CD-RW Problems

[Paul_NJ]

I have a question. If you exceed the capacity on a CD-RW, will it erase the entire disc?

I have been periodically collecting photos off of the net (my computer is Windows XP) , and had a CD-RW pretty full. I had neglected to check how close to full it was. The other day I transferred several new entries to it, and suddenly it was empty except for those new files. What did I do wrong? I assumed if you accidentally exceeded capacity, it would overwrite just enough to fit in what you were trying to load. Is that not correct?

Is there any way to recover such a deletion on a CD-RW? I seem to recall there was a way to recover deleted data from your hard drive.

If nothing else I'd like to know what not to do next time.

[Mag Man]

Well for one the CD RW is the actual drive that you put the CD in. And the hard drive is where your stuff is stored. If you go to start :My computer and pick C drive this would be your hard drive and where stuff is stored.
Now I am no Rudi when it comes to PCs but In my 10 years of use that would not happen it would tekll you that you are low on disc space or memory and will not do the selected task. So I would imagine that your pics are stored in one place like your documents and the new ones went to my pictures or something and thats why you are not finding every thing. So Open that C drive and start looking at the folders there and see if you can find all the stuff you are looking for . Then when you do write down where it is for future finding of it. There is also Windows exsplorer where stuff gets stored and when you delete something you can go there and find it unless you completly erase it off your hard drive but you may get a massage that says are you sure you want to go there. lol.
JON

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

The cd-rw disk is rewritable just like a hard drive, and i had always assumed that hwne it was full it would give a warnign, but never pushed one to that point. The program you were using to write to the diks may have overwritten the old directory if it was too full. If so I assume there is no REASONABLE way to recover the lost pictures. It cna be doen for part of them, but would be very expensive.

[Merlin]

I've never used a RW disk, just the R. But my daughter and brother uses the RW and I talked to him a few minutes ago and asked him your question on over filling. They hold 700MB and he said when his got full it would tell him and it would pop out of his computer and he would just put another one in and start with the file that wouldn't fit the last RW disk, but it would not erase anything to make room. Thats all I know because I'm not into disk except for back-up for my computer.

[Rudi]

Paul:

Now that is a neat trick Normally a CD-RW is a nice thing to have, especially for backups. It isn't great for keeping single original copies on however, because as you found out, it can be deleted inadvertently.... A good use of these discs is to save to disk and then when around 680mb of data on the disc.. ensure it is in the right format (design that is), properly captioned, renamed and filed, then burn to a regular CDR. That is the safest way to do it..

A couple days ago I would have said that was not possible.. but even an old dog like me learns new tricks..

As you might have noticed, I haven't been posting for a few days.. in fact I could not even get onto the main farmallcub site never mind the forums... I am trying to figure out how that happened, considering I am using multiple firewalls and my main firewall is a Linux machine... virtually impossible to hack and impossible to have a bot or something mess it up... but it did.. soooooo -- out the window goes the assumption that stuff like that cannot happen....

It is quite possible that a gremlin got ya... no other explanation as what you described is pretty much a non-starter. All data write to cd/dvd software is encoded so that particular occurence doesn't happen. Now to categorically say it is impossible.. well that would be not too savvy a thing to say.. so basically I must postulate that it is possible, although NORMALLY, highly unlikely.

As for data recovery.. again, probably highly unlikely....

'sssss

[jim turner]

Paul I think if you use cd-rw disc everytime you pop it in and begin to record you will overwrite whatever was on the disc, that is what I was told and I use cd-r for recordiong things I want to keep

[Paul_NJ]

Thanks for all the responses. I believe you guys confirmed that if you "overload" the CD-RW it shouldn't erase the entire thing. But it does sound like if you get close to capacity continued additions may be risky. Guess I'll never know what actually happened.

I use CD-RW's for periodic backups, eg Quicken checkbook, and for capturing photos and things because I can keep adding to the same disc. Sounds like a good idea to periodically make a permanent "snapshot" copy to a CD-R as that would be safer.

Sometimes we have to learn the hard way.

Good luck with you computer dilemma Rudi.

[ljw]

Paul, I've had that happen to me. A while back I got the idea of putting all of my technical info, etc. on CD-RW so that I could update my files and not have all the older CD-R's around with outdated info. (I don't throw anything away! ) I thought that I had erased a CD-RW when I added new files, but the RW discs would only work on my RW drive. I don't know if that's the same for every computer, but it happened with mine. Take it easy. Larry

[Jeff Silvey]

I have never had any problems with a CDRW. I'm going to start using DVDRW you can put more stuff on them.
jeff

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Larry, cd-rw disks can only be used in cd-r drives until thye are finalized (closed). then they can be used in ohter drives, but can't be written on anymore.

As a side note about archiving data on cd's, there was a recent study that came out on some of the news shows but only got brief play. After cd-r disks have been recorded a few years (sometimes as soon as 3 years) they may start to deteriorate, to the point they are not readable due to the dyes in thme breaking down. There was no mention of this problem with prerecorded cds, and so far as I know they did not test dvd disks.

[DuxburyFarmall]

Call me paranoid but this is what I do for backing up important information.

1. Use something like a Maxtor One Touch backup system (for OS and files)
2. Burn to a CDR the files that I can not live without Pics, data files etc that can not be replaced.
3. Use CDRWs and DVDRWs for a soft back up and sometimes a mem stick if it is something that I do not need to keep for too long.

I work for a company that deals with computer OSes (we developed our own OS to sell for embedded products) and any program written can and will eventually be hacked if someone wants to spend the time and energy doing it. Certain OSes are less prone since they are not as widely hated as others (MAC OSX and Linux come to mind) and so are less attacked. That does not mean that they are more secure.

In fact Vista (Microsoft’s (MS) next generation software for the PC) was given to Black Hat to hack and they were able to minimally penetrate it already and it has not hit the open market yet. (I suspect that Black Hat did get further then what they reported to MS)

Just my 2 centavos.

Chad

[Rudi]

A lot of these urban legends have been around for a long time. I remember when there was a discussion on how long can an LP or a 45 or even a 78 will retain data. And this is analog technology. I still have 78's believe it or not (and a turntable to use em on ) and the analog data is still very very useable and these were recorded back in the late 20's and early 30's.

Same applied to reel to reel tapes. Then 8-tracks then cassette tapes. This then translated to worries about Beta and VHS. These are all analog data storage systems.

Chad, you might be familiar with tyres as well - those pyrex/corning glass tape transport discs that were used in mainframes.. those also had data loss concerns.

As with all things man-made nothing is perfect and yes, these analog multilayer silver oxide embedded (?) data storage membranes can and will break down in time... but mostly through use or improper storage.

If these storage media are properly stored their life span can be measured in decades and not in years. I have reel-reel tapes that I recorded in 1975 that are still as crystal clear as the day I recorded them.. (I used to be a somewhat audiophile).

5-1/4" and 3-1/2" layered media disks (floppies) are also a concern. I have had good disks and bad disks right out of the box. These are manufacturing defects... not attrition from decay. I still use some of my 5-1/4" disks in older XT's and they still work. In fact, I still have 2 or 3 boxes of UNOPENED 5-1/4" floppies, but I do not have any of the earlier 10" jobbies...

I spent a decade in intercept where we used reel to reels, cassettes, tyres and other assorted storage media, and in our area where data loss is a huge concern, we never experienced much loss at all, and what loss was experienced usually was traced back to either complete loss of product (loss of aircraft etc..), operator neglect or error or just simply a manufacturer defect.

The same would apply to modern CD/R's and CD-RW's and DVD series of media. I again have CD's that I burned with drivers for old cards (I have dozens of those) burned on an old HP 8450 series 1x burner.. still as solid as the day they were burned (on a Win 95 machine) almost 10 years ago.

I think it is just primarily urban legend.

Chad, I am not a big fan of backup systems. In fact I despise them. I had thought once that MS did us a big favour by building in an auto backup utility in Win95... till I backed it up one day. Hard drive failure, necessitating a new drive. Went to restore the backup.. and it was useless as it needed the original drive signature.. so good data in, garbage out.. since that time, the only way I back up is to manually copy the files I need to another drive or to storage media like an R or RW disc.

[Mag Man]

darn I have been using a puter for a long time and you guys have me bum fr#$%ing lost here. If I need to back up something I burn it to a CD or DVD. and other wise every thing goes to my desk top or documents and evry couple months I burn the stuff I know I may want to save. Knock on wood I have never had a failure since I started using XP. I run Mcafee on my PC I buy it once a year for 29.99 to 39.99 and it has protected me for about 8 years now from viruses. And now that I am running broadband I guess I have a built in firewall also . So From what i take on all this is I must be old school or something but it works for me.
THANKS JON

[DuxburyFarmall]

Jon,

Whatever method you choose as long as it works for you.

As the saying goes "there is more than one way to skin a cat"


Chad