DVD as floppy

Hi . a simple question is it possible to format a dvd to act so you can read and write to it like a floppy or zip drive?
Thanks for any help on that.

eggman

At one point, the only way to do that was to buy a DVD-RW disc. A regular DVD-R can be written to, but not rewritten, if I understand correctly.

hi I realize you can rewrite to a dvdrw but that means erasing the dvd, creating a burn folder, and burning whole new dvd each time. I want to be able to read/write individual files without having to erase and go through the effort of remaking the whole dvd each time I want to put something on the disk. treat it like a removable hard drive. On some Operating systems that can be done. I am hoping mac osx can do it too.


eggman

You can do it with CD's:

Mac OS X: How to burn a multi-session CD



However, if you are really looking for a more viable method of removable storage, I would suggest a portable external drive or a large-capacity USB flash drive.

HI D3180Y;
That looks promising I'll give it a try, see if it does what I want.


eggman

eggman said:

hi I realize you can rewrite to a dvdrw but that means erasing the dvd, creating a burn folder, and burning whole new dvd each time. I want to be able to read/write individual files without having to erase and go through the effort of remaking the whole dvd each time I want to put something on the disk. treat it like a removable hard drive. On some Operating systems that can be done. I am hoping mac osx can do it too.
eggman

Click to expand...

You're referring to formatting a disk and treating it as a large floppy - that can only be done in Windows with the proper software (Ashampoo, Roxio, Nero, etc.). Multi-session recording to a DVD is not yet supported in OS X, nor can you format a DVD as in Windows.

You can, however, as was pointed out by D3v1L80Y write multiple times to a CD. The Apple KB article spells out how to use a burn folder and disk image but you can download a free program like Burn and accomplish the same thing much easier.

Regards.

I think you are out of luck in what you want to do.

My question, is why do you want to do it? Max capacity of a single layer dual side DVD is 8.54 gig.

8 gig flash drives are a dime a dozen and are really cheap. They work on both PC and Mac and are easy to carry around.

Is there any particular reason you really NEED to use a DVD?

@Staszek

They just happened to be handy, I was really thinking of the cd's which I used as floppies on the Amiga OS4 until it died. I hadn't thought of flash drives. You're right they would more than do the trick. Last longer too. Since moving all my work over to mac I'll be staying with mac. The Amiga has no comparable software for my work. Pc does but I did tech support for mac and windows until xp came out and I mac is saner.

eggman

What eggman wants is known as the Packet CD, which was supported by CeQuadrat. Roxio, Nero, and a few other applications offered similar formats. Once a CD RW is formatted as a Packet CD, you can write and delete files on it using a file manager, just like a floppy or a hard disk.

AFAIK, nothing like Packet CD exists on a Mac. Packet CDs and their ilk have proven even less reliable than floppies, and most people have given up on them. Use a pen drive instead, but be aware that pen drivers aren't 100% reliable either.

@Juan Largo

You are right that's what I was thinking of. It was built into the cd file system of the amiga OS4 so I got used to it. Expected it in Mac os. But the flash drive is bigger I see I can get upto 16 gig. So it's better suited for backing up tghe files I want to backup to removable media. But like you say not as reliable as a usb hd. The I don't think mac mini has the power to drive two usb hd's without at least one of them having it's own power supply. Is it safe to remove a usb hd and insert another one without turning off the MAc? that's one of many things I'm not sure about. I've fallen behind in my tech knowledge since leaving the field several years ago. Haven't been had time to keep up.


eggman