cd burner (size not right)

shadowfax

shadowfax

Registered
Hi,

I apologize if this is a dumb question... :(

Whenever I put a blank 700mb cd in my PB G4, it always shows that I have only 660 mb free, why's that?
My burn is a Matshita CD-RW CW-8121, if that matters.

Thank you!
 
It's not a dumb question.

What application are you using to burn the CD? Finder, Toast, etc?

I believe that the Finder, and perhaps a few other apps, understate the amount of free space on a blank CD.

I've always used Toast (or iTunes) for my CDs, and it seems to report the size correctly...
 
yea, I just use the finder, just downloaded roxio toast, maybe i'll give that a try and see what happens.

But, does anyone know why the os understates the memory size, is it because of byte alignment restriction within the os or is it something else. Thanks!
 
It's because it allows for formatting and invisible desktop files.
A floppy drive is 1.4MB, but it only shows 1.2 or 1.3 because of the drive format.
 
hm... i seem to fix the problem by using toast 5.2, but I am now wondering how toast was able to allow me to use the full memory space of my 700 mb cd, since you just mention it is from the formatting of the os, doesn't the software(toast) need to obey the size reported from the os?
 
isn't it because of the fact that a mb is not actually 1000kb, but 1024? So a CD manufacturer says that you have 700mb=700*1000 kb=700,000kb, but the file system actually only allows you to use 700,000/1024=683mb. That's the way it works on Wintel - is it the same on Mac?

Still doesn't get you down to 660mb, though I think the previous poster was right - cd's need some system files on them which are saved when the contents are actually burned.
 
Another possible reason: Toast reports the total amount of space which includes the formating. Apple's burner program only reports the space in which you can use for your files.

That's putting it in simple terms. There is probably a better explain in geeky terms.
 
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