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CD Burning (multi-session CD-RW's)

Overview

In addition to burning CD-Rs, both operating systems are capable of burning CD-RWs - rewritable compact discs, which can be erased and reused. Mac OS X and Windows XP treat CD-RW discs differently, however.

Mac OS X

Although you can write to CD-RWs directly in the Finder (like CD-Rs), the Finder does not support any specific CD-RW features - namely, erasing. Thus, to work with these features of CD-RW discs, use Disk Utility.

Rewritable discs can be erased by going to File > Erase. Once erased, the Finder prompts you to name the disc. It will then be mounted on your desktop, where you can work with it just like you would a CD-R.

Data cannot be appended to a session once it's been written; rather, additional sessions can be appended to the CD-RW as volumes. Disc Utility's "Burn Disc" dialog has a check box to "Leave disc appendable," which will let you do this. Multi-volume CDs are treated by the Finder as if each volume were its own CD - thus, a CD-RW with three volumes will appear as three CDs on the desktop.

Windows XP

Windows XP treats CD-RW discs exactly the same way as it does CD-Rs - the only differences are that it adds an "erase" option to the window's sidebar, as well as a group for "files currently on the CD" (if there are any).

XP essentially treats CD-RWs as if they were big floppy disks - you can continue adding data to the CD until it is full, and it will always appear as one disc to Windows.

Conclusion

XP is the clear winner in this area - it treats CD-Rs and CD-RWs identically, adding specific CD-RW options to the Explorer window's sidebar. OS X's implementation is considerably more complex - the Finder lacks controls for erasing CD-RWs, so users will need to jump back and forth between the Finder and Disk Utility to achieve the same functionality. The reason for this inconsistency is not apparent, and although a simple search of OS X's Help will tell the user that they need to use Disk Utility to erase a CD-RW, the Finder itself does not make this clear.

Furthermore, OS X is incapable of adding data to existing CD sessions, so each time you add data to a CD-RW disc and mount it, it displays in the Finder as separate discs. This behavior can be confusing to less experienced users.

Mac OS X: 4
Windows XP: 9

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