CD

[Anne]

How do I format a blank CD? I remember long ago doing it with disks, but not
with a CD.

 

[JoAnn Paules [MSFT MVP]]

I've *never* formatted a CD. My husband has but I'm clueless why.

 

[Mary Sauer]

My computer, right-click the CD drive, click format. If you have software that is
specifically dedicated to your CD, open it and select the format option.

 

[Jim Nugent]

I've *never* formatted a CD. My husband has but I'm clueless why.

If you burn CDs using mastering software such as Easy CD Creator, or Nero
Burning Rom, or Windows XP's built in setup, you never format them. I think
Windows Media Player can burn audio CD now. You don't format those.

You have to format it if you are using packet writing software that lets you
treat the CD like a big floppy. DirectCD (Adaptec/Roxio), and InCD (Ahead
Nero) are examples of this. They use the "UDF" filesystem instead of CDFS.
In general, you can use the drive letter of the CD-RW drive anywhere you
would use an HD or diskette drive letter.

This not the same as what Windows XP does when you drag file to the CD-RW
drive using explorer --- in that case it queues them up to burn later as a
CDFS session.

 

[JoAnn Paules [MSFT MVP]]

That explains why. Although I have Win XP, I use Easy CD Creator.

--

JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]