# How to erase data from a Multi-Session CD???



## go4saket (Aug 14, 2006)

Hi Guys!

How can I erase unwanted data from a multi-session CD/DVD. Normal erase method is simple, just deleting the data when making a new session, but that data is retained in the CD/DVD and is always recoverable. What can be done so that the data we erase cannot be recovered by any means.

Thank you.


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## Pathik (Aug 14, 2006)

i dont think u can delete it permanently.....


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## romeo_8693 (Aug 14, 2006)

u kiddin me??how can u erase data from cd/dvd unless it RW??
unless the lead-in is at somepalce else(say middle of the cd)...then u may consider scratching the cd in the area wher tha unwanted data is..thus rendering that portion useless....(not sure)..hi hih hi


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## Siddhartha_t69 (Aug 14, 2006)

break it into two pieces. Put your new data in a new CD. no one will recover your data.


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## ayush_chh (Aug 14, 2006)

romeo_8693 said:
			
		

> u kiddin me??how can u erase data from cd/dvd unless it RW??


 
me 2 confused........


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## Ramakrishnan (Aug 14, 2006)

I have also wondered about this for long.


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## Vishal Gupta (Aug 14, 2006)

Try this:

Write the same CD again and now select the option "*Start multisession*" in Nero Burning ROM or deselect option "*Allow items to be added later*" in Nero Express.

By doing this, If u used Nero Burning ROM method, then it'll forget the previous data and all previous multisession wil be overwritten.

And if u use Nero Express method, then it'll just write the CD as non multi session...


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## the.kaushik (Aug 14, 2006)

u can delete but the space wont be recovered.. just u hav a multisession cd say.. next time open in nero as data cd.. it will show the files in it.. select them and delete.. now add what u want and burn.. the space already burned will not be recovered but after burning u wont get the old files.. 

it works and i did many times


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## go4saket (Aug 14, 2006)

Hey Kaushik, I have already mentioned that I know this method, but by following this process, the data previously written can always be recovered back. So no point in this...

@ Vishal : I will try what you said.... Lets see if it works...


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## djmykey (Aug 14, 2006)

According to my knowledge I have accumulated aso far, any data written onto any optical media is written for life long until the disk is rendered useless. So dunno if this is some new thing.


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## romeo_8693 (Aug 15, 2006)

like saket said its recoverable.....then probably do wat sidd said...lol


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## it_waaznt_me (Aug 15, 2006)

Nah Vishal .. If you open a multisession disk in Isobuster, you can see earlier session's files and you can always extract them ...


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## Vishal Gupta (Aug 15, 2006)

I didnt check it ISOBuster, But IF I use this method, then next time Nero can't show the previous multi-sessions...


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## Akhil Jain (Aug 16, 2006)

hey friends , i have many cds which were rest useless as burning process fails in between due to various reasons....
i remember 4-5 years ago when i was a noob , i used to take these waste cds to my friend (5 years seniour to me) and he just uses combination of 3 softwares , i think nero , poweriso and ********( not remember) to make the cd work again...
the portion which was written was wasted and the rest is available to you for furthur use...
example if 200 mb was wasted then he rendered the new cd with 500 mb
as far i think , these cd were not multisession as later on u can make vcd also
and vcd r not multisesion
i have many cd such as boom etc... which were write on those once wasted cds
can u again tell me the software to do this???? or the procedure........


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## eagle_y2j (Aug 16, 2006)

Ya I hav also tried erasing a particular session using Nero but I was shocked when Iso Buster tree was showing deleted sessions it was like recovering data frm hard disk after a format! simplest to erase data  is to pop up tat CD inside Microwave


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## damnthenet (Aug 16, 2006)

Once I had written data (abt 50 mb) with nero express6 as a non-multisession cd. Then, with nero express7, I was able to write more data starting multisession in the same disk with a warning "The data already written will not be accessible". When I clicked "okay, continue", I got the CD written and the whole capacity of the disk got reduced from 700 to 650 mb 
and I was not able to access the old 50 mb data. 

This  experimentation could help you also...


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## Vishal Gupta (Aug 16, 2006)

Thats what I said in my previous posts!
If u write the Multi-session CD in Nero selecting the option start Multi-session, it'll warn U that previous data will be lost, simply OK it and write the CD, and all previous sessions will be overwritten....


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## Akshay (Aug 16, 2006)

Need to try it out. Interesting... How can data be erased from a CD? And also wit numerous tools available, data recovery is poss. So it is just that if u r using windows or nero, data is inaccessible but with isobuster, etc. the deleted session still exists


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## it_waaznt_me (Aug 16, 2006)

Ahem .. The data is actually burned on the disk and there is no procedure that you can delete that data .. and as I wrote in my earlier post, with specialized tools such as ISOBuster you can access this data ...


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## Akhil Jain (Aug 16, 2006)

what i was saying that i did not want to delete data
data is inasscessible or not , it does not matter to me..
what i want to know is that whether i can use the cd's which r left wasted 
as ther is some error during writng , whether data underrun , or electricity gone  or computer hang
many cds were aborted during write process at 5% or 10%
and seeing thier recording side , i found that the recorded dark circle is small...
that means free space is left on cd which can be used
but nero or dvd burn does not show that free space and said that cd was finalised and cannot be written again
it means cd is wasted
i have many such cds , last year my hdd was on its way to death and many cds got wasted as my hdd stops to sending data to cd writer
these cds have not a single scratch
so is there any way that i can utilise these wasted cds


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## SE><IE (Aug 17, 2006)

@go4saket: I hope you're talking of CD-RW. Then the simplest way to *ahem* "protect" your data is to do a full format (it will take around 25 mins) and then burn some scrap data (optional). I do have IsoBuster and it can NOT recover after a full format. The reason that it is able to recover after a quick format is that a quick format does not earase the data infact it just breaks the links to this data thus making it useless. (Ever wondered why deleting a file takes far lesser time than writing the same on HDD, the same concept is applied there). In case you are talking of CD-R then sorry buddy you can not do anything to "protect" your data and the best way will be to dispose off that disc.

@others: There's a difference between CD-R and CD-RW. Data is written on CD-R by burning permanent grooves in the plastic, on the other hand a CD-RW disc contains a phase-change alloy recording layer composed of a phase change material, this material is "crystallized" or "annealed" to result in what is known as 'buring' and 'erasing'. Hence you can "shred" data from a CD-RW but not from CD-R

PS: CD means CD/DVD


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## go4saket (Aug 17, 2006)

@i_kill : Thanks for your explanation, but we all arw aware of this. BTW, we are actually talking about CD-R and not CD-RW. Moreover, after a full format in CD-RW, data can still be recovered by using data recovery softwares that recovers data using sector by sector reading. That is the way thing happen in HDD. Formating just removes the FAT and not the actual data.


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## SE><IE (Aug 17, 2006)

The links are broken in "quick format" whereas the disc is actually erased in "full format", or may be it was just the Isobuster which was unable to recover the data. 
Don't you think, trying to "protect" your data on a CD-R will make it useless. And when its useless then why keep it?


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