Using CD as a data storage, burning files to CD/DVD

Question

it has been a long time since i have used CD/DVDs in any computer.

The last time i remembered using CDs and burning them was during school days burning music into them.

Recently i have to create a disc at my work place due to restriction of USB drive.

So as i was inserting this disc it asked me "Like a USB flash drive(Live file system)" or "With a CD/DVD player"

I researched about this and came to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K8Q-Po0gyo

To my understanding "Like a USB flash drive" means it will format the disc to store data such as photos, documents and it can be deleted and can add new files later on. Correct ?

But "With a CD/DVD player" means like songs / Videos? where you burn them and you can play the in DVD/CD players? Once burn you cannot delete them unless you using CDRW or DVDRW right?

So if use it like a USB flash drive and copy songs over, you can still play the song but only in computers?

How about ISOs? Example i wanna create a Win 7 installation disc. Do i burn it ? Or use it as a USB drive?

Thanks?

Answer 1

To my understanding "Like a USB flash drive" means it will format the disc to store data such as photos, documents and it can be deleted and can add new files later on. Correct ?

Yes. This will create a UDF filesystem, and is practically the same system as Nero InCD or Roxio DirectCD if you remember those. (The formatted discs use UDF and are compatible with InCD.)

I believe it works best with DVD+RW discs, which support packet writing out of the box.

The disadvantage is compatibility – Windows/Linux/macOS can access such discs just fine, but various appliances won't like them. (Although I suspect DVD players should accept this format, since it seems to be just regular UDF.)

But "With a CD/DVD player" means like songs / Videos? where you burn them and you can play the in DVD/CD players? Once burn you cannot delete them unless you using CDRW or DVDRW right?

There's no file type restriction; the main difference is the filesystem being used (ISO 9660+Joliet for CDs, and probably UDF for DVDs?).

This format will be compatible with nearly all devices which accept data (e.g. stereos with MP3 support, if you put MP3 files on the disc). However, discs in this format cannot be updated incrementally, only fully erased.

Note that this is not an actual audio CD (Red Book); it's still a data CD even if you put music files on it. (Use other CD/DVD software, or even iTunes/Windows Media Player, to burn audio CDs.)

How about ISOs? Example i wanna create a Win 7 installation disc. Do i burn it ? Or use it as a USB drive?

Neither. The ISO file already has its own filesystem (the .iso name comes from ISO 9660), and needs to be written straight onto the CD. (You could say the file's contents are pre-formatted.)

On Windows 10, right-click the image file and choose "Burn disc image". Other CD/DVD creation software also have a dedicated option for writing images.