Burn your own CD using Windows XP!
By Parrish Reinoehl, Pathfinder Networks
July 2005
For many users creating a custom CD seems to be an almost insurmountable task. In actuality, it’s rather simple once you know the ins and outs of the process. In this month’s article I’ll try to shed some light on using Windows XP’s own CD burning utility.
The primary thing to keep in mind is that creating a CD is not the same as copying files to a floppy disk or hard drive. For a CD, the files to be written have to be gathered to a central location then all are burned to the CD at one time. Typically, you cannot copy one or two files at a time to a CD then add more files later. It is possible to create a Multisession CD which allows for files to be added later, but these are beyond the scope for this particular article. For a floppy or other disk type device, these files can be written one at a time and more can be added or removed as needed.
Keeping this fact in mind will help with understanding the process and steps in creating a new CD.
Windows XP is the first Microsoft operating system to include a CD writing utility. All prior operating systems required third-party utilities such as Nero Burning ROM or Adaptec Easy CD Creator to create custom CD’s. Using the Windows XP utility is very simple and efficient- once you know how it works.
The first step in creating a custom CD is to determine which files you will want copied to a CD. Typically these files include digital photographs, Word or Excel documents, and other user created files. However, you can copy anything you wish to a CD as long as the size of the files does not exceed the storage capacity of the CD (around 650 to 740mb). Once you know which files or folders you want copied to a CD you will need to open the My Computer icon. This can normally be found on your desktop. If not, you can find My Computer by clicking the Start button then click the My Computer link. This will open a new window showing all your attached drives. One of these drives will be your CDRW drive (assuming your PC has a burnable CD drive installed). On many PC’s this will be labeled drive D: or as CD-RW Drive.
Once you have determined which drive is your CD-RW (CD-RW stands for CD Rewritable) you will simply need to drag and drop the files you wish to burn directly to this CD-RW icon. If you are copying files from the My Documents folder it may be easiest to open the My Documents folder and position it on your desktop in such a way that you can view the files in My Documents as well as view the CD-RW drive in the My Computer window. This way, you can quickly and easily drag files from My Documents (or whichever folder you choose) over to the CDRW drive.
As files are dragged to the CD-RW drive you may notice a notice window appear in the bottom right corner of your Windows desktop. This window simply lets you know that files are waiting to be burned to a CD. Keep in mind, even though you are dragging files to the CD-RW drive you are not yet writing these files to a CD. You are simply telling Windows which files you wish to write to a CD and Windows is creating a holding place for these files to allow you to burn them later.
After you have copied all the files you wish to burn to the CD-RW drive you will want to ensure that you have an empty CD-R disc inserted in your CD-RW drive. If you are now inserting a blank CD-R disc you will likely be presented with a new window asking you what you would like to do with this blank CD. If so, you will want to choose the first option labeled “Open writable CD folder using Windows Explorer”. Doing this will open a new window showing the files you have just copied to the CD-RW drive icon. These are the files that will be written to the blank CD. You can also open the writable CD folder by double-clicking the CD-RW drive icon under My Computer.
You will notice at the left side of this window will be a few options. The first of which is labeled “Write these files to CD”. Clicking this link will start the Windows XP Writeable CD wizard and will step you through the entire burning process. Once you do this step you are now creating your own CD! The second option is to delete the temporary files. This option is there should you decide that you do not want to burn the files to a CD. Selecting this option will not erase the original files, only the files stored in the temporary holding location for the burnable CD.
This is just a very quick and dirty overview of creating your own CD’s. Other steps and software are required if you would like to create Audio CD’s or even make your own DVD’s. However, the logic behind each is the same. Don’t have a DVD-RW or CD-RW drive? Stop by our store in Bell Plaza and we can help you out.
For more detailed information on using Windows XP to burn CD’s you can read the excellent technical article by Alex Nichol at: http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpcd.php
You can also visit the Virginia Tech CD Burning workshop for a pictorial view of using Windows XP to burn CD’s by visiting this site: http://www.itsu.vt.edu/Workshops/CDBurning/HTML/stepbystepxp.htm
About the Author:
Parrish Reinoehl is President of Pathfinder Networks; a Niles based technology consulting firm specializing in providing affordable computer services to small businesses and home users including networks, PC support, sales, and service. Pathfinder Networks can be reached at 269-684-7696 or via email at parrish@pathfindernetworks.us
Pathfinder Networks website is http://www.PathfinderNetworks.us
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