Are my CDRs telling the truth?

[TMcD]

I looked at the properties of a (2 different brands) of blank 80 min CDRs and here is what they show:

Free Space: 679,477,248 648MB

Capacity: 679,477,248 648MB

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When I look at one of my 74 min CDRs here is what is shows:

Free Space: 679,477,248 648MB

Capacity: 679,477,248 648MB

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Now am I seeing things or .. why do both types of CDRs show the same data capacity?

Thanks,
Troy

[TMcD]

To check my CDRs' capacity, here's what I did:

I put the CDR into the CDR drive.

Double click on the "My Computer" icon.

Right click on the CDR drive (with the CDR in it) and select properties.

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This is if you wanted to check yourself. Very very basic skills. required.

Troy

[Nerk01]

I can't say for sure but 80 min is not really a standard 74 min is the only standard. 80 min is just a supported overburn which is now capable on 95+% of CDRW drives so no one thinks of it as overburn. But I would bet that windows only shows the max of what a 74 min would have. I would try going into Nero or one of the other burning proggies. They usually have a spot that will tell you the true CD capacity.

[TMcD]

Nerk01,

Thanks for your comments, but it sorta doesn't make sense.
It sounds like you are saying that an 80 minute CDR is only supported if a burner has overburn. (Could be true, but sounds odd), my burner is only a few months old and I have burned other things on 80 CDRs with no problem. (Things that were larger than 650 megs.)

Troy

[tigerwolf]

80 minute media is truely 80 minute/700mb media.
to accurately check the free space use your burning software. It should have a feature somewhere in it to tell you available free space. Generally by checking the cd properties under the burn software.

if you are using nero, go under the recorder info and choose medium info.

adaptec I can't remember how to do it and given right now I'm still in the middle of fixing a crash that I caused. LOL.

[Nerk01]

Let me clarify that as best as I can. In the beggining of CD-R discs 74min was all they had, and so thats all the CD-R drives burned to. When they started making 80min CD-Rs the software didn't support it right away unless overburn was enabled. AS new drives came out the newer software supported 80min as standard as well. But my guess is that windows 9x doesnt see 80min blanks only 74min blanks. But like I said before I'm not 100% sure on all that.

[speedy]

Hmm... I just popped in a blank 80 CD-R and Windows Explorer reports 737,277,952 bytes (703 MB) on my XP Pro box. My guess you're using Windows 98 and the 80 minute CD's were not out yet when that OS was released.

[Dhruv]

It depends what you burn on it. For example, if I burn a 1 meg file onto a 80min CD and close the CD it will say total capacity: 1 megabyte.
After you close the CD its total capacity becomes the size of whatevers on the CD.
Its probably the same because you've burnt the same thing on both CDs.

[speedy]

The discussion is about BLANK CD's.

[Dhruv]

Oh ok, sorry! Teaches me not to skim read...

[vitualis]

It could be an OS thing (refering to the original observation).

Try loading up the media with CDRWin or CloneCD and see how many sectors are reported on the media. From memory, all 80min blanks I've used have been identified as 80min (i.e., near 360,000 sectors).

Regards.