# My DVD writer is now "finalizing" the disc. What's it doing?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dvd-writer-is-now-finalizing-the-disc-whats-it-doing/226165>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 26, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dvd-writer-is-now-finalizing-the-disc-whats-it-doing/226165 "2004-01-26T16:03:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dvd-writer-is-now-finalizing-the-disc-whats-it-doing/226165/1 "2004-01-26T16:03:09Z")

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What is the disc recorder doing when it “finalizes” a CD or DVD?

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**Author:** ![Qburn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/bc79bd/32.png) [@Qburn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qburn)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dvd-writer-is-now-finalizing-the-disc-whats-it-doing/226165/2 "2004-01-26T16:52:54Z")

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It’s writing a table of contents, so the player knows how many tracks/indexes of what type there are on the disc. Basically a ‘header’ for your player to read so it can retreive the information for playback. It also locks out the disc so it can’t be recorded on in the case of once only recordable discs.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dvd-writer-is-now-finalizing-the-disc-whats-it-doing/226165/3 "2004-01-26T19:26:15Z")

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[Here’s](http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq02.html#S2-19) the lowdown on finalizing CDs. DVDs are mostly the same. Check [dvdrhelp](http://www.dvdrhelp.com/) for more info about DVDs.

Note that it depends on how a disc is being recorded that effects whether the TOC is written first or last. When I do disc-at-once, the finalizing is mostly just padding and errors during that part usually cause no problem. But with track-at-once, it makes all the difference in the world.

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**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-dvd-writer-is-now-finalizing-the-disc-whats-it-doing/226165/4 "2004-01-26T19:49:14Z")

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Okay, thanks! I sorta knew this, but it’s nice to see the details.