Chapter 5: Preparing for Disc Examination

Overview

It is recommended that you have two separate devices: a reliable Compact Disc - ReWritable (CD-RW) drive and a recent DVD writer that can read both DVD+ and DVD media. Recent writers should also be compatible with Digital Versatile Disc Plus Recordable (DVD+R) DL (dual layer) media.

While it may seem counterintuitive, you must use a writer-type device, because reader devices do not access open sessions on discs. This means that any incomplete drag-and-drop discs would not be accessible with a reader. Worse still, a multi-session disc that has been closed at least once and written to again with drag-and-drop writing software, will only show the finalized content; anything added after that would be invisible.

It is not necessary to use a write-blocker device with a CD or DVD writer, because writing software that functions without prompting is not present in Microsoft Windows. Before it will write to a disc, the CD writing capability present in Windows XP requires considerable effort on the part of the user. This writing capability also does not utilize rewritable media, such as CD-RW discs, making it difficult to write to a CD or DVD without significant user interaction.

If necessary, you can disable the Windows XP CD writing capability by opening the My Computer window and right-clicking the drive to be changed.