Do you full erase brand new ±RW media before using?

by **DeltaLima** on Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:38 pm

I know it's not mandatory but do some of you are doing it anyway? Habit? To be sure/safe?

by **[buck]** on Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:12 pm

Actually, no I don't, but i'll be sure to try it next time I burn one of my new SONYS11.

by **dolphinius_rex** on Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:22 pm

Nope, never.

by **weetoots** on Fri Mar 17, 2006 1:44 am

No, never thought it would be necessary. So why the poll? Is there a good reason to erase prior to using?
Al

by **DeltaLima** on Fri Mar 17, 2006 2:33 am

weetoots wrote:No, never thought it would be necessary. So why the poll? Is there a good reason to erase prior to using?
Al

Just wanted to know, some have weird belief...

I could have asked also after how many quick erase you do a full erase?

by **dodecahedron** on Fri Mar 17, 2006 2:42 am

i hardly ever do a quick erase, it's almost always a full erase.

by **dolphinius_rex** on Fri Mar 17, 2006 2:54 am

DeltaLima wrote:
weetoots wrote:No, never thought it would be necessary. So why the poll? Is there a good reason to erase prior to using?
Al

Just wanted to know, some have weird belief...

I could have asked also after how many quick erase you do a full erase?

I only do a full erase if I'm having quality issues after a quick erase.

by **weetoots** on Fri Mar 17, 2006 4:07 am

After the initial use, I always use the full erase. I don't know how this would affect longevity?

by **MediumRare** on Fri Mar 17, 2006 5:26 am

Some combinations of burner and disc work better after 1 or more full erases. The phase change material sometimes has to be "conditioned" (don't ask me what that really means :wink:

).

c't usually does a "burning cascade" in their tests- writing e.g. 1/8, 2/8 ... 8/8 of capacity to a virgin disc with a quick erase in between. So if they see a jump in error rates at one of the cascade boundaries, they make the recommendation to do 1 or more full erases prior to using.

So much for theory. I just use them out of the box.

I used to do full erases (habit from CD-RW usage), but now mostly do a quick erase with no noticeable adverse effects. The time difference < 1 min. vs. 15 min. is just too great.

G

by **DeltaLima** on Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:20 am

MediumRare wrote:I used to do full erases (habit from CD-RW usage), but now mostly do a quick erase with no noticeable adverse effects. The time difference < 1 min. vs. 15 min. is just too great.

I believe the quick erase just wipe the FAT of the disc while the full will reset all bits of the complete disc.

by **Ian** on Fri Mar 17, 2006 8:50 am

Yes, a quick erase just wipes the discs TOC, making it appear empty again.

by **dolphinius_rex** on Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:11 am

Ian wrote:Yes, a quick erase just wipes the discs TOC, making it appear empty again.

Although, in theory can't the TOC be erased only as many times as any other part of the disc? So technically you aren't protecting the disc's lifespan at all, you're just saving time. unless you need to "reset the bits" because of quality issues.

by **Ian** on Fri Mar 17, 2006 2:08 pm

Yeah, in theory you could probably wear out the section of the disc where the TOC is stored.

by **Justin42** on Fri Mar 17, 2006 3:47 pm

Is erasing done differently than just writing? I've always wondered if it'd be possible to have some sort of writing app that you 'force' to write a non-blank RW disc, saving the extra cycle of 'erase' before using.

(if any apps currently do that now.. oops... seems like most I've tried, at least, do an erase cycle before doing a normal burn cycle)

Kinda speaking of which, does anyone know what happened to that technology (I am totally blanking on all real details!) that was going to allow you to destroy previously written CD-R discs by burning over them with a stronger laser power?

by **pranav81** on Sat Mar 25, 2006 1:36 am

I have a weird 12X CMC CD-RW media.I have to full erase it if I want some older LG/Samsung CD-ROM drives to read it.If it is not erased fully,these CD-ROM drive's dont read the CD-RW.

Never faced any problem with Mitsubishi's though.And thank god that I never come across CD-ROM drives now......Had a couple of old CD-ROM's in the Uni....which were replaced with CD-RW drives.

::Pranav::