Can CD-RW discs be written and overwritten an "infinite" number of times?
Infinite is an awfully large "number" of times. Because you're
physically changing the disc's phase change layer back and forth
between its two forms (amorphous/crystalline), there is some wear and
tear with each phase change. Eventually, the disc or just sections of
the disc won't be able to reform into one of the recognized phases
after a write/erase operation. The manufacturers have claimed
anywhere from 200 to 1000 write/erases before disc failure. This
isn't guaranteed though, you might be able to squeeze a few more uses
out of a disc, or you might get a crappy disc from the start.
Also, there's some confusion over the touted numbers because some
manufacturers claims use write AND erase cycles for their numbers,
others spec using write OR erase operations.
