CD-RW's and the 1,000 time write limit

.. --------------------------------------
Roxio is the Firestone of CDR software
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Sm704 wrote:
 >
 > How is each rewrite counted? What if I am using a packet writing
 > utility such as Nero's InCD or Roxio's DirectCD? Would each time I add
 > and delete files from the CD-RW using those utilities be counted as a
 > rewrite?

That's 1000 rewrites for a particular spot. Here's DirectCD blurb about
their "sparing" technique:

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.roxio.com/en/support/dcdwin/dcdwinfaqs.html" target="_blank">http://www.roxio.com/en/support/dcdwin/dcdwinfaqs.html</a>

Q. I know that CD-RW discs are good for approximately 1000 formats or
erasures. Since DirectCD 2.x will let me delete individual files and
recover that space on the disc for immediate use (random erase) does
that mean that the disc is only good for up to 1000 file deletes? Or is
it 1000 full formats of the entire disc?

A. DirectCD has built-in features to increase the longevity of your
CD-RW media. Any particular spot on on a CD-RW disc can be erased and
rewritten about 1000 times (soon to be improved to 10,000). After that,
that particular spot becomes unusable. However, DirectCD is designed not
always to write in the first available space on the disc, so you won't
be erasing and rewriting to the same physical location over and over. If
a spot should get "burned out", DirectCD can mark it "unusable" and work
around it (much the way bad sectors are managed on a hard disk). In
practical terms, you will probably never wear out a CD-RW disc.

But despite that a big caution is called for with DirectCD.

=====================================
Mike Richter & "Lethal for archiving"
=====================================

( The following applies only to )
( DirectCD and Drag-to-Disc )

======================
From: Mike Richter (cRoxio Shit)
Date: 10/15/01
Subject: File Integrity Errors - DirectCD Bug?

Combining the flaky UDF fixed-length packets with
the tendency of erasables (particularly HS) to forget
is LETHAL for archiving.
=======================<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: CD-RW's and the 1,000 time write limit 

.. --------------------------------------
Mike Richter, were you born with
"Scam Artist" emblazoned on your face?
--------------------------------------

Sm704 wrote:
 >
 > How is each rewrite counted? What if I am using a packet writing
 > utility such as Nero's InCD or Roxio's DirectCD? Would each time I add
 > and delete files from the CD-RW using those utilities be counted as a
 > rewrite?

That's 1000 rewrites for a particular spot. But DirectCD has bugs and
this is how cRoxio Shit weaseled out the bugs:

=============================================
Mike Richter is a LIAR (directcd/sparing) (i)
=============================================

============================================================
From: smh
Subject: Does anyone rely on DirectCD for multi-session backups?
Date: 2/7/02

Mike Richter (Roxio Shit) splattered:
  >
  > When you remove a fixed-length packet disc after having written
  > anything to it, the DIRECTORY information is written back from
  > RAM. That means that at least portions of the disc are "scrubbed"
  > - rewritten many times. The disc is supposed to tolerate 1000
  > cycles, but in fact read accuracy goes down continuously with
  > erase cycles and the 1000 number seems absurdly optimistic from
  > the experience of most.

If that's the case, why does DirectCD even bother to use SPARING
technique, Mikey?

And if that's the case, how could cRoxio claim this?

DirectCD for Windows Technical FAQs:

"In practical terms, you will probably
never wear out a CD-RW disc."

===========================================================<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: CD-RW's and the 1,000 time write limit