If one program "ERASES" a DVD+'RW' disc

This might seem like a strange question..

But...

If one program "ERASES" a 'DVD+RW' disc should
all software and set-top boxes see the disc as empty
and ready to be written to?

I am not talking about formatting a disc for use with many
software programs such as 'InCD'

--David

Check he
http://www.cdrfaq.org/

David Carmichael wrote:

This might seem like a strange question..

But...

If one program "ERASES" a 'DVD+RW' disc should
all software and set-top boxes see the disc as empty
and ready to be written to?

I am not talking about formatting a disc for use with many
software programs such as 'InCD'

--David

erased means empty, as in empty.



"David Carmichael" wrote in message
m...
This might seem like a strange question..

But...

If one program "ERASES" a 'DVD+RW' disc should
all software and set-top boxes see the disc as empty
and ready to be written to?

I am not talking about formatting a disc for use with many
software programs such as 'InCD'

--David

DVD+RW doesn't know a function like "erase". The format is defined such
that a new format is never really needed again and all sectors are always
over-writable so no erase is needed either.
However, applications implement erase functions for DVD+RW which means that
the application has control over what it over-writes or not. A full erase
mostly means that an app will write some pattern from start till finish that
leaves the disc as apparently blank (as no file-system or other data is
present anymore). A minimal ease is then the app that overwrites only the
specific file-system structures. Most of the data is still there yet no
pointers pointing to that data.
The whole implementation is different then CD because there you would tell
the writer to erase the TOC and the disc would ALWAYS appear empty, in case
of DVD+RW the DVD NEVER becomes blank anymore, but if the data is nonsense
(like is written in case of an erase action by an app) then the DVD appears
blank afteral.
Additionally, some drive vendors (e.g. Ricoh) implement the "Format Unit"
commands such that it can replace an erase command (which is stupid because
then the erase command could have been left in as well) and some apps use
this command to erase a disc (in this case the writer is over-writing the
data). This is however not in line with the phylosophy of the format and
these implementations will disappear in time as 'bugs' get fixed.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Van Hove

www.Smart-Projects.net
www.IsoBuster.com
www.cdrecovery.net
Stay informed :
-------------------------------------------------------------
"Dan G" wrote in message
...
erased means empty, as in empty.



"David Carmichael" wrote in message
m...
This might seem like a strange question..

But...

If one program "ERASES" a 'DVD+RW' disc should
all software and set-top boxes see the disc as empty
and ready to be written to?

I am not talking about formatting a disc for use with many
software programs such as 'InCD'

--David