A Burning Question
Hi Fred -- just hafta say first - 'love your Plus! newsletter', and I just re-upped too.
In "Pennywise..." ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-05-29.htm#2 ), your statement (near the end):
>> (In contrast, unclosed CDs can only be read in CDRs with burning software active.) <<
confused me. I rarely close my CD-Rs, and use them very often for backup and transferring files/programs to other systems. I have no trouble reading them on any system I've tried (no burning software running or, sometimes, not even any such s/w on the target system).
Am I missing something, or just lucky? Or, would it be better to close key backup CDs for safety's sake?
Anyway, thanks for a very, very useful and helpful newsletter. ---Bill Schneider
I probably should have said, "can only be read *reliably* in CDRs with burning software active." That's because a CD's "table of contents" isn't written until the CD is closed, and most standard, non-burner CDs need the TOC to access the CD content.
Note that XP contains built-in, basic CD burning functions as part of the OS: If you're using XP, it may be that you really do have burning software running (in the OS itself) but didn't realize it! <g>
But in any case, the way to make a CD nearly universally readable on almost any CD hardware is to close the CD. That "finishes" everything, writes the table of contents, and leaves the CD in final, most-accessible format--- which is what you want in backups!
More info? See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Disk_Format
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_writing
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