RW vs R? Pros and Cons?

[ac1654]

I still have not found the answer to this. If we don't care about player compatibility (since -R/-RW and +R/+RW all seem to play in my player) what is the advantage of using -R/+R over -RW/+RW other than the cost of the discs to start out with?

Do write once R media last longer than RW? If I use an RW disc to backup a movie should I expect no problems at all in say 1 year if I want to burn a different movie on it. Is there any degradation in quality just from sitting with the same contents for a period of time on an RW as opposed to opening a brand new RW and putting something on it for the first time?

I am just starting out with recordable DVD's so I want to know what approach I should take. If there are no cons to RW media other than compatibility and price I may just end up using RW media all the time since I don't think I will be going though 100's of discs.

Thanks for any input,

-Darryl

[jaxxboss]

With the exception of cost as you pointed out, speed of the burn is also a factor. As far as "down the road degradation", well only time will tell. Ask that question in 5 years or so and you can get a better answer. Family movies n stuff goes on a +R disc, movies I know I'll keep for a long time also go on a +R disc. Tv eps, data back up go on a +RW disc. It's really a matter of YOUR choice.

[lordsmurf]

The phase change discs (RW) are not made to last forever.

[Gazorgan]

Cheap media can last less than a year. Some 1x princo's from last year are already dead....maybe the marker ....maybe the label.


Generally speaking don't put you wedding video on a cheap disk. This is irregardless if it's R or RW. As to the +/- issue, it shouldn't really matter. The technical differences come up in other ways (speed and how the data is physically written).

[ac1654]

Thanks for the comments. I don't plan on buying any cheap media. It is just not worth it. So far mine are all TAIYOYUDEN, RICOH/RITEK, or MCC.

I know that nobody can know for sure yet about longevity but I was just trying to figure out if there was a big drawback to using RW's.

-Darryl

[tompika]

Some of my +RWs are almost a year old and still going strong after lots of overwriting.

I really like them because formatting is not required before the first use.

[The village idiot]

Most of the GOOD media have been testd in accelerated testing to last more than 80 years for -r(most likely +r), don't know about R/W disks, -Ram at more than 100 years. Accelerated aging tests may not show real life expectantcy (sp?) as can be shown by the disks that only last 1 year or less, and have been tested. Just buy good quality disks, like Ritek and Taiyo Yuden and the other good disks as listed in the comparison to the left.