Windows XP [Electronic resources] : Visual Quickstart Guide, Second Edition

Chris Fehily

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Copying Files and Folders to CDs

To copy files and folders to a CD:

1. Insert a blank CD into the recordable CD drive (Figure 5.52 ).

Figure 5.52. When you insert a blank CD, Windows displays this dialog box. Click OK to open a temporary folder that acts as an intermediate staging area for the items to be copied to the CD.

2. In Windows Explorer, right-click a file or folder (or selection of files and folders) that you want to copy to the CD; then choose Send To > CD Drive.

3. Repeat step 2 for all the items that you want to copy to the CD.

4. Activate the CD Drive window, or if it has disappeared, choose Start > My Computer; then double-click the CD icon (Figure 5.53 ).

Figure 5.53. The CD Drive window contains the queue of files ready to be copied to the CD. A small down arrow marks items that are ready to be burned.

5. In the task pane, click Write These Files to CD to start the CD Writing Wizard (Figure 5.54 ).

Figure 5.54. This page allows you to give the CD a name (up to 16 characters) more meaningful than the current date. You can't change the name of even a CD-RW disc after it has been recorded the first time.

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6. Name the CD, and click Next to start writing files to the CD. (If you're given the option, don't bother creating a HighMAT-compatible CD for a data disc.)

A progress page appears.

7. When the wizard finishes writing the CD, click Finish (Figure 5.55 ).

Figure 5.55. In the final page, you can make another copy of the same CD. Click Finish to close the wizard or start copying again, as appropriate.

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Tips

As an alternative to the Send To command in step 2, you can drag items into the CD Drive folder or use the Copy and Paste commands.

To burn a CD, you need temporary free disk space at least twice the size of the items to be copied; otherwise, you'll get a "Cannot complete writing" error from the wizard.

The items in the Files Ready to Be Written to the CD list (refer to Figure 5.53) are stored in the hidden folder C:\Documents and Settings\

<your user name> \Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\CD Burning.

Calculate the total size of the items before you start copying. In the CD Drive window, press Ctrl+A; then inspect Total File Size in the task pane's Details box. Standard CDs hold around 650 MB. A high-capacity CD holds 800 to 850 MB.

After you create a CD, test it immediately to see whether you can use the disc. (CD writers are unreliable.)

If you decide not to create the CD, in the CD Drive window, click Delete Temporary Files in the task pane to clear the storage area.

Some files contain extra information called

metadata the bit rate of an audio track or the dimensions of an image, for examplethat can't be copied to a CD. If you get a stream-loss error from the wizard, you can copy the file without the metadata rather than skip it entirely.

For more recording features, use a program such as Roxio Easy Media Creator ($80 U.S.; www.roxio.com).