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DVD formatting

frybluff

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Posted May 6, 2012 at 11:33AM

I know this is probably a really stupid question, but do DVD disks need, or benefit, from being formatted, before burning. Can you even do that?

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rdave13

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Posted May 6, 2012 at 1:55PM

With DVD RWs you can erase what is on the disc. Your burning software should do this automatically if re-using. For DVD Rs it is a once only write but you can add data if using as a data disc only. Once the disc is full or finalized then R discs cannot be written to again.

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frybluff

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Posted May 6, 2012 at 3:09PM

Thanks for that. Was just, having splashed out on Acronis, wanting to make bootable media as reliable as possible, and just had thought " I do suppose you're not meant to format first", having had a high failure rate in the past, even using proper burning software. Acronis recommend RW. I don't know why, unless they are better quality, generally, than plain R?

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rdave13

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Posted May 6, 2012 at 3:30PM

I'm not familiar with Acronis but if you backup to DVD with incremental backups then RW is the only type to use. I usually create an image on another HDD but I use Paragon.

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john bunyan

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Posted May 6, 2012 at 4:22PM

If you have Acronis in CD form,it will act as the boot disc.

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frybluff

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Posted May 6, 2012 at 4:42PM

Downloaded trial from Acronis. Tempted to get hard copy, on Amazon, when I saw difference in price between there, and Acronis' price in GBP. I don't know what they think the exchange rate is! Having said that, I'm always a bit dubious about cheap software, on Amazon. If you upgrade, Acronis do send a DVD copy, for FREE. Yippee doodles!

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