Formatting a CD so it's like a floppy...

[Guest]

Is there a way to format a CD (in Windows XP) so that it can be written to
like it's a floppy disk or a flash drive, rahter than having to go thru the
burning process? ANy help is appreciated!

JimB

 

[gordon]

Is there a way to format a CD (in Windows XP) so that it can be written to
like it's a floppy disk or a flash drive, rahter than having to go thru
the
burning process? ANy help is appreciated!

JimB

Not natively in XP - you will need a third-party app like Nero or Roxio....

 

[Malvern]

The only thing that will work is a CD-RW; it can be reused, therefore should
be re-formattabe. A CD-R is a one burn proposition.

Malv

 

[Guest]

The procedure of formatting a CD is called Packet Writing. It is only
recommended for CD-RWs and not CD-Rs. Once formatted you can
use the disk like a small harddrive or large floppy. You'll need Nero (InCD),
Roxio's CD Creator or Sonic's DLA to do this.

--
XP - WNP
Today is the first day of the
rest of your life.
If you find this response helpful,
rate it below.

 

[gordon]

The only thing that will work is a CD-RW; it can be reused, therefore
should
be re-formattabe.

No. You can erase a CDRW disk, and re-use but what the OP was asking about
is drag and drop to AND from a CD - in that case you must format the CDRW
disk for packet writing, which XP cannot do natively...

 

[gordon]

The procedure of formatting a CD is called Packet Writing. It is only
recommended for CD-RWs and not CD-Rs.

You can't format CDR disks for packet writing anyway.

 

[Richard in AZ]

You can't format CDR disks for packet writing anyway.

Sorry to hear you say that. I do it all the time with Roxio version 5.
Roxio has an option to format a CD-R so that you can just drag files to it like a floppy or flash
drive.
You can even delete files from it (just can't use that space again) and add new versions of the file
to it.

 

[Doug]

Sorry to hear you say that. I do it all the time with Roxio
version 5.
Roxio has an option to format a CD-R so that you can just drag
files to it like a floppy or flash drive.
You can even delete files from it (just can't use that space
again) and add new versions of the file to it.

I concur. Have done it also.

Doug W.
-

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

You can't format CDR disks for packet writing anyway.

Ever heard of DirectCD by Roxio (previously call Adaptec)? It does exactly
that.

 

[Chuck Davis]

Why not buy a 1BG flash memory drive. Use it as you will.

 

[Doug]

I have a 2GB flash drive. Works great. Now they have 4GB thumb
drives (of course, since I bought a 2 GB one). Now I have to
have one of those. The prices for these things just keep going
down, down, down and businesses are now giving some of the
smaller capacity ones away as door prizes and incentive to buy
gifts.

Doug W.
-

 

[Rock]

Is there a way to format a CD (in Windows XP) so that it can be written to
like it's a floppy disk or a flash drive, rahter than having to go thru
the
burning process? ANy help is appreciated!

You need 3rd party packet writing software to do this. Examples are Roxio's
Drag to Disk, or Nero's InCD. XP does not have native tools to do it.

 

[Gordon]

You can even delete files from it (just can't use that space again) and add new versions of the file
to it.

Which is why it is NOT true packet writing, as you have with a formatted
CDRW disk. You also cannot overwrite files in a formatted CDR. Again,
not true packet-writing.

 

[HeyBub]

Is there a way to format a CD (in Windows XP) so that it can be
written to like it's a floppy disk or a flash drive, rahter than
having to go thru the burning process? ANy help is appreciated!

JimB

Well, to start with, a CD only has one track (actually a spiral about 2,000
miles long), instead of, say, the 80 tracks found on a floppy. Obviously,
then, the directory - instead of noting the track number and segment where a
file starts - has to flag the file as starting xxx furlongs and rods from
the beginning.

Bottom line, it's all different.

 

[Richard in AZ]

Which is why it is NOT true packet writing, as you have with a formatted CDRW disk. You also
cannot overwrite files in a formatted CDR. Again, not true packet-writing.

It may not be packet-writing, but it does what the OP wanted.

 

[Nevermind]

Why not buy a 1BG flash memory drive. Use it as you will.

Direct CD will write to CD-RWs, not CD-Rs.

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

Direct CD will write to CD-RWs, not CD-Rs.

Not true, DirectCD will write to CD-R or CD-RW, InCD will only write to
CD-RWs