 MB floppy. Use explorer to copy files on to it with the CD-Writer, Read it like a disk with the CD-ROM.
Hope this helps .. Alan