Can anyone tell me how to format CR-RW?? Thanks!!!?

Answer 1

Before you can copy files to a CD-RW disc, you must format it.

You can also format the CD to erase its data. Using Quick Format for this purpose only deletes the internal directory where the files are listed. You can no longer see or access the files, but the files are still stored on the CD.

To format or erase a CD-RW disc:

1. Insert a blank CD-RW disc into your CD-Recorder.
2. From the Select CD drop-down list box on the DirectCD main window, select the CD-Recorder you want.

3. Click Format CD. The Format dialog box appears.
4. In the Label text box, type a name to identify your CD.

The CD label can be up to 11 characters. You cannot use the following characters in a label: \ / : ; * ? " < > | + = . , [ ].

5. If you want to enable data compression on the CD, select the Enable Compression option.

Compression makes your files take up less space on the CD. Once a CD has been formatted using compression, all data will be compressed on the CD. The compression ratio varies from approximately 1.5:1 to approximately 3:1, depending on the type of files you copy to the CD.
To read the CD, you must either have DirectCD 5.0 installed or have the UDF Reader installed. When you make a CD using DirectCD, it automatically copies the UDF Reader for Windows to the CD. When you insert the CD in a CD-Reader, the reader will automatically ask if you want to install it. To write to the CD using other CD-Recorders in other computers, you must use DirectCD 5.0.

6. Select the Format Type you want to use.
* If you are formatting a blank CD-RW disc, you may have two options:
o Fast Format: Fast format is a special type of formatting supported only on some CD-RW drives. The option is available only if your drive supports it. Fast format allows you to start using the CD in 3 to 7 minutes, while the remaining formatting is done in the background. Background formatting takes up to 90 minutes to complete, depending on the speed of the CD-Recorder and what other work the computer is doing at the time. You can safely interrupt fast formatting by ejecting the CD. When you reinsert the CD into a CD-RW drive that does not support fast format, you can read the CD, but you cannot write data to it until formatting is complete. When you reinsert the CD into a drive that supports fast format, the formatting continues from where it left off and you can write data to the CD.
o Full Format: Full format takes about 60 minutes for a 2x drive, 30 minutes for a 4x drive and about 15 minutes for an 8x drive. It verifies the integrity of the CD surface, prepares the CD for data, and writes the UDF file system to the CD.
* If you are formatting a CD-RW disc that has been fully formatted before, you have two options:
o Quick Format: Quick format takes only a few minutes. It writes the DirectCD file system to the CD, but does not verify the physical condition of the CD. Any files that were on the CD will not be accessible, but they are still on the CD.
o Full Format: Same as described for the Full Format option above. Any data that was on the CD will be completely erased.
7. Click Start Format. CD formatting begins and a progress dialog box appears.

You can do other tasks on your computer while the CD is being formatted. The CD Ready dialog box appears when complete.

8. Click OK.The CD is ready for you to write information to it.

Copying Methods

Once your CD is formatted and ready for data, you can copy files to it a number of ways:

* In Windows Explorer, drag and drop files onto the CD-Recorder drive letter (it has an icon like this example of cd icon ).
* Select Save As from any Windows program's File menu and select the drive letter of your CD-Recorder.
* Use the Send To command by right-clicking a file in Windows Explorer and then selecting the drive letter of your CD-Recorder from the pop-up menu.
* Use MS-DOS commands from a DOS window.

(The above information was excerpted from Making Data CDs Using DirectCD: Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 Basic User's Guide, which is a part of the Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 Basic User's Guide (these URLs will re-direct you to Dell's Premier Support site, which may require you to complete a one-time registration to enable access. You can also find a complete copy of the User's Guide installed on your Dell Recommended Bundle under "Start", "Programs", "User's Guides" - the pertinent file is entitled "Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 Basic User's Guide".)

by

http://www.dhaarvi.blogspot.com

Answer 2

If you mean CD-RW, your software that you use to write to the disk should have a format option.If not go to Nero or Roxio and download their trial version and you can format the disk with it. However you will need it to write to or copy from as they can't seem to get together so one version will work with another.

Ron

Answer 3

If you just want to write over it.. i.e. treat it just like a regular CD any burning program will allow you to erase the current information and then burn new information.

If your drive supports Mount Ranier then you can use it like a large floppy. Nero and Roxio have utilities that do this for you

Answer 4

you must have a software for burning cd's and the like. www.nero.com/nero7/eng/nero7-demo.php now to erase it if you have nero already just open nero and find the EXTRAS tab and click erase disc. if you want a full format, just tick the full erase rewritable disc. it may took like 10-15 minutes to erase the data on the cd. hope this helps.

Answer 5

if you have a cd or dvd writer you can format that. go to my computer, right click your cd or dvd writer choose format.

or you can use your burning software.