Does DVD RW Have To Be Blank?

[TomBrooklyn]

When burning to a DVD RW, does it matter if the disk has something written on it? Is it better to format the disk before burning or does ImgBrn take care of that fine? In particular, my interest is in using ImgBrn with DVD Rebuilder Pro and DVDShrink.

Edited November 13, 2006 by TomBrooklyn

[LIGHTNING UK!]

ImgBurn will erase before it burns if it needs to. You don't need to worry about it.

[Flavored Pork]

ImgBurn will erase before it burns if it needs to. You don't need to worry about it.

 

Is there an option to use Quick erase always instead of doing a Full erase every time?

[LIGHTNING UK!]

It always does a quick erase.

 

You're thinking about a format - which is different. A format is required on new DVD+RW media and those that haven't been properly formatted in the first place.

 

If it doesn't say 'Formatted: Yes' in the info panel on the right, ImgBurn will perform a full format. You should only need to do this once so if you find you're doing it all the time (on the same disc), either your drive isn't formatting properly or some other tool/drive is screwing up the format.

[dbminter]

Now, there are some random/rare cases of drives versus the disc you're using where the drive didn't properly quick erase a disc and those drives need to fully erase the disc at least once. This is usually fixed with later firmware that better supports the write strategy the disc uses. Unfortunately, the only way you're going to find out is by actually doing it and encountering it. In general, though, you're best off just leaving it on the Quick Erase ImgBurn will do before the burn. Then, if you encounter a burn that repeated fails or a verify that fails, try the Full Erase and see. e.g. Ritek 6x DVD-RW and 8x DVD+RW current write strategies don't seem to be tolerated well when burned by the current firmware in the NEC 4570. It will burn them properly the first time and then require Full Erases most of the time to reuse them.