# CDFS Vs UDF on CD-RW?



## Blue Sky (Sep 8, 2005)

What are the technical differences and practical use of the these two file formats? I want to constantly burn then delete small files and folders on CD-RW. When I use the "copy to" function with XP it uses the CDFS - which is easy to use - but doesn't allow me to delete/erase the file/folder on the disc. A message pops up saying that it is read only and that I can only copy files over it - not erase it. How do I copy over a specific file/folder?

UDF which takes forever to format and used 200MB of space just for the formatting process, allows deleting of files but is very impracticable. I used the Sonic burner program which came with my Dell Insp 6000.


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## kentnormhr (Oct 29, 2005)

Blue Sky said:


> What are the technical differences and practical use of the these two file formats? I want to constantly burn then delete small files and folders on CD-RW. When I use the "copy to" function with XP it uses the CDFS - which is easy to use - but doesn't allow me to delete/erase the file/folder on the disc. A message pops up saying that it is read only and that I can only copy files over it - not erase it. How do I copy over a specific file/folder?
> 
> UDF which takes forever to format and used 200MB of space just for the formatting process, allows deleting of files but is very impracticable. I used the Sonic burner program which came with my Dell Insp 6000.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I think you pretty much summed up the differences between the two formats. 

FWIW, I wouldn't use CD-RW media for anything important that you want to keep for any length of time.

For what you're describing, an external USB 2.0 disk would probably be ideal.


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## Blue Sky (Sep 8, 2005)

John,

Thanks,

The reason I use CD-RW's, is because I have to tranfer data to a computer that has 1st edition Win 98 - which does not recognize USB devices.


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## DaveBurnett (Nov 11, 2002)

Treat the UDF as a giant floppy, with the security considerations of TEMPORARY transfer.
After a lot of use, reformat.


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