HOW TO COPY (BURN) FILES TO A CD IN VISTA & WINDOWS 7 1

HOW TO COPY (BURN) FILES TO A CD

IN VISTA & WINDOWS 7

If the computer has a DVD-RW drive, these instructions also apply to burning a DVD.

1. Insert a blank CD into the CD tray, label side up. When choosing blank CD's,

the CD-R type is recommended. It is more stable and will last longer than the

rewritable and more expensive CD-RW type. CD-R discs will work with either

burning option in this backup program.

2. Wait until the AutoPlay dialog box opens, showing the CD burning options. If

this box does not open after a few seconds, click the Start button, then Computer,

and double click the CD-RW drive to open it.

3. Click “Burn files to Disc using Windows Explorer.”

About disc drives: You can tell what kind of CD/DVD disc drive you have by its

name. A CD drive will play, but not burn, only CD‟s. A CD-RW drive will play

and burn only CD‟s. A DVD/CD-RW will burn CD‟s and play CD‟s and DVD‟s.

A DVD-RW drive will play and burn both CD‟s and DVD‟s.

To see the type of your drive, click Start – Computer and notice the name of your

drive in the drive list.

4. The „Burn a Disc‟ dialog box opens. Select the method you wish to use by

clicking the appropriate button. There are two options: Live File System or

Mastered.

 The „Like a USB flash drive‟ option lets you copy files to a disc now and

add others later. You can also edit files or delete them from the disc. This

disc will then open on any Windows computer which is version XP, Vista,

or Windows 7 and has a CD or DVD drive. Discs created this way may not

play on all computers or DVD players, but this method is convenient and

maximizes disc space. This method is called the Live File System.

 The „With a CD/DVD player‟ option etches or “burns” files or folders to

the CD-R permanently. They can‟t be edited or deleted, but a disc created

this way will play on most computers and CD players. Files can be printed

or copied from them to a computer. This method is called the Mastered

system and is the only method available in earlier Windows operating

systems.

5. Either leave the date as the title of the disc or type a new name for the disc in the

box. Then click "Next" to proceed. This tutorial takes you through the next steps

for both options.

The Live File System Option

1. If you chose the Live File System, wait while the CD is formatted by the

computer. When an AutoPlay box appears, click "Open folder to view files."

2. Type a name for the disc, if prompted. Then add files to it, as shown below and

explained on the next page:

2. See

contents of

the My

Documents

folder

1. Click

Docs

3. Click

and drag a

folder

from My

Docs to

the CD.

A. Click a folder (e.g., My Documents) in the left pane to reveal its contents in the

right pane.

B. Select individual files in the right pane and drag them to the CD-RW drive in

the left pane. To select a group of files or folders hold down the Ctrl key while you

click a number of files. Release the Ctrl key. Click and drag the group of files to

the left onto the CD-RW drive icon.

C. Click “Close session” to make this disc readable on other computers. Click

“Eject” to close this session and eject the disc. Later you can insert it again and add

to it. You may add, edit or delete files until the CD is full (a bit less than 700 MB).

The Mastered System Option

1. Select the Mastered option, entitled “With a CD/DVD Player.” Type a title for

the disc, if you wish, and click Next.

2. To add files and folders to the disc, follow Step 2 in the Live File System

directions. In the Mastered system, this puts temporary duplicates of the real

files in the window, as shown by the arrows. If you change your mind, highlight

the files you want to remove from the group and click the “Delete Temporary

files” button. When you are ready to complete the burn, click “Burn to disc.”

3. The CD writing wizard appears. Here you can name the disc and set the

recording speed, if you wish. When finished, click Next and wait while the files

are burned by laser onto the disc surface. When complete, the CD will be

ejected automatically. Click either, “Yes, burn these files to another disc,” or

Finish.

Tutorial by Nancy DeMarte, 11-15-2011