Rewriting a DVD +RW

[Novice20]

What is a reasonable estimate for the number of times a +RW DVD can be re-used (in this case, they are Sony but it's really a non-specific brand question)? I know it is not absolute - I have one that failed on its second re-write. I'm just looking for a reasonable expectation so that I have an idea when to be ready to buy another spindle.

thank you

[jagabo]

Hundreds. A thousand. Maybe more. I've always tossed them because of scratches before the "wear out". I've only used Verbatim.

http://www.osta.org/technology/dvdqa/dvdqa11.htm

[jman98]

Impossible to say. Some have discs that gone through hundreds of re-writings. Me and my father have both seen Verbatim DVD+RW discs fail on the 2nd re-write just like you and Verbatim makes the best RW media there is. I believe that the discs are rated at thousands or maybe tens of thousands of re-writes, but that is mostly theoretical. You'll do well to get re-writes in the hundreds. You don't live in some 3rd world country where these discs are expensive. Just buy a spindle of Verbatim discs when you need more.

You don't post a lot, so I want to mention that you definitely need to understand that DVD+/-RW discs were NEVER intended for long term storage and eventually all of them will degrade and become unreadable, even if unused. It's the nature of the media that makes them re-writable. So if you have RW discs that contain something you want to keep then you need to get those onto DVD+/-R discs. We get posts all the time from inexperienced people who don't understand that and find out too late that their precious home movies or whatever are gone because the RW disc it was on became unreadable.

[Novice20]

Thank you jagabo for your comment and URLpointer.

And that you jman98 for your comment and advice. I am not storing "permanent" video on the +RW. I use them only as transfer media between my Mag DVDrecorder and my pc, where I convert the video to AVI files. The AVI being easier to store/backup and take up less space.

While the disk that went bad on the second re-write was caught by the Mag recorder - it gave me an error message trying to copy to it from the HDD - my concern was about a disk not being bad enough to give the Mag errors but bad enough where the copy was "flaky". Hence my question as to when I should consider just discarding them all and starting with a new spindle.

[OldMan64]

I have found that using DVD RW for anything of importance is futile. I stopped using them except for a temporary Video copy for a standalone player. The correction routines in a standalone player can be tolerant enough, in most cases, to correct for the missing bits. I made the worst mistake possible by using the DVD RW for a Ghost image that eventually needed to be used to restore a system. You can not depend on RW media for that. With DVD+R and DVD-R being so reasonable now, I see no rationale for using RW.
With the statement "it gave me an error message trying to copy to it from the HDD"- that is when the copy software in the PC misses a bit ( or more ) and cannot correct for the missing info. As long as you can tolerate having to do it over again when this error happens, otherwise it might be better to use other media.

[hech54]

I stopped using them years ago. I had a small spindle of Philips ones go bad after only a few re-uses so....even though Philips discs suck....it put a bad taste in my mouth for RW's in general.

[jman98]

While the disk that went bad on the second re-write was caught by the Mag recorder - it gave me an error message trying to copy to it from the HDD - my concern was about a disk not being bad enough to give the Mag errors but bad enough where the copy was "flaky". Hence my question as to when I should consider just discarding them all and starting with a new spindle.

I suggest you do what I have my father do. My father records TV shows using a DVD recorder. He doesn't intend to keep those shows any longer than it takes to watch them, so DVD+RW is fine for his needs. If he gets any kind of weird response from a disc like it has problems finalizing, he throws it in the trash and gets another disc from the spindle. As others have pointed out, RW discs aren't very reliable so my rule of thumb is get rid of the disc at the first sign of any problems.

If you aren't using Verbatim re-writable discs then I would seriously suggest that you throw away whatever you do have and switch to Verbatim.

[jagabo]

I have some old Verbatim DVD+RW DatalifePlus discs with data that was written to them 10 years ago (I "sacrificed" these RW discs for long term testing). The same data is archived on hard drives and DVD+R. The DVD+RW discs still compare perfectly with the other archives. Obviously, this is anecdotal and with different discs and different drives "your mileage may vary". I do have a few 8x DVD+RW discs that simply don't work in most drives, even though the drives claim to be able to write to 8x DVD+RW (in fact, these discs were given to me by someone who's drive couldn't write to them).

In any case, why would anyone use RW media for long term storage? It's more expensive and less reliable than R media.

I don't have much use for RW discs any more. In the past I used them mostly to transport files via sneaker net or to view AVI files on TV via a Divx/DVD player. Networking and USB thumb drives serve those purposes now.

[sambat]

Don't throw them away.
When downloading is finally eradicated by the people we elect to betray us, we can mail six of them around the circuit, just like I did when a single sided floppy held 45KB - bonus;your local letter carrier will bless you.

[Wolfen]

I've only ever went as far as 100 and it's still fine.