There seems to be some confusion about what you can and can't do with RioVolt firmware.
In particular, there is much gnashing of teeth about "wasting a cd" for firmware. It is usually completely
unnecessary to waste a cd.
To answer the #1 riovolt firmware question of all times: you can flash straight to whatever firmware you want (ie 1.2x to 2.x or whatever). The previous firmware is completely destroyed, and you'll have whatever features are present in the fw version you just flashed.
Some definitions
We need a common vocabulary in order to go forward.
More complete information can be found in the CD-R FAQ.
CD-R: a write-once medium. Once you burn a given area of a CD-R it is burned forever. You may be able to write to CD-R multiple times (by burning multiple sessions or volumes), but not to the same area on the disc.
CD-RW: a medium which you can burn and erase multiple times, theoretically up to 1000x. Usually priced higher than CD-R, and slightly more difficult to read because of lower reflectivity.
[pre-]mastering: burning a disc with a normal app like Nero, Easy CD Creator (ECDC), etc.
Packet writing: formatting a disc with DirectCD or similar apps to make it act "like a floppy". Packet can be used on both CD-R or CD-RW, although the underlying schemes are quite different, and you cannot ever recover space on a CD-R when you "delete" a file.
Multisession disc: A disc with one or more linked sessions. You get one of these by leaving the disc open, then going back later and burning more to the disc while "importing the previous session". Everything from the previous session session is visible (and alterable) in subsequent sessions. No data is duplicated (if the first session was 50MB that 50MB is imported for free into the second session, and the 50MB does not have to be burned again). In normal cases, if you add a file with the same name to a later session, the former file gets "overwritten" as far as the reader is concerned. This is not true with the Volt, which mishandles firmware in multisession contexts. Each session consumes about 13MB of overhead.
Multivolume disc: like a multisession disc, only the sessions are not linked. The reader does not know the former session exists at all. This does not mean you've got a fresh 650B disc; the space taken up by the first volume is still consumed, and your burner may not correctly report the amount of space left for subsequent volumes. You may have to do the math.
Coaster: a disc that failed during burning.
Absolute Requirements
The firmware file must reside in the root directory of the CD (ie, not in a subdirectory)
The firmware is IMP-100.HEX, which you must extract from the .zip or .exe file.
The Volt should be run off wall power when upgrading firmware; dying batteries during an upgrade would be Seriously Bad, and could ruin your unit.
Your firmware options
You have several options when you burn your firmware, somewhat in order of preference:
Master firmware to CD-RW
Probably the best method, as it's hard to screw up and the CD-RW can be erased when you're done. Simple.
Master firmware to CD-R, leave disc open for later sessions to use on your PC
This way you can burn other sessions to the disc later for non-Volt uses. You can even "delete" the firmware in later sessions if it bothers you. Your PC won't care what else in on the disc. You can't use a multisession disc like this to burn CD-DA (cd audio) later, for technical reasons.
Master firmware to CD-R, leave disc open for later volumes to use for future upgrades
Do your firmware thing, then burn a new volume onto the CD-R next time you want to burn new firmware at a later date. This is the only way you can use a mastered CD-R for more than one firmware!
Master firmware to a coaster, using a new volume
The Volt will see only the last volume, so you can use that coaster for something useful. You can do the multisession thing in this volume, or even continue adding new volumes.
Master firmware to CD-R, close disc
Bulletproof, but you've just wasted the disc.
Burn firmware to DirectCD CD-RW
Not all firmware can see DirectCD CD-RW, so it may not work. And this kind of DirectCD is pretty damned squirrelly anyhow.
Burn firmware to DirectCD CD-R
Again, earlier firmware may not read the disc, and you'd have to close ("organize") the disc anyhow, which sucks up about 30MB of space. It's better to master.
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