CD-RW confusion

[Albinoni]

Ok folks here we go. When it comes to using or burning CD-Rw's I am slightly confused re this matter. First off after purchasing a CD-RW does it have to be formatted before use, like in the early days where we had to format a floppy disk to make it IBM compatible. I do understand the concepts of using InCD.

Secondly, assume that I but a black 650MB CD-RW. Then I save lets say 5 downloads on it, which take up a total of 30MB od disc space. The following day I want to re use that same CD-RW and carry on burning more stuff onto it. Is this possible and if so how or whats the trick to it.

[Han]

There are three possible ways of writing data to a CD-RW:

1. Disc or Session At Once, where you finalize (close) the disc. If you want to reuse it, you have to erase it fully.

2. Session At Once or Multisession, where only the current session is closed. You can continue burning data later, import previous sessions or delete them...

3. Packet Writing requires a special program, like InCD, FileCD or DirectCD, where you format the disc and use it as it was a large floppy. This method isn't as reliable as the first two, though.