Finalising DVDs

[Deleted User]

If I use my video recorder to record a video onto DVD I have a choice to finalise or not. If I finalise the disc it will be playable on other machines, but I won't be able to make any more recordings on it.

If I now use one of the same DVDs to back up the computer, I can finalise it afterwards but then still use the same disc again for the next backup. Why the difference?

droopsnoot

I think this is the multisession feature, but I haven't seen it on DVDs, nor used it on CDs for some time. The idea is that once finalised, a new "session" is created in the remaining space and that's where your new files are stored, but keep in mind that a normal file explorer will only show you the most recent session, you'll need something special to show contents of previous sessions*. By the sound of it, your DVD recorder doesn't support multisessions.

ETA - or maybe the backup software is formatting the DVD first as part of the backup sequence, if you're using DVDRW discs.

* Caveat - I haven't played with modern stuff for a while, so this might all be overtaken now and direct access to previous sessions on the disc might be simple and obvious.