CD-R (Compact Disc Recordable)

Stands for "Compact Disc Recordable." CD-R discs are blank CDs that can record data written by a CD burner. The word "recordable" is used because CD-Rs are often used to record audio, which can be played back by most CD players. However, many other kinds of data can also be written to a CD-R, so the discs are also referred to as "writable CDs."

The data burned onto a CD-R disc is permanent, meaning it can not be altered or erased like the data on a hard drive. Typically, once a CD has been burned, it will not be able to record any more data. Some CD burning programs can record data as "sessions," allowing a disc to be written to mulitple times until it is full. Each session creates a new partition on the disc, meaning a computer will read a disc with multiple sessions as multiple discs. CD-RWs, on the other hand, can be erased and completely re-recorded. Like CDs, the data on CD-RWs cannot be altered, meaning the disc has to be completely erased each time you want to add new data.