Once a virtual blank has been created, it is displayed like any other virtual CD in the programs you use for managing virtual CDs. Unlike a normal virtual CD, however, the virtual blank can be used only with the virtual CD burner. Once it has been burned, it can be inserted in any virtual drive. To make it easier to tell an unused blank from one that has been burned, (Blank) is displayed with the name of an unused blank.

 

 

The example above shows entries in the Quick Start utility menu; CD-R - (Blank medium) indicates a virtual blank that can be written on. Re-writable media, such as the CD-RW in the example, are not marked as blank, because they can be written on at any time, whether they are still blank or not.

After you have burned data onto a virtual write-once blank, Virtual CD sets the CD type according to the data written; for example, if you burn audio tracks onto the CD, the CD is displayed as an audio CD in the CD Control Center. Re-writable blanks, on the other hand, do not change type, but can run in a normal virtual drive (as opposed to a burner) once data has been written on them. Naturally, the normal drive cannot be used to change the data, even on a re-writable blank.