Here are the steps:. Can you Burn DVDs? If it's missing or blank, there is no DVD writing capability. DVDs have a capacity of 4. Type a general name like "backup Oct08" and click OK. The icon will change to a Burn symbol. Click OK to burn. After burning your first CD or DVD, insert it into another computer and open a file or two to verify that you have completed the process correctly.
Nothing would be worse than losing your files, only to learn that you don't have a good backup either. The alloy can be switched back and forth between an amorphous and crystalline phase through the application of a laser, allowing the DVD to be rewritten a substantial number of times.
Data quality degrades if the DVD is rewritten excessively, however. Michael is a longtime EasyTechJunkie contributor who specializes in topics relating to paleontology, physics, biology, astronomy, chemistry, and futurism. In addition to being an avid blogger, Michael is particularly passionate about stem cell research, regenerative medicine, and life extension therapies. Michael Anissimov. Please enter the following code:. Login: Forgot password? These "melted" spots serve the same purpose as the bumps on a conventional CD and the opaque spots on a CD-R: They block the "read" laser so it won't reflect off the metal layer.
Each non-reflective area indicates a 0 in the digital code. Every spot that remains crystalline is still reflective , indicating a 1. As with CD-Rs, the read laser does not have enough power to change the state of the material in the recording layer -- it's a lot weaker than the write laser. The erase laser falls somewhere in between: While it isn't strong enough to melt the material, it does have the necessary intensity to heat the material to the crystallization point.
By holding the material at this temperature, the erase laser restores the compound to its crystalline state, effectively erasing the encoded 0.
This clears the disc so new data can be encoded. Some newer drives and players, including all CD-RW writers, can adjust the read laser to work with different CD formats.
For the most part, they are used as back-up storage devices for computer files. As we've seen, the reflective and non-reflective patterns on a CD are incredibly small, and they are burned and read very quickly with a speeding laser beam. In this system, the chances of a data error are fairly high. In the next section, we'll look at some of the ways that CD burners compensate for various encoding problems.
In the previous sections, we looked at the basic idea of CD and CD-burner technology. Using precise lasers or metal molds, you can mark a pattern of more-reflective areas and less-reflective areas that represent a sequence of 1s and 0s. The system is so basic that you can encode just about any sort of digital information. There is no inherent limitation on what kind of mark pattern you put down on the disc.
But in order to make the information accessible to another CD drive or player , it has to be encoded in an understandable form. This format was specifically designed to minimize the effect of data errors. This is accomplished by carefully arranging the recorded data and mixing it with a lot of extra digital information. On the next page, you'll learn about the extra information encoded on a burned CD. The actual arrangement of information on music CDs is incredibly complex.
And CD-ROMS -- compact discs that contain computer files rather than song tracks -- have even more extensive error-correction systems. This is because an error in a computer file could corrupt an entire program, while a small uncorrected error on a music CD only means a bit of fuzz or a skipping noise.
If you are interested in the various ways that data is arranged on different types of CDs, check out Audio Compact Disc - Writing and Reading the Data. With some writable CD formats, you have to prepare all of the information before you begin burning. This limitation is built into the original format of CDs as well as the physical design of the disc itself. After all, the long track forms one continuous, connected string of 1s and 0s, and it's difficult to break this up into separate sections.
With newer disc formats, you can record files one " packet " at a time, adding the table of contents and other unifying structures once you've filled up the disc. CD burners are an amazing piece of technology, and the inner workings are certainly fascinating. But to the typical computer user, the most compelling aspect of burners is what you can do with them. In the next section, we'll find out how you can put all of this technology to work and make your own music mix.
The PMA stores a temporary table of contents for the individual packets on a disc that has been only partially recorded. When you complete the disc, the burner uses this information to create the final table of contents. In order to ensure that the write laser is set at the right level, the burner will make a series of test marks along the PCA section of track. The burner will then read over these marks, checking for the intensity of reflection in marked areas as compared to unmarked areas.
Based on this information, the burner determines the optimum laser setting for writing onto the disc. While CD-Rs can store all sorts of digital information, the most widespread application these days is making music-mix CDs with a computer. If you're new to the world of CD burners, this can seem like a daunting task. But it's actually very simple, once you have the right software and know the general procedure.
If you have already hooked up your CD burner, the first step in making a CD is loading the software you need. This music-management software serves several functions:. These days, most burners are packaged with one or more music programs, but you can also buy programs or download them over the Internet. You may need separate media applications to handle different elements in the process, but there are some good programs that handle everything see below.
Click here to do a search for software related to burning your own CDs. When you have all of the software you need, it's time to gather some songs. You may want to take songs directly from your CD collection. To do this, you need to " rip " the songs -- copy them from your CD to your computer's hard drive. You'll need an extraction program to do this.
Essentially, the program will play the song and re-record it into a usable data format. It's legal to make copies of songs you own, as long as the CD is only for your personal use. You can also gather MP3s over the Internet. You can download MP3s from pay-for-music sites or with file-sharing programs. Some MP3s are free, and can be legally downloaded and copied onto a CD. Most are illegal copies, however, and it is a copyright violation to download them and burn them onto a CD.
To search for MP3-related Web sites, click here. MP3s are compressed files , and you must expand decode them in order to burn them onto a CD. Standard music-management programs can decode these files. If you don't have the right software, there are a number of decoding programs that you can download over the Internet.
Once you've gathered the songs, you can use your music manager to arrange them in the order you want. Keep in mind that you have a limited amount of disc space to work with. CD-Rs have varying capacities , measured in both megabytes and minutes.
These days, most CD-Rs are either 74 minutes or 80 minutes long. Before you move on to burning your CD, you should make sure that your mix isn't too long for the blank disc. Once the mix is complete and you have saved it, all you need to do is insert a blank CD-R disc into the burner and choose the "burn" or "write" option in your music-management software.
You'll also need to choose the speed at which you want to burn the disc. Typically, a slower speed reduces the chance of a major error during the writing process. A lot of things can go wrong when you're burning a CD, so don't be surprised if some of them don't come out right.
Since CD-Rs can not be overwritten, any irreversible mistake means you'll have to junk the whole disc. Among the CD-burning set, this is called " making a coaster ," as that's pretty much all you can do with the damaged CD.
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