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How to burn CDs and DVDs

This is a quick reference guide and common procedures for writing your own cds. For more detailed information on writing your own discs, read the specific Help and Tutorial sections of the application you are using. We support (and most GSD public computers are equipped with) Adaptec's Roxio CD/DVD creator v.6 (for PC) and Toast v.6 (for Mac). This software will burn both DVDs and CDs.

Note: Toast for the Mac is the most flexible in terms of cd formats it can produce, so if you need something fancy like a hybrid disk, a bootable mac volume, cd extra, etc., use Toast. To make bootable Mac Volumes or Hybrid CDs (run native on Mac and PC), you will need to use a Macintosh equipped with a CD burner and Toast Software. This is due partially to the way Windows handles filenames. Toast software on the Mac is capable of creating a number of other different types of discs, including Enhanced Music CDs, Video CDs, SCSI copies, etc. If you need information about these formats, read the card copy manual next the the Mac station in L41.

Both the XP and Mac stations can make Audio CDs.

For software instructions, see our page on burning CDs and DVDs with Roxio.

• Why Burn?
• CD Basics, including CD-R vs CD-RW
• The Different Flavors of CD, and "What on earth are UDF? DLA? Packets?"
• Multisession
• DVD Formats

Why burn?

• CDs and DVDs are optical media rather than magnetic, so they are safe near speakers, tvs, and other magnetic fields.
• Some manufacturers claim a storage life of 25 years.
• Optical discs are slim and easy to carry in flexible travel cases (we do not recommend using brittle jewel cases for protection).
• Optical discs such as CD-Rs are much cheaper than zip discs.

Should I use CD-Rs or CD-RWs?

CD-R: Compact Disc-Recordable
CD-RW: Compact Disc Read/Write or ReWritable

• Both will let you write data until your disc is full if you use a cd-writing program that supports "multi-session" recording.
• With a CD-R, once the disc is full, you are done, and have a permanent record but also a disc you can only read from now on. This is the sort of CD you might choose to make a permanent record of a finished project.
• With a CD-RW, at any point you can erase the whole disc and use it again. This is the sort of CD you might choose to make nightly backups.
• CD-Rs are generally cheaper and work in many CD drives, including most standard CD players (think music) and many older computer CD drives.

Important:

CD-RW drives can read and write to both CD-R and CD-RW discs

CD-RW discs may not work in all drives!

CD-R Basics

When you create (also called burn, write, record) a CD-R disc, you are permanently engraving information on the surface of the disc. For this reason, you can only write to an area of a disk once. This is a much different concept than other storage devices that allow you to re-use disc space. Because of the permanent nature of the medium, extra care and attention to detail is needed when writing to the disc. The relatively permanent nature of cd-r disc also makes it ideal for archiving data, as it is not sensitive to weather conditions, electro-magnetic fields, most forms of voodoo, or worse, a human accidentally or even intentionally erasing it.

Most CD-Rs can hold up to 650 megabytes. We recommend not exceeding 625MB.

You must copy all of your data you want to put on the CD-R to the LOCAL HARDDRIVE of the cd burner station. This is usually done by copying your files to /vol/nettmp (the nettmp folder in your home account is a link to this location), and then copying the files back down from nettmp to the hard drive of the burner station. The reason for this is that networks tend to be jumpy, and when you are writing a cd, the laser and the disk are expecting a steady flow of data. Only a local hard drive is fast and steady enough.

The Different Flavors of CD

The most common CD format is called ISO-9660. It is compatible with Windows, Mac, Unix, and other OS flavors. The strict interpretation of this standard allows only 8.3 filenames, all caps, and only one session. Use this setting in the software to insure maximum compatibility (DOS, old Macs, etc...) across platforms. Most modern operating systems these days allow for a looser interpretation of the ISO-9660 standard, and you can get away with using long file names with spaces in them and writing multiple sessions on one disk.

What are UDF, DLA and Packet... what?

DLA (Drive Letter Access) is a technology that allows you to read and write to a CD-R as if it were a hard drive. in other words, it appears as if you are erasing and revising the same file on the CD.

DLA uses two technologies called packet writing and UDF.

Packet Writing: DLA lets you add data incrementally to a disc in small or large quantities. Data is written to the disc in small "packets", so it is possible to record even a single file at a time. Unlike older methods of writing data to CD, packet writing does not waste much time or disc space. There is no arbitrary limit to the number of packets that can be written to a CD, up to the data capacity of the cd (usually 650 MB).

UDF (Universal Disc Format): a new disc format that can be read on any operating system. UDF is a new file system for use on optical media (such as CD-ROM and DVD), and other media. UDF is designed to take advantage of packet writing, and has been accepted and approved as the industry standard by all the major players in compact disc storage, including Philips, Sony, and OSTA (the Optical Storage Technology Association).

Multisessions

Sometimes you don't have 650 megabytes of data right then and there that you want to burn to disc, but might only have 100 megs and you'll want to come back later on in the week and add more data to the remaining 550 megs. This can be done by making a Multisession CD to begin with. By specifying this setting initially, you tell the disc not to seal itself up, but to leave an open end on the first session so you can come back later and add more stuff. Be careful, though, because when you come back for the 2nd session, you'll have several options on how to reuse the disc- One option simply appends the new data to the end of the previous session. Most people want that. Another option 'erases' the previous session- once this happens, you can't get it back..... and the third does an incremental backup of the previous session, comparing the files from the previous session with the new ones and only writing the data that changed.

DVD Formats

DVD burner manufacturers have divided themselves into two factions; the "minuses" and "pluses." The minuses are lead by such heavy hitters as Pioneer and Toshiba and they use two formats: DVD-R and DVD-RW. DVD-R being the write-once format and DVD-RW is the rewritable one. "Minus" DVD's work decent in most DVD players and are considered the standard.

Hewlett-Packard and corporate giants Philips and Sony are challenging the DVD Forum with their DVD+R and DVD+RW formats. DVD+R and DVD+RW formats can hold the same 4.7 GB that the "minuses" can but claim to be more compatible with set-top DVD players.

DVD+R and DVD+RW have been known to work in Mac burners but are not supported and usually cannot be read in any other DVD reader. We strongly recommend only using "minus" DVDs.

The PC labs have IBM MultiRecorders which write "minus" media, which means that they are only compatible with DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM formats. The Mac labs have Superdrive DVD burners that support DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM formats.