Why can't I delete DVD data and reuse the space?

[RealJasonFong]

I have a lightscribe RW 4.7GB disc and after moving some files, the DVD is almost full,and I realized that I cannot open them so I deleted the files I just copied onto there. However, after deleting, the DVD is still full. The DVD has like 500MB of actual data on it, and I cannot write anymore files on it. How can I use it like a USB flashdrive and use the space provided after deleting the files?

 

[alceryes]

What OS are you using?
If you want to use it like a flash drive you'll need to format it for UDF/packet writing, before using. My guess is that you just burned something to it like a CD-R and closed the disc. In order to reuse you'll need to format the disc for packet writing FIRST.
Also, packet writing is NOT that safe as the media surface degrades with each write/rewrite. Better to pick up a 128GB flash drive for $25.

 

[Solandri]

You cannot delete random data from optical media (CD, DVD, Blu-ray). When you delete a file (even using packet writing), all that happens is the directory structure is updated to say that the file no longer exists. The data is still on the disc, just the (latest*) directory info says it's not there. So the space is not recovered.

On a DVD-R, this is permanent. On a DVD-RW, you can erase the entire disc and start over.

*A multisession reading program can read older directory entries, allowing you to read these deleted or overwritten files.

 

[Ordan]

i had long time ago same thing, i didn't find way to fix it but i just bought flash drive or those 1TB portable drives because its pretty cheap solution and much more safe for data

 

[alceryes]

@Solandri, are you sure about not recovering the space deleted? On an RW disc using UDF, I thought once the space was 'marked for deletion' that space was given back to the usable pool(?)
On second thought, maybe it was Nero's proprietary InCD software that allowed me to do this. It's been a long time since I used packet writing.

 

[RolandJS]

DVD-R, once written upon, that particular byte-space cannot be reclaimed and reused. Only DVD-RWs can byte-space be reclaimed and reused, however, be aware that repeated writes can lead to sporadic read "hiccups".