Is it possible to delete a file off of a CD-R?

[SonicIce]

I know that with a CD-R, I can't delete a file and get the space back. But can I delete a file and just have that space lost, so the total capacity of the disc is lower, and have the deleted file completely unrecoverable? Like if I wanted to replace a file on the disc with a newer version and discard the old one.

When I try to delete a file on a CD-R it says "you can still copy new files to this writable CD, which will replace files already on the disc." How exactly does that work?

 

[Engineer]

If the CD-R hasn't been "closed" yet, you can still add to it and the tables will be updated to reflect that the more files have been placed on the disk, overwritten or removed. Once you close (finalize) the disk, generally no changes can be made. Also, it's typical that you cannot read your CD-R on any other CD ROM/CD-WRITER until you close (finalize) the disk on the original burner.

 

[nickbits]

make a 0 byte file with the same name? or make a new disk without the file

 

[RebateMonger]

I doubt the any "normal" CDRW file burning will physically delete or overwrite an existing file on a CDRW. At best, writing a new version of the file with will create new catalog entries and write the new file on an untouched part of the disk. I'd expect the original version to remain untouched and likely accessible with software designed for reading such files.

I expect there's software that CAN overburn an old file. But it's probably easier to put the CD into a shredder and burn a new disk.

Of course, if it's a re-writeable disk, you can reformat the disk. That seems to take forever, so I suspect it zeroes out the entire disk.

 

[Modelworks]

I expect there's software that CAN overburn an old file. But it's probably easier to put the CD into a shredder and burn a new disk.

It requires packet writing features and they have to be supported by the drive itself. Some drives don't have the feature anymore because of RW media. It was big though back when CD-r was the only option.

 

[C1]

You may be a candidate for RAM Disk.

 

[kmmatney]

You used to be able to write new files to CDR's and if files had the same names, they would just replace the old files. I used to do this all the time when CDRs were expensive 10 years ago, and before USB drives existed. I was doing software development creating 10 MB installs, and I would keep writing the same file to the CDR to transfer files to other computers. I would throw the CDR away when full. The only preoprty I had to set in teh old Adaptec software was to not close the disk when writing.

 

[SonicIce]

You used to be able to write new files to CDR's and if files had the same names, they would just replace the old files. I used to do this all the time when CDRs were expensive 10 years ago, and before USB drives existed. I was doing software development creating 10 MB installs, and I would keep writing the same file to the CDR to transfer files to other computers. I would throw the CDR away when full. The only preoprty I had to set in teh old Adaptec software was to not close the disk when writing.

interesting. can this be done using windows explorer in xp or do i need a burning software?