Rewritable CDs

With the general availability of CD-ROM drives, Rewritable CDs (CD-RW) have become a popular choice for publishing, distribution and archival of data. Modern rewritable CDs offer high quality CD-recorder drive compatibility.

Rewritable CDs are usually made from a metal alloy that features a unique phase-change property, enabling the data to be written on the disc repeatedly. This ability to re-write is possible up to minimum of thousand write/erase/rewrite cycles. This is unlike the read-only CDR (CD-R) where if you make a mistake while burning, you cannot erase and re-record the disc. It is due to this ability rewritable CDs are more expensive than readable CDs.

One disadvantage however is that rewritable CDs cannot be played in standard CD players and CD-ROM drives. In order to play a CD-RW disk, the drive has to be configured as Multi Read.

The data-capacity of a rewritable CD depends on its packet writing software (Packet writing is a term for software that enables you to record data onto a CD-RW directly from Windows Explorer, My Computer or from the File/Save As Option of a computer program).

Nevertheless, rewritable CDs have a data-capacity of 650–700 megabytes. This makes it an ideal storage device for the following purposes:

Transferring large data files between computers
For maintaining data archives
For taking Back-up data from a hard drive
For storing large presentations, digital images, multimedia and music
The most important advantages of rewritable CDs over other storage devices are:

Allows you to erase and rewrite new information – ideal for updating files
Ideal for backup, sharing and transferring files between computers
Allows you to test the contents of a CD before making a permanent one
BBDiscs.com is one of the leading online suppliers of blank rewritable CDs. These discs are durable and offer numerous read-passes without data degradation. Our discs are one of the most reliable devices for maintaining comprehensive data archives.