How to Burn Without Getting Singed
Burning a CD is easy. Just follow these steps to create a backup disc or copy an entire CD.Michael Gowan
You've got a recordable CD drive in your PC, so why aren't you using it? The recordable CD is the new floppy, but better: It's a ubiquitous, cheap, and reliable way to store data on removable media; plus, it offers almost 500 times more storage than the old 1.44MB floppy.
But many of us haven't yet realized how handy recordable CDs can be. So don't wait any longer--here's a step-by-step guide that explains how to create a backup of valuable documents and how to make a copy of an entire audio CD.
First, a few terms to know:
CD-R disc: A recordable CD that you can "write" or save data to once. A CD-RW disc, on the other hand, can be overwritten many times.
CD-RW drive: A drive in your PC that is capable of writing to CD-R and CD-RW discs, as well as reading data from CD-ROMs, and playing audio CDs. A CD-ROM drive can only read data and play audio CDs.
Burn: The process of writing data to a recordable CD. It's done with a laser, so the process involves "burning" the data onto the disc.
Burn speed: How fast data is written to the disc. You'll see this depicted as "4X," "16X," and so forth.
Coaster: A CD-R that turns out to be unreadable because of a recording error. This can often happen if you use your PC to do other things while burning a CD, or if you have a slow system. The latest generation of CD-RW drives incorporates technology to help prevent burning coasters.
Image: A complete copy of the data as it will appear on the CD, but in a separate file on your hard drive. Creating an image helps prevent burning coasters and saves time when burning multiple copies. But in general, creating an image will add extra steps to the burning process. It may not always be necessary on newer drives.
What You'll Need to Start the Burning Process
PC with recordable CD drive. You have a number of options. The drive can be a CD-R/RW, or a DVD-ROM and CD-RW combo. You can also use an older CD-R drive. Furthermore, you can use a DVD-RW or DVD+RW drive, which support recordable CD media.
Recordable CD media (discs): CD-R or CD-RW format.
CD burning software: Most recordable CD drives come with the software you need to burn a CD.
On the following pages, you'll find instructions for Roxio's Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum--one of the most commonly used software packages in this category. I've also included specific steps for Ahead Software's Nero 5 Burning ROM 5.5, another popular program.
How to Burn Data Onto a CD
If you don't back up your data, you should. It's easy and can save you a lot of pain later if your PC eats a file or if you accidentally drop your hard drive out the window. Because CD-Rs and CD-RWs hold only a maximum 700MB of data, I'd recommend putting your documents on one CD, and other kinds of things, say your e-mail archives, on another. You shouldn't need to back up your various applications, because you should have the original CD-ROMs for those already. These directions apply for CD-R discs and may differ slightly for CD-RW discs.
Before you begin, quit all other applications. The burning process is processor-intensive, particularly when you write at fast speeds. For the best results, reboot your PC before your CD-burning session, and make sure all but your essential apps are closed. Leave your antivirus protection loaded, but exit RealPlayer, for example. You should get more reliable (and faster) burns.
In the following steps, I instruct you to create an image file, which requires more steps but will help you avoid creating coasters (see definition on the previous page). However, creating an image file isn't always necessary: If you have a really fast PC, with a 1-GHz processor and 256MB of memory, for example, you could skip the image-creation step and burn directly to the disc.
If you have a slower computer with less than 128MB of memory, you may also want to burn at a slower speed, such as 4X--especially if you're copying directly from a disc in a CD-ROM drive. It will take longer, but the slower speed makes it less likely that you'll ruin a disc.
Burn With Roxio's Easy CD Creator 5
1. Launch the Easy CD Creator Project Selector. Roll your cursor over Make a Data CD and select Data CD Project.
2. Insert a blank CD-R disc into your recordable drive. Choose your source drive in Select source files, and select the files and folders in the top pane that you want to copy to the disc. Click the Add button or drag the files and folders into the lower pane. You can see how much room you have left on the disc by looking above the aqua bar at the bottom of the lower pane.
3. Click Record.
4. In the Record CD Setup window that pops up, make sure your CD-R drive is selected. Pick your recording speed. (As a general rule, if you're planning to work in any other apps while the recording is being done, choose a relatively low recording speed.) Click the Options button. You'll be able to choose whether you want to record, test, or test and record. Test and record is safest but takes more time. Choose Finalize CD under Record Method if you want your disc to be readable in other CD-ROM drives. Then click Copy to hard drive first. Creating an image of your data like this is often a good idea, especially if you want to make multiple copies. (This is the safest way to go if you have an older drive that lacks buffer-underrun protection to prevent burning coasters. If you have a newer drive, keep the Buffer Underrun Prevention box checked.) Click Start recording.
5. When Easy CD Creator is finished burning the CD, it will prompt you to create a label. Click Close, then click OK to close the other Record CD Progress dialog box.
Burn With Ahead Software's Nero 5 Burning ROM
1. Launch Nero 5 Burning ROM and insert a blank CD-R into your recordable drive.
2. If you do not have the Nero Wizard turned on, you can activate it by selecting Help, Use the Nero Wizard. (To get to the Wizard without having to restart the program, just select File, New, or if New Compilation is on screen, click the Wizard button.)
3. Select Compile a new CD and click Next.
4. Select Data CD and click Next.
5. The next screen will ask if you want to create a new data CD. Make sure this option is selected and click Next again. Click Finish when prompted.
6. You'll see Nero's ISO compilation window, which resembles two Windows Explorer windows. The two panes on the right show what's on your computer.
7. Select the drive and folders you want to back up in the window directly under the words "File Browser." Find the specific folders and files you want in the pane to the right.
8. Drag the folders or files you want to copy from the far right pane to the far left pane. Hold the Ctrl key as you click to select multiple folders. The calibrated blue bar at the bottom of the File Browser window shows how many megabytes of data you've selected. When you exceed the disc's capacity, the bar turns red. When you've selected what you want to copy, choose File, Write CD.
9. The Nero Wizard will pop up. You can choose test, test and burn, or burn. Test and burn is safest but takes longer. Make sure Create image is selected (especially if you want to make multiple copies). Click Burn.
10. Because you selected Create image, Nero will first make a copy of the files on your hard drive. It will prompt you for a file name. Use the default "image" if you plan to burn one CD; if you want to make multiple copies, choose a name that you'll remember later. Click Save. The program will tell you that it is burning the data--it is really copying it. You will burn the CD in a moment.
11. When the application says it has successfully burned the data, click OK, then Discard. It will relaunch the ISO compilation window.
12. Select File, Burn image, and open the image file you just created.
13. In the Nero Wizard, be sure to deselect Create image at this point. You have already done that. Select the Burn radio button and choose the burn speed (you can go fairly fast because you created an image first). Then click Burn.
14. Nero will burn the data to your CD-R. When it says it has successfully burned the data, click OK, then Discard. It will relaunch the ISO compilation window and eject the disc.
Copy an Entire CD: Easy CD Creator 5
It's just as easy to copy an entire CD as it is to back up files from your hard drive. In this example, I copy a music CD so I can have one at work and keep the original at home.
Some CD players can't recognize CD-RW discs, so it's best to go with a CD-R disc when recording an audio CD.
1. Launch the Easy CD Creator Project Selector. Roll your mouse over CD Copier and click the CD Copier button that appears. Insert the CD you want to copy into the drive.
2. In the Source and Destination tab of the window that launches, make sure your CD-R drive appears in both the 'Copy from' and 'Record to' areas. In the 'Record to' area it will indicate that the CD is not a recordable CD. Don't worry about this--you will place a CD-R disc in the drive soon. (If you have two drives--a DVD drive and a CD-RW drive, for instance--put them both to work and save some time. Place your audio CD in the DVD drive, and the blank CD-R in the CD-RW drive. You will be able to carry out the subsequent steps, but you don't need to replace the CD.)
3. Easy CD Creator will test your drive the first time you use the CD Copier. Allow it to run, and then proceed with the next step.
4. Click the Advanced tab. Choose a slower speed if you plan to use your computer while copying; otherwise, choose the quickest speed listed.
5. Make sure the radio button for either Test and Copy or Copy is selected. (Testing first is safer but takes about twice as long.) If you were making multiple copies of, say, a backup disc from your PC, you could also choose the number of copies. Click Copy. The program will create a copy of the original CD, track by track.
6. After copying the original CD, the application will eject it and prompt you to insert a blank CD. Do so and click Retry. Easy CD Creator will burn the tracks onto the CD.
7. When the application is finished burning the CD, it will prompt you to create a label. Unless you want to do that right away, click Close, then click OK to close the Record CD Progress dialog box.
Copy an Entire CD: Nero 5 Burning ROM
1. Launch Nero 5 Burning ROM and insert your music CD into your CD drive. If you do not have the Nero Wizard turned on, activate it by selecting Help, Use the Nero Wizard. (To get to the Wizard without having to restart the program, just select File, New, or if New Compilation is on screen, click the Wizard button.)
2. Select Copy a CD and click Next.
3. Make sure the drive with the audio CD is selected in the Source drive list. Click Next.
4. Choose your write speed. (Choose a slower speed than your drive is capable of if you're planning to work in another app while making the copy.) Make sure that either the Test and burn or Burn radio button is checked (testing first lessens the chance of burning a coaster if you're using a drive without buffer-underrun protection, but it also approximately doubles the time). Then click the other Burn button.
5. The Nero CD database will try to recognize your CD. Select it in the list of possible albums and click Selected CD. When it asks if you want to create a user database, click No.
6. The application will read the audio CD. When it is done, it will eject the CD from the drive and ask what you want to name it and where you want to save the file. Give it the album name and save it to your desktop.
7. Nero will then say it is burning the CD, but it is really copying it to your hard drive. You will burn the CD shortly.
8. When the application says it has successfully burned the data, click OK, then Discard. It will relaunch the ISO compilation window.
9. Select File, Burn image, and open the image file you just created.
10. Insert a blank CD-R disc into the CD-R drive.
11. In the Nero Wizard, be sure 'Create image' is deselected--you've just done that. Select Burn and choose the burn speed. Then click the other Burn button.
12. Nero will burn the audio data to your CD-R. When it says it has successfully burned the data, click OK, then Discard. It will relaunch the ISO compilation window and eject the disc.