Hi there. My name is Lelani and I have a simple question about formatting CD RW disks.

Do I have to format a RW CD that I'm only going to use for storage? Or, when is it necessary to format a RW CD?

Thank you for any help you can enlighten me with.

Lelani :)

Its necessary to format a CD/RW disk (for packet writing) when you plan on using it as rewriteable media. In other words so you can erase and modify files saved to the disk.

Let me check with you to see if I understand what you wrote. If I am going to use the CD disk and put executible files on it, then I need to format it. If I use it for data only, for the HD to access, I don't need to format it?

This question pertains to keeping graphic files only on the disk for my website, as graphics can take a lot of room. I will only access the CD in order for the HD to know where to find the graphics.

Thank you,

Lelani

No, not executibles, but files you intend to modify. In other words, you want to use the disk as you would a floppy, USB drive or any regular drive to store, delete and modify files.

Without formatting you can only use a disk as a CD/R which means you can save files to it, but not modify or delete those files.