Quick question about CD-RW's.

[Jetsetlemming]

I just bought a five pack of CD-RW's, and to my understanding, they can be reburnt over and over as long as you don't lock the CD. I can put stuff on it, upload it to my old computer, then write more stuff on it over the old. I stuck it in my computer though, and windows's cd burning thing doesn't seem to notice the difference, and I've got a feeling it'll just automatically finalize and lock the CD or something. I only know of CD burning programs that are for disc images, too...
Could someone tell me if Windows's default cd burning thing is fine for CD-RW's and won't lock/finalize the CD, or recommend me a good cd burning program that can throw random files onto a CD-RW and recognize it's not supposed to lock it, and later write over those same files? I got the CD-RW's because I want to move a lot of stuff from my current computer to my old one for storage, and don't want the hassle of 50 caseless unmarked CD-R's everywhere.

[Inferno.]

Nero 6+

It has an erase disc option too.
There'll be an option when burning not to finalize the disc, also.

[Jetsetlemming]

Got Nero 6.6, and it works great. Thanks Astaroth. I've copied an entire season of a TV show and half a 6 CD game (damn oversized FMV games) over so far using only two CD-RWs (so one can burn while the other is upstairs uploading onto the comp).

[polobunny]

Be warned that they have a limited use. After more or less 5 burning they just won't work anymore.

[Saber]

Be warned that they have a limited use. After more or less 5 burning they just won't work anymore.

Not really, most CD-RW's work for a real long time. I don't know how many times I've burned stuff on it to unload on the other computer or writing mp3's to listen on the mp3 player.

You should be able to write atleast 20gb before any RW goes kapoot, or there really is no use for them.

[Jetsetlemming]

I'd imagine it has to do with the brand of CD-RW. I got Memorex, which is a brand I've used in the past that I liked... though I'm hardly a CD connoisseur. CD-RW's dying after 5 burns would make them useless, as they're 10 times more expensive than CD-R's. ;
I think it might make a difference how you erase the CD after each burning. Nero offers two types of erasing, the windows style of deletion: Mark the space as empty and let whatever comes next write over it, or real deletion, writing 0's over the disk and permanently deleting it all. I'd imagine burning those 0's to blank the disk would reduce it's lifespan more than blanking out the file records.

[Kazekage Gaara]

From what I know, even if you finalize the CD you are burning, you can ALWAYS use the "Erase Disc" option to erase the CD-RW completely and it would be ready to use again.

Its just that you will not be able to use the Multi-Session option anymore unless and until you erase it completely.

Edit: Do correct me if am wrong

[Haldrie]

Ok, this is where my knowledge comes in. CD-RWs are suppose to be able to be erased up to 1000 times depending on their use. They use a special matierial that crystalizes when the laser hits it changing the refectivity of it. I have CD-RWs that are several years old and have been erased many times and still work.