I have been saving articles in the internet and then after a while backing it up in a CD-R. Saving it as a web page, with its own folder, the total number of files usually consists of between 30-50. One thing I found out was that a blank CD-R can store no more than 17,000 files. If a CD-R consists only of web pages, around 100 MB (a CD-R can hold 700 MB) of data can reach that amount of files.

My question is, are all brands of CD-R like that? How about DVD-R, what is the maximum number of files that can be stored? Thanks

your question hasn't really been asked correctly, its not the number of files that can be held its the file size's.

If 1 file = 700Mb then only one file could be stored on a CDR

CDR usually come in 700Mb capacity (7 of your 100Mb files)

DVD's hold upto 4.7Gig (4700Mb) as single layer (47 of your 100Mb files)

Or 8.5Gig (8500Mbs) as a dual layer disc (85 of your 100Mb files)

Thanks for the reply. I’m sorry that I was unable to put my question correctly. Anyway I will try to give another situation and hope that I will be understood.

I have been burning files (Word document for example) to a CD-R as a backup for quite sometimes now. I sometimes try to backup around 20,000 files to a single CD-R (10-20 KB per file). But only around 17,000 files were recorded. The rest were also recorded but with 0 KB and cannot be opened. I usually use Sony, Maxell or Verbatim CD-R. It seems that a CD-R has a maximum of files that can be recorded because the 20,000 files I’ve burned came to only around 300-400 MB.

My question is does a DVD-R disc also have that kind of limitations. Thank.

the 0Kb files, are these the files you attempted to burn or just the short cut to the file ?

put all the files into a single folder and then drag and drop the folder onto the cdr, using Nero for instance you can see the amount of space about to be used., compare this to a measurment taken from the properties screen of the folder.

Im not aware of limitations by number of files to burn, only file name lengths and physical file sizes

The 0 KB files are not short cut to a file. They are actually 10-20 KB files. I just don’t know how they became 0 KB after burning. There are usually around 3,000 thousand of these out of 20,000 files I burn to a CD-R. So I concluded that a CD-R can hold only around 17,000 files regardless of their sizes.

By the way I’m using Roxio Easy CD Creator 5.31.154. Is it possible that the software is the one that is limiting the number of files burn to a CD-R?

I have also another question regarding my other PC. I’m using a LG CD-RW on that one for the last 3 years. But recently it can no longer format a new CD-RW. The formatting process never complete. I have no choice but to use my old formatted CD-RW disc (reading and writing to that disc is no problem). But what will happen when my single CD-RW disc break down. I suppose I can no longer use my CD-RW anymore. Is there a solution for this one.

By the way I’m using Roxio Easy CD Creator 5.31.154. Is it possible that the software is the one that is limiting the number of files burn to a CD-R?

I have also another question regarding my other PC. I’m using a LG CD-RW on that one for the last 3 years. But recently it can no longer format a new CD-RW. The formatting process never complete. I have no choice but to use my old formatted CD-RW disc (reading and writing to that disc is no problem). But what will happen when my single CD-RW disc break down. I suppose I can no longer use my CD-RW anymore. Is there a solution for this one.

Roxio 5 is well old now & I'd suggest updating to V7/V7.5. Or Nero 6 Reloaded.

The limit you're reaching might be down to the number of entries allowed in a directory or a limiting size on a directory.

Regarding the CD-RW problem I would suspect that the LG you have might not match the speed rating of the new CD-RW media you've bought. If the LG is rated at 10x for CD-RW but the media is ultra-speed (16x and above) then this might be the problem. This is pure speculation on my part as was the previous comment.

Thank you for the explanations. Although my LG Rewritable is already 3 years old, the speed is actually 52x 24x 52x. All the CD-RW discs I’ve used were within that range.