[JohnWill]

I was the guy that said I couldn't imagine any application requiring a "format" of CD-R media, others claimed differently.

[CLEARICE01]

hi johnwill.yes you did i just reread your post.i have made a good image backup with acronis 6 by formating cd-r's.but i cant with acronis 7.so i know it can be done first i tryed to make the image without formating my cd-r's.it didnt work then i tryed by formating my cd-r'e and it worked so good that i whent out and got trueimage 7.sorry for the misread...

[Alex Ethridge]

In the early days, before RWs were on the market and before any CD burners were available that even supported RWs, there was DirectCD for handling formatted CD-Rs. It did enable one to format and write to a CD using drag-n-drop and from a DOS Window command prompt (XCopy or Copy command).

Although it may seem counterproductive or even useless today, it did afford some conveniences.

Point being, they can still be formatted and in some cases, is required by some programs. So, you can still format a CD-R and a CD-RW; it's just that the R doesn't support an overwrite.

So, if you need to back up your hard disk and your program asks for a formatted CD-RW and all you have is the CD-R, you can still at least get the job done by formatting the CD-R. The program writing to it doesn't know the difference.

[CLEARICE01]

thanks alex ethridge.thanks.i cant use roxio drag and drop to format my cd-r's.and nero wont format cd-r's so iam stuck for now.what i realy want to know is what other burning programs are ther other than roxio.and nero.know nti has a cd maker are there eny others...

[JohnWill]

Originally posted by Alex Ethridge:
So, if you need to back up your hard disk and your program asks for a formatted CD-RW and all you have is the CD-R, you can still at least get the job done by formatting the CD-R. The program writing to it doesn't know the difference.

Formatting a CD-R is still a mystery to me. Knowing how the CD-R works, you really only get a SINGLE write to the media, then it's R/O media. I'd like to see some actual documented procedure that says I have to format a CD-R, because it's a surprise to me!

The only software that I've ever seen that even mentions "formatting" CD-R media is DirectCD, and their idea of formatting is to write a small ID area to let them know the CD-R is a DirectCD disk.

I looked in the Acronis True Image 7.0 user guide, and they don't have any instructions for formatting a CD-R disk.

[CLEARICE01]

hi johnwill.thats the prob here the users guide tells you nothing..

[Saint Anger]

hi cleariceol.so as it wud apear u need to use packet writing sofware like incd that cumswith nero or easycd cums with sum to.have you tried that yet.

[LONGHAIR]

I'm pretty sure that Johnwill is right. The "formatting" that Direct CD does allows it to recognize the disc as one it has burned to before, thus allowing another session in "multi-session" burning. Packet writing software is not compatable with other brands. Direct CD can't/won't read something written by INCD. This allows additions to and deletions from multi-session discs. The deletion wastes the already burned space but there is no reference it it when the disc is "finalized" which writes the table of contents.

[CLEARICE01]

hi st anger if your asking if i have tryed incd or roxio drad to disk i have tryed them both.thats why iam looking for another burning program that can do the same thing that roxio or nero can do.

[CLEARICE01]

hi long hair.i found out the hard way after trying with drag to disk it seemed to work but after trying to burn the third diisk i found out it didnt work then i whent to nero incd and it wouldnt read the disks becouse they where first packet ritten by drag to disk..

[JohnWill]

I have a strong adversion to any of the packet writing applications, so this never bothers me. If I want something on a CD-RW, I just put it on there with Nero, works every time without a hitch. If I want portable storage, I use a USB disk, either my 256mb thumb drive, or one of the many USB 2.0 hard disks I have here.

[ArtsGrandpa]

On the Question of formatting a CD R. Has anyone tried using the HighMAT CD writing wizard that comes with some XP computers? You need the latest Windows Media Players.

[CLEARICE01]

yes i have used the highmat writing wizard about four or five times but i dont think it formats your disks if it does i dont know about it..ps if it does please fill me in on it thanks..

[Alex Ethridge]

The DirectCD I was using in 1998 also installed a UDF reader installation program onto the CD. Then, when a disk formatted and written to under DirectCD was placed into another computer, the first thing to autorun was a dialog asking if you wanted to install the UDF reader so you could use (read) the disk.

It worked flawlessly.

[CLEARICE01]

thanks.alex ethridge