bluejay

Sounds like a plan. There was a time in the ZipDrive era when I was looking for something bigger. One can never have too much storage space. And I took a bet on CD-R/W tech. It more or less works if you write the whole disc at once. But if you start using it "random-access style" like a hard drive, like the manufacturers advertised you could, the discs started losing data rather quickly. Within weeks or months.

I thought the tech was so cool. I went out and bought MORE of them. A CD-R/W's proper use seems to be for like Hiren'sBoot CD or utility CDs. Things you may update every year or so. But nowadays JumpDrives have all but replaced anything "CD".

Anyway I stuck it out with ZipDrive's small 100MB capacity till 3.5" USB HDD came out. Mechanical 3.5" USB HDD lasts 7-10 years of light duty daily usage. Longer if you're only occasionally using it.

My original ZipDisks from the 1990's still work fine today. And they are important accessories for my vintage 486. Period correct and all that, you know..

If that's the case, I think CD-RWs would work fine with me. What I plan on doing is writing the data from my modern computer and reading only with my Compaq, then erase the disk to prepare for more data. Rinse and repeat. Not that it matters anyways though.

Apparently random-access HDD style is killer for them. Not killer for the media or mechanics. But for the reflectivity of the data surface. FYI, it's a temperature change mirror more or less. It works by the laser heating the surface, And letting it cool. Now it reflects one way. If you heat it again at lower temperature or heat it and let it cool at a different rate than which it was erased, it takes on yet a different reflective property. And that happens for each data bit.

The rate at which things cool affects how big the crystals can grow. Just like heat treating metal. Here we're heat treating a plastic polymer. Chemistry is amazing but certainly not a strong suit of mine.

A CD-R/W disc can be blanked to zero by the laser heating it to a set point. Across the whole disc. Now it's blank. Any subsequent heating will change the reflectivity. And you have a one. That's a very basic explanation. I'm sure there's more to it.

You can blank a spot on the disc about 1,000 times. So imagine doing NTFS on it! Totally unsuitable. And yet those asses in marketing said it was ok! Fuck'em all!