Burning Data CDs using Windows XP

1. Group all of the files you want to burn onto the CD in the same place.

2. Insert the Blank CD into the disc drive.

3. If you get a prompt asking you what you want to do, select "Open writable CD folder using Windows Explorer." Before clicking on "OK," make sure the box labeled "Always do the selected action" is checked. This will open up a window showing the contents of the CD (which should be empty).

Figure 1: This window may appear when inserting a blank CD.

If no prompt appears on the screen, double click "My computer" and then double click on the CD-R Drive. This is an alternate way of getting to the window described above which show the contents of the blank CD.

Whether you use Windows explorer or double click on "My computer" to navigate there, the window that appears should look like this (notice the box in the upper left corner which says "CD Writing Tasks"):

Figure 2: This window shows the contents of a blank CD ready to be written to.

4. Click and drag the files you want to copy into the CD window. In the following example, I have copied a Word Document called "test.doc" onto the CD (it states at the top that objects shown are "Files Ready to Be Written to the CD"):

Figure 3: The file "test.doc" is ready to be copied in this window.

5. In the upper left hand corner under "CD Writing Tasks" you now have 2 options: "Write these files to CD" or "Delete temporary files." If you added the wrong files, you can click "Delete temporary files" and start again. If the CD has the files you want to burn to it, click "Write these files to CD." This will open the CD Writing Wizard.

Figure 4: You can name your CD using the CD Writing Wizard.

6. In the CD Writing wizard you can specify a name for the CD. The next step show the progress of the burning process:

Figure 5: Progress bar showing status of files being written to a CD.

7. When the burner is done writing to the disc, it will eject from the machine and the CD will be ready to use.

A few other things to keep in mind relate to the types of discs you can use and how they can be used in copying data:

• CD-R Discs can be written to multiple times- i.e. the aforementioned process can be repeated until the disc is full. However, once data is written to the disc, it can never be removed. If full compatibility is required, CD-R discs should be used because they work in all standard CD-ROM drives.
• CD/RW Discs function in the same way as CD-R discs, but they can be erased as well (it is an option in the "CD Writing tasks" window). The downside to using these discs is they are not fully compatible with all types of CD-ROM drives.