How to Choose Between CD-R and CD-RW Burners

CD-R and CD-RW drives (also called burners or recorders) can make permanent (write-once) recordings on blank CD-R discs. CD-RW burners can also make erasable recordings on blank CD-RW discs. The two technologies have different strengths and weaknesses.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• CD-R Burners
• CD-RW Burners

1. Consider a CD-R burner if you mainly want to archive photographs, scanned documents or other large files.

2. Choose a CD-R burner if you wish to make music CDs or if you will use your CDs in other computers. Some CD players and CD-ROM drives have trouble with CD-RW discs.

3. Consider a CD-RW burner if you mainly want to back up your hard disk.

4. Buy a CD-RW burner unless price is a critical consideration.

Tips & Warnings

• CD-RW drives cost more than CD-R drives.
• Blank CD-RW discs often cost more than CD-R discs.
• All blank CDs can hold 650 MB of data or 74 minutes of audio.
• Although CD-R discs cannot be erased and reused, you can add data until the disc is full.
• Many CD-ROM drives and audio CD players cannot read CD-RW discs. Some CD drives and players have trouble reading some CD-R discs.
• Copying audio CDs and CD-ROMs might violate U.S. copyright laws.

on 11/22/2005 Stick the disk in the microwave for 5 seconds. It will totally destroy the data on it. There will be an electric arc show for the duration. This is harmless. This is how we destroyed CDs when I worked in the military.

on 11/22/2005 When burning CDs or DVDs it is always convenient to burn it as fast as possible. However, you will get a better quality burn if your burn it at a slower rate. I burn usually no faster then 8x's. Slower burning will also result in less coasters (bad burns). When you're burning them, it is best to let the computer complete the burn alone. When you multi-task, you're drawing on system recourses the computer needs to make a quality burn and this can result in bad burns. It may say it completed successfully, but it may be unreadable when you want to recover the data from them.

on 11/22/2005 Is a back-up CD full - and you can't re-write it? To prevent anyone from finding it in the local dump and reading it, first PROTECT YOUR EYES by placing it inside a magazine and then bend the magazine in two. The CD should shatter.

There's probably a better way to do this and if so, I should very much like to know about it!

on 11/22/2005 It might be more useful to consider just how much speed you need. If you burn CDs often, you'll probably want a newer drive. But if you would use it only once in a while, maybe an older one (possibly even used) would be better.

on 11/22/2005 Almost always, when you create a CD using a burner, you should create a "disk image" on your hard drive first to avoid problems. Then, create a CD from your image. With the Adaptec software, click the File menu to do this.