DVD disk capacity???

Question

DVD disk capacity???

I'm learning about recording to DVDs on my new G4 iBook, running OS 10.4.4 - how come, when I insert the new, blank 4.7 GB DVD+RW into my Super drive and burn a 1.2 GB movie file onto it, it then shows (in Disk Utility) that the disk has
"Capacity : 1.2 GB (1,254,234,112 Bytes)
Available : 0 Bytes
Used : 1.2 GB (1,254,234,112 Bytes)
Write Status : Read Only
Number of Folders : 7
Number of Files : 112"??

Shouldn't that show something like 3.5 GB available? What happened to the rest of the space?

NEW!! iBook G4 1.4GHz/512/80Gb/SD, Mac OS X (10.4.4), also have classic blue clamshell iBook

Posted on Feb 10, 2006 2:51 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 10, 2006 3:04 PM in response to Bobby Collins

Bobby -

If you have written to the disk, burned your program on it then the info you'll get about the disk will reflect the state of the disk - You made the disk 2.2 gigs or whatever when you burned a 2.2gig project onto it. There is no more space available on the disk because you have already written to it kinda closing the door to future additions.

You can take a cd, dvd etc and put a 50k piece of something on it, burn it, Get Info and it'll tell ya, capacity for the disk is 50k.

I use DVD-RW for my initial burns on a project - You can erase 'em and reuse and few times, saves on the expense of all those 'test' dvds and those oops, I forgot the end titles re-dos.

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Answer 2

Feb 10, 2006 3:00 PM in response to Bobby Collins

"What happened to the rest of the space?"

You closed out the disc when you burned it. When this happens you cannot burn to the rest of the disc. Works the same with CDs.

You have to burn in sessions in order for the rest of the disc to remain available until full.

Try CD Session Burner:
http://www.sentman.com/burner/

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Answer 3

Feb 10, 2006 3:08 PM in response to Los Angeles

Bobby -

If you have written to the disk, burned your program
on it then the info you'll get about the disk will
reflect the state of the disk - You made the disk 2.2
gigs or whatever when you burned a 2.2gig project
onto it. There is no more space available on the disk
because you have already written to it kinda closing
the door to future additions.

You can take a cd, dvd etc and put a 50k piece of
something on it, burn it, Get Info and it'll tell ya,
capacity for the disk is 50k.

I use DVD-RW for my initial burns on a project - You
can erase 'em and reuse and few times, saves on the
expense of all those 'test' dvds and those oops, I
forgot the end titles re-dos.

Yer kiddin! Shouldn't they mention this somewhere before they hand out computers and disks? Seems like a pertinent piece of info to just assume I'd pick up on the street.

Not fussing at you, you understand, just "them."

So, a disk is pretty much one size only depending on the first thing you try to burn onto it?

How can I use more than part of the disk? Do I have to combine files, then burn everything at once? I had hoped to use DVDs to back up files, etc.

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Answer 4

Feb 10, 2006 3:22 PM in response to Bobby Collins

cd's are pretty darn cheap and they also come in a rewritable form, like dvds, but, yes, once you burn, it's done.

DVD's are great for backing up files and there are lots of programs that permit you to do kinda partial burn, multi sessions. Your mac can do a form of this if you create a burn folder.

For back-ups done without formal back-up software I think most of us just burn a new cd.

check this out:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=733291&#733291

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Answer 5

Feb 10, 2006 3:40 PM in response to Los Angeles

OK, I get that. But, if you'll be a little more patient with this newphyte ... what's the difference, then, in DVD+RW and DVD+R? Why did I pay more for the RW than the R? Just got took?

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Answer 6

Feb 10, 2006 7:15 PM in response to Bobby Collins

HI,

You can 'append' to a CD using the disk utility, and add file after file without 'closing' the CD. That's what I do to save my work. But I don't think this works with DVD's. Once you burn something onto it, it's 'finalized' - and not so cheap either.

Ray

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Answer 7

Kevin Horn

Level 4

1,836 points

Feb 10, 2006 11:42 PM in response to Bobby Collins

Bobby:

RW at the end of a DVD or CD means you can do multiple rewrites, but that doesn't mean you can just keep adding to it. Burn it once then you have to erase the whole thing and reburn like it's brand new, an dthere is a limited number of times you can do that, which varies. To erase a disk open up Disk Utility. R at the end means you burn it once, period, whether you put 10 k on it or fill it up.

Some software, such as Toast allows you to burn multi sessions, where you can come back and keep adding to the disk.

If I'm storing archives I just wait until I have the 4.2 gigs to fill up a DVD then burn one. CD's I only use to send files to someone, it's the cheapest way to do it.

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Answer 8

ThomasG

Level 5

6,745 points

Feb 11, 2006 1:36 PM in response to Kevin Horn

Just to make sure everyone knows this: Toast can only do multi-session burning with CD media. There is no multi-session burning to DVD media. By multi-session I mean the incremental addition of more data to disc at a later time without erasing the disc.

Retrospect is a backup application that will write incrementally to a DVD. I know that Apple's Backup application (part of a .mac subscription) also can back up across multiple DVDs, but I don't know if it can incrementally do additional burns to a DVD.

One popular approach is to get a USB flash drive for incremental backups. When it gets full copy the contents to a DVD. That way you can have small daily backups but only use DVD media when you have a lot to copy.

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