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Off Topic => Engineering => Topic started by: Khalee1 on March 28, 2009, 05:54:45 pm

Title: dvd rw
Post by: Khalee1 on March 28, 2009, 05:54:45 pm
Never used any before and this time around I'm going to back up all my stuff, so I'm just wondering do they need to be formated  before you can use them or are they good to go from the start. and which brand is recomended for this kind of thing.
Title: Re: dvd rw
Post by: Javora on March 28, 2009, 08:46:26 pm
Should work just like a CD-RW, the drive should format it as it is writing the data.  I'm not sure if one brand is better than another, I think I would be more interested in the cost of the disk pack.  Hope this helps.
Title: Re: dvd rw
Post by: toasty0 on March 28, 2009, 08:53:21 pm
Given the cost of DVD media it might be cheaper, easier and faster to do a full back up to a USB powered HDD--assuming you're using Vista.
Title: Re: dvd rw
Post by: Javora on March 29, 2009, 03:54:22 pm
Quote from: toasty0 on March 28, 2009, 08:53:21 pm
Given the cost of DVD media it might be cheaper, easier and faster to do a full back up to a USB powered HDD--assuming you're using Vista.

Good point, I just picked up a external HDD for about $80 USD at Best Buy last month.  It is a lot easier to do backups on a HDD then it is a DVD.  Although you would need Vista for that, I'm using XP and having no problems what so ever.
Title: Re: dvd rw
Post by: Nemesis on March 29, 2009, 05:37:02 pm
Its been so long since I burned a CD/DVD on Windows I don't recall for sure how it does them.  My Linux machine will format during the write. 

I myself am backing up my data on a SATA hd plugged into a USB adapter.  I formatted it on a Windows machine (through USB) and it took hours (750GB).  Remember to use software to properly "eject" the HD when its on USB or you may find it difficult to access it on another computer, even on the same computer if you do a reinstall and want to reload your data.
Title: Re: dvd rw
Post by: toasty0 on March 29, 2009, 06:09:33 pm
If using Windows XPpro or Vista Home Premium or above people should have no problem dismounting any USB device. Normally a user should not need should a 3rd party application to properly do so.
Title: Re: dvd rw
Post by: Nemesis on March 29, 2009, 07:32:45 pm
Quote from: toasty0 on March 29, 2009, 06:09:33 pm
If using Windows XPpro or Vista Home Premium or above people should have no problem dismounting any USB device. Normally a user should not need should a 3rd party application to properly do so.

The problem comes if you just disconnect it and the "flags" are still set on the device indicating the computer which is using it.  Other systems may refuse to open it until it is connected to the original system and properly disconnected again (I've had that happen on XP, never used Vista).   So I always properly shutdown the USB drives before disconnecting them.