What is a DVD-RAM disk and how can you tell the difference?

Answer 1

DVD-RAM is a physical disk data storage format relying on shiny disks for storage. Of the various DVD media types, DVD-RAM is probably the best suited for data backups because it includes some features for routing around defects and zoning the physical disk for quick access to information stored on disk. In this sense, the way an operating system addresses a DVD-RAM disk, it's not unlike having a 4.7GB hard drive for storing data, without all the potential for failure if you accidentally drop the disk.

Assuming you have an optical drive with support for DVD-RAM, Windows XP is capable of writing directly to a DVD-RAM disk, just like it would a hard drive. The caveat to this is the DVD-RAM disk must be formatted FAT32 (not UDF) in order for Windows XP to access the disk directly. Older versions of Windows require software intervention for appropriate support. The two places you are most likely to see DVD-RAM in the consumer space these days is in a recent generation of Toshiba laptops and in a few of the set top DVD Recorders.