# DVD Capacity question



## cmcnally (Jan 24, 2002)

I'm new to burning DVDs and am having some issues with how much data they can hold. I'm using a Iomega External DVD drive. I'm not sure what model it is, but it shows up as LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-1635 USB Device in my Device Manager. I'm using Philips 4.7 GB 1-16x DVD-R discs, and I have both Iomega Hotburn Pro, and UltraISO installed for burning. (I previously had Nero 7 on this machine, and it didn't really run so well.) When I use the Iomega software, I get a message that there isn't enough room on the DVD if I try to burn more than approximately 4.2 gigs. With UltraISO, I get a message that says "Error Reserving Zone for Burn" when trying to burn a 4.67 Gig DVD. (I'm trying to burn 28 rar files that total 4.67 gigs.) My question: if the DVDs say 4.7 gigs, why am I having these issues? Are there some burner settings I need to adjust? Do I have the wrong drivers installed? Is there some kind of index that takes up half a gig, and if so, can I eliminate it?


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## emoxley (Jan 6, 2004)

Every blank disc has info on it about the manufacturer, the disc ID code, info on being a +R, or -R, or RW, or DL disc, etc........... 
This info takes a little space. That's what you're running into.
Even though they're a little expensive, if your burner is capable, you can get and burn to a double layer disc. They hold 8.5 GB.
Good luck!


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

From:

http://www.imation.com/support/products/dvd_media.html

The problem is that computers and DVD drives and its media count the numbers differently. Computers count according to a binary system (base 2). The creators of DVD standards decided to count bytes in a decimal system (like a human counts). A DVD labelled for 4.7GB capacity actually only holds 4.39GB in computer terms.

Total storage capacity may be even less on DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs, because these discs require formatting before or during burning, and the format takes up space as well.

In computer terms: 1GB = 1 gigabyte = 1,073,741,824 bytes

In DVD terms: 1GB = 1 gigabyte = 1,000,000,000 bytes​


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## thecoalman (Mar 6, 2006)

A quick tip, I try and keep my burns under 4 GB. Failures are more likely to occur at the end of the burn.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

You are falling victim to "disk manufacturer gigabytes". A 4.7gig DVD has a 4,700,000,000 byte capacity. When you convert them to real gigabytes, you get 4.377gigs, which is the real capacity of a single layer DVD.


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## kaaos (Jan 10, 2006)

There are programs that can shrink the movie to fit on one dvd even if its more than4.7gbs


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

kaaos said:


> There are programs that can chrink the movie to fit on one dvd even if its more than4.7gbs


They won't help *cmcnally* much. They are trying to burn RAR data files on the DVD.

I am not that familiar with creating RAR files. Are there any settings in the RAR compression program that make it try to maximize the compression?


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## kaaos (Jan 10, 2006)

cwwozniak said:


> They won't help *cmcnally* much. They are trying to burn RAR data files on the DVD.
> 
> I am not that familiar with creating RAR files. Are there any settings in the RAR compression program that make it try to maximize the compression?


maybe zip it then rar the zip ?


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## StumpedTechy (Jul 7, 2004)

No raring a zip, or zipping a rar for that matter, gains you no further compression factor.

As far as rar they do have the ability to span the rar but with 28 files I should think its easy to remove 1 file and have a good burn. There are different rar compression types but again its only going to help depending on whats rared to being with. You can only compress some things to a certain extent. I.E. Word documents compress down a heck of alot more than an AVI file.


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## cmcnally (Jan 24, 2002)

Wow, thanks for all the feedback. I don't think I've ever posted anything that generated so much discussion. Glad I now understand what's going on.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

You want to make a post that generates lots of discussion, drop into Civil Debate and post something on religion or politics!


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