Editing files from CD-RW?

[Tanya]

Hi. I have a new computer (our fourth), and am totally new to burning CD's. For some of the work that I do, I would like to burn data files to CDs, and have the ability to edit them from within the CD, and, save those edited files. Is this possible? "One" of the pre-loaded software that I have is "Nero Express." I have searched those help files exhaustively and cannot come up with an answer. I then called my IS brother-in-law who informs me that of course I should be able to do that - and just told me to read the help files. I then contacted Nero tech support, who informed me that in order to edit "on the fly" I need to get more software, i.e., "InCD." Does anyone have any more insight to this? In advance, thank you. My operating system is XP-Home.

 

[GavinO]

I used to have an app called 'DirectCD' from Adaptec that allowed you to mount a CD drive in the manner of a hard drive. I would be hesitant to suggest performing extensive file operations on a CD-RW, though, both because of transfer speeds (the erase cycle is a bit slow) and because of media wear (I've never actually worn out a CD-RW, but I'm guessing there's a practical limit on erase cycles per sector). Best bet I think would be to perform file actions on a local copy, then replace the file on the CD.

 

[Tanya]

I used to have an app called 'DirectCD' from Adaptec that allowed you to mount a CD drive in the manner of a hard drive. I would be hesitant to suggest performing extensive file operations on a CD-RW, though, both because of transfer speeds (the erase cycle is a bit slow) and because of media wear (I've never actually worn out a CD-RW, but I'm guessing there's a practical limit on erase cycles per sector). Best bet I think would be to perform file actions on a local copy, then replace the file on the CD.

GavinO: Thank you so very much for your advice. I'm now rethinking whether or not to get additional software - I don't think I'm going to now. I hadn't relayed this, but, in my work, I deal with highly sensitive information (medical), and, cannot, under any circumstances, take any chances. Additionally, I'm my husband's bookkeeper for our 20-year-old home-based business. Thank you again!

 

[SuBX3r0]

i agree with gavino. it's better to either leave the burn session open and burn the updated files onto the cd along with the older versions, or to start a whole new cd each time. i have personally only used a cd-rw disc once and it was for a music cd and i've had a burner of some sort for 4-5 years.

cd-r media is so cheap nowadays it's just more practical it's just more practical to burn a new disk.

 

[AWS]

With XP you can copy files to a cd without any burning software. XP uses a modified version of InCD. The procedure is the same as copying files from hd to hd. As far as editing them from cd you would have to use a rewritable disk.
I do this often. I frequently copy my documents and program folder to cd. If I ever have to format and re-install XP I can copy my stuff back and rerun the programs setup. This lets me keep my settings in each program and lets me keep all documents.

 

[SuBX3r0]

With XP you can copy files to a cd without any burning software. XP uses a modified version of InCD. The procedure is the same as copying files from hd to hd. As far as editing them from cd you would have to use a rewritable disk.
I do this often. I frequently copy my documents and program folder to cd. If I ever have to format and re-install XP I can copy my stuff back and rerun the programs setup. This lets me keep my settings in each program and lets me keep all documents.

i think you can edit them, it's just you won't get the disk space back by marking them as deleted or by editing them. it should just use more disk space to make the edits, or if you delete it you'll just lose the data that the file took up.

been a long time since i used incd, that was back with my original 8x burner. now with much larger hdd's and the actual income i have now, i don't much need to cheap storage alternative.