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Thread ID: 46881	2004-07-08 20:40:00	Write protected when trying to write to CD-R	Newteach (4990)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
250773	2004-07-08 20:40:00	I constantly copy standard "ms word" documents from my Toshiba Laptop to a TDK CD-R disk. The trouble is that I used to be able to copy new documents to the same CD that I have been using for the last year. Now when I put the CD in and try it says that the CD is Write Protected, this never used to happen. (Oh and no there is, or should be at least 400mb left on the CD.) This is happening when I use "Drag and Drop" prog or the default windows xp copy too, so it doesn't seem to be software related. Can anyone help. I'm sure I used to be able to fill partially full cd's at a later time, and it is so frustrating to only have a small file on a cd and not able to use the rest of the space. Please help. Teach.	Newteach (4990)
250774	2004-07-08 22:00:00	CD-R or CD-RW are not (and never have been) Read-Write media. They are by the nature of the technology, write once/read many media. If the CD has been created as "multi-session" then it can be added to, at a cost. The cost is quite a few MB loss each write session, as the entire Table of Contents must be abandoned and recreated. The other cost is the risk to the existing data, as any corruption encountered in recreating the TOC will endanger the data already stored. If the CD has been "finalised" then its no longer multisession and this means its locked, and unable to be added to. This is probably the case you experience. CD-RW media is similar, the RW standing for ReWritable and not Read-Write, where the intention is that the entire disk can be erased and re-used. Packet writing software such as InCD or DirectCD can get around this and re-write individual files, but overall the CD-RW media appear to be very unreliable and data is at risk in my opinion and experience using this media as long term backup. If the copy of the data on CD-R is just a working copy, and not of any long term significance, the dangers associated with CD-RW and or multisession are not great, but if its your only long term copy, you need to consider the issues with multisession and/or CD-RW drag and drop. CD-R are quite cheap, if your data has a value to you then factor it accordingly.	godfather (25)
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